Hi
I am about to enter my first year of undergrad, I am going in as a math major with a bio and statistics minor. I am hoping to get any advice from current med school students, or even applicants to tell me what I should do now or inn the next four years to make my application stellar. Ultimately I hope to go to Cornell’s or Stanford 's Med schools (a long shot I know) . I want to be a neonatologist. Any advice is welcome.
Thanks!
Use the next few years to find out what Medicine is really about. And try not to fixate on the brand-name schools as it really doesn’t matter which one you go to.
Thanks @JustOneDad . I’m not fixating on Cornell and Stanford just because they are brand named. Cornell has always been my dream school, and I am obviously unable to go for undergrad, so I was hoping maybe med school, I am dreamer. If not am I will be happy just to go to medical school, because it is just hard enough to get in. But I hope my being a math major will not hinder my chances.
Okay, but just because it’s a big name college, doesn’t mean it’s a highly ranked medical school, too. As you get closer to applying, you should find out how the schools differ in order to find one that is a good match for you.
ETA: Why would being a math major hinder you?
Thanks again. What does eta mean? I would think that not having a “medical” background would not make me a strong applicant along with the MCAT
ETA = Edited To Add
How would you have a “medical” background before medical school?
@turqluv I have not one, but two math major daughters in medicine. One is a medical resident and the other is a MS2.
Being a math major isn’t going to make you different (i.e. more desirable, someone who stands out in the pack) than other med school applicants in the eyes of the admissions committees. You’ll still be expected to have the same ECs, GPA and MCAT scores as other applicants. And it will be your ECs and intangibles that make you desirable to the adcomms, rather than your major.
Math provides an excellent Plan B for med school hopefuls since a math degree , esp. one with a biostatistics emphasis, has the potential to be highly employable. (Most entry level biostats positions currently require a MS or MPH, though.)
And while it’s admirable to aim for specific med schools, you won’t know for several years if you’re competitive enough for either Cornell or Stanford. Don’t get hung up on the name of your med school. Actually where you do your residency is more important. than where you graduate from. Med grads from mid and low ranked med school match to top programs every year . As an example, this year, our state med school–ranked in the 70s–sent grads to residencies at Harvard/MassGeneral, Yale, JHU, Stanford, UCLA, UCSF, Vanderbilt, UTSW and Mayo.
BTW, I assume you know Cornell’s med school is in NYC and not on the main Ithaca campus.
To quote my school’s dean of admissions
There’s no one thing that will have a significant impact of improving your chances. In fact I think MIT’s applying sideways blog (http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways) is equally applicable to medical school admissions. Your application is a story, not a checklist. There are many ways to tell the story of “I am the type of person you can imagine in an exam room with a patient,” and there are plenty of people who did some prestigious thing who still fail to do that.
Why was Cornell your dream school? That may not be a factor in having it be a dream medical school. I went to IC, which is just across town from Cornell, and understand why you would love to live in Ithaca. The med school, however, is in New York City.
Get the best grades that you can while in college. Get involved with research projects if you can. Get to know a couple of professors and establish relationships with them so that you will have great references. Volunteer in a medical setting to show interest in the medical field. Practice, practice, practice the MCAT.
It’s pretty simple. A medical education is quite rigorous and the schools don’t want to be admitting students who will struggle. After that, they are interested in what kind of a physician you will be.
Thanks everyone for all your help! I will take all your thoughts into consideration. Trying to become a doctor is tough, I am the first in my family to go to college, so trying to be a doctor is quite ambitious. I will work hard the next four years and try to get into medical school. Thanks again!