<p>Hey guys, so I'm an incoming Junior in High school, and at the beginning of my Sophomore year I decided that I'd really like to become a doctor. My Freshman GPA was horrible with a measly 1.6 cumulative, but I pulled it together Sophomore year and got a 3.8 -- My main question is; how does the medical school system work? Everything about it. I'm really confused because I'm unsure where I should be looking. My questions are:</p>
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<li><p>Is there a specific "way" to get to medical school? (for example: you apply to an undergraduate college first, get all your "generals" out of the way, take the required ones you need, then after 4 years apply for medical school -- OR -- do you just straight away apply for medical school right out of high school?)</p></li>
<li><p>What would be the chances of me getting into somewhere like Johns Hopkins or UPenn? Like I said above, my Freshman GPA was 1.6, Sophomore was 3.8, and my Junior and Senior years won't be anything below 3.7 (I'm also stocking up on a ton of AP's; got 3 this year, hoping to take 3-5 Senior year). </p></li>
<li><p>I read somewhere that you shouldn't tell people about your speciality if you WANT to specialize because some people will assume your in it for the money. Is this true? I, personally, wish to become a dermatologist and money was the last thing I was thinking about. </p></li>
<li><p>If the answer to question 1 comes about being that you do need to go to an undergrad. college first, what would be some good ones to look at (I'm already planning on majoring in Biology as that is my favorite subject in school right now)? I took a year old SAT test and scored around 1700-1800, but my math score is really holding me back. I know that it'll be over 2000 when I take it again next year as I'm reviewing all the curiculum that I'm unfamiliar with. </p></li>
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<p>(I apologize if this is the wrong section).</p>
<p>Medical school comes after undergraduate where you fulfill the premed requirements (one year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry, one year of biological sciences and one year of physics with calculus requirements as well). These can be achieved a number of ways depending on the college and high school exam scores. </p>
<p>After undergraduate school, usually four years, you take the MCAT and apply to medical school. GPA and MCAT scores are the most crucial factors in applying to a medical school and the entire process is very competitive. </p>
<p>UPenn and Johns Hopkins are incredibly selective and those GPAs are far from what they expect. </p>
<p>A love for medicine, love of being challenged and desire to help others should be primary factors in wanting to become a doctor/surgeon. Financial security is also a factor obviously. </p>
<p>A 2000 is a good score but there’s more to admissions than that.</p>
<p>What should I be looking for when it comes to undergrad schools? Do I need to be looking for the best of the best or just a good Undergrad college? Is UPenn an undergrad or a med. school?</p>
<p>I can’t comment on how crucial undergraduate schools are in the admissions for medical school. Some offer a more competitive environment that will prepare you better than a state school, but that comes with at the cost of your GPA. </p>
<p>UPenn has both an undergrad and a med school.</p>
<p>With what I’ll be getting once I graduate high school, is it a slim chance that I’ll be able to get into the UPenn undergrad?</p>
<p>Depends on where you want to go, technically all schools can prepare you for mcats, but some are better than others,</p>
<p>Undergrad choice, I think, depends on what you want to achieve. Do you want to get into top-tier medical schools like John Hopkins or just second-tier but still very good schools like UCSD or Georgetown? If the latter is the case, you should just go to any undergrad school as long as they’re in top 100 and get a VERY good GPA. One thing you should know that you have to get at least 3.6 GPA and 30 MCAT to get into any medical school, while 3.8 GPA and 35 MCAT are usually considered good for Harvard.
Another very important thing is your medical-related experience (to show the adcoms that your love for medicine is not just hypothetical). You’ll have to volunteer every week at the hospital, shadow a lot of doctors, might even get a EMT-B training and work at the ambulance or the ER, do some research with the professors. Do you think you can juggle between school and work, still maintain an extremely good GPA, and study your a** off for the damn MCAT?
You probably think that a UPenn undergrad would have a much greater chance to get into UPenn medical school; but must I tell you that sometimes it’s just not the case. I know a John Hopkins undergrad who struggled all the times and just wished he went to an easier school to get a kick-ass GPA and all.
But overall the most important thing for your pretty special career path, I think, is not which school did you go to, but your experiences in the field. If I was you, I would probably choose a more relaxing environment, do a little research, volunteer a lot and probably work a little bit at the hospital, see how it went. But that’s just me.
Hopefully my advice would help you out a little bit. There might be some unclear and even false infos in there but that’s what I heard :)) Good luck.</p>
<p>Also UPenn require 2 subject tests and they recommend Math 2 (which I think is your weakness). You’ll really need to boost that SAT and get good subject scores.</p>