<p>Hello. I'm going into my 6th semester of college, and I've finished an English major, a psychology minor, and a good part of a dance major with a 4.0 GPA. I haven't done much math or science in college, but I always did well in them in high school, and I'm looking for a bigger challenge. I'm in a physiological psych class now, and it made me remember how much I actually liked studying biology, so I'm thinking of pursuing it further. I know I'd have to stay an extra year or so in college... but if I decided to go the science route, would any med schools even take me seriously as an English/dance/psych student?</p>
<p>The premed track should take you two years.</p>
<p>And med schools have been known to take all kinds of majors, with English actually being one of the interesting ones because English majors do very well on the MCATs.</p>
<p>Consider, also, trying to use your 6th semester, a summer, and your 7th and 8th semesters to finish your premedical work, allowing you to take a year off afterwards (without having to pay tuition) while you apply. What's your AP situation? (The hangup might depend on how your school times its chemistry classes.)</p>
<p>*Technically, you could apply this coming summer, but with very few of your premedical requirements out of the way, I would recommend strongly against this - you'd be too much of an unknown to medical schools.</p>
<p>I would urgently recommend you find hospital exposure. That's the best way - not a great one, but the best one - to determine if medicine is the career path you want to pursue. As you know, your plans at this point ought to be very tentative, since having excelled at high school science is hardly a qualification for medical school.</p>
<p>Finally and least importantly, I would recommend seeking a research internship of some kind - science being good and others being "probably" good. Psychology might be a good intermediate step, but a senior thesis in English wouldn't be a bad idea either.</p>
<p>To help you specifically plan:
1.) What APs might you be able to use in college?
2.) Does your school have chemistry available all the time? Can you take first semester general chemistry during your second semester?
3.) You haven't taken "much" science or math in college - how much have you taken?</p>
<p>i know several people who, after college, decided they wanted to go to med school. many places offer students an opportunity to fulfill their premed requirements, whether be at a community college, or at a 'top' school.</p>
<p>Applying to medical school after graduation is now very common. Some people finish their requirements while in college. Others do them later. By no means would this be unusual. Speak with the premed advisors at your current college to plan which courses to take, when to take the MCAT, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the all your advice and support.</p>
<p>Re: bluedevilmike's questions</p>
<p>1) My high school didn't offer APs, so none.
2) Yes, I can take first semester gen chem in the spring.
3) I've only taken astronomy and cryptography classes-- introductory courses recommended for non-majors. I was terribly bored in them and now know that I'm capable of working at a much higher level, but they were what were recommended to me at the time I took them.</p>
<p>I look at those facts and feel like I'm not convincing anyone that I can do the work and excel. In my own defense, I've done 3 years worth of college credits in 2 years and gotten all As, so if nothing else, I value hard work. (I also got a 1550 on my SATs back in the day, so I can't be a complete idiot, right?)</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>One question I have is are you really interested in medical school or are you just looking for a challenge as you put it? While being interested in medical school certainly equates to a challenge, there are other things you can do besides medical school that will challenge you...I'm not so worried about your ability to do the work as I am your motivation.</p>
<p>I guess I'd just like to see what your thinking was about deciding to try being pre-med. The path to becoming a doctor is (assuming 2 years to finish your pre-med requirements) another 6 years of school, and an additional 3-7 years beyond that for residency, a considerable length of time for anyone. There's a common adage in medical circles that no one just "falls" into medicine - they're either born to be a doctor or experience something that calls them to field (death of a loved one, severe injury or illness to themselves). I'm not saying that it necessarily has to be one of those ways, but just want to hear your story.</p>
<p>The other part is, realize that it is not just class work that you must complete - clinical experience, volunteer work, and research are all part of the equation, as well as campus involvement and leadership. If you've been taking much higher courseloads (in order to squeeze 3 years into two) at the expense of doing the other things, actually becoming pre-med might take some getting used to as you balance these other things. </p>
<p>Again, I'm not trying to discourage you from medicine or trying it out, as you seem capable. I'm just trying to get you to look at all the angles.</p>
<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I want to affirm everything BRM says about calling. Should you decide that you're going for it, however, I think you should:</p>
<p>Semester 6: Sign up for genchem and (intro bio OR intro physics) and calc I (AB).
Summer: Sign up for genchem 2 and a (bio OR physics) and statistics.
7: Sign up for organic and either bio or physics.
8: Organic 2 and either bio or physics again.</p>
<p>Notice that this will have you taking two bio classes. This is probably insufficient, and I recommend three - intro, genetics, and animal physiology. Fortunately you've taken care of English. This is (clearly) a little packed, so nobody's going to tell you you NEED to squeeze this all in. My point is that you could if you thought you were up for it.</p>
<p>Re: Bigredmed's post</p>
<p>I recently decided that medicine is at least worth investigating for me mostly based on my life as a dancer. Since I don't have the ideal body in terms of structural alignment, I've suffered a series of joint injuries that have kept me from dancing at one time or another. Luckily, I've had doctors and physical therapists who were helped me reach not just a functional but an active level of movement. Three years ago, I had surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in my right knee, and now, I can't even tell that it was ever injured. It functions just as my left does, and I can dance with no pain, and it's a beautiful feeling. Modern medicine has vastly improved my quality of life, and I want to be able to do that for other people-- not just to fix, but to enable.</p>
<p>The arts are very important to me, and I've been involved in a variety of extracurricular activities on campus-- a top-ranked female a cappella group, a women's choir, and set construction and marketing for a musical theater company. I'm pretty good at balancing my time.</p>
<p>Thank you to both Bigredmed and bluedevilmike for your helpful advice.</p>