<p>Hi I am a high school senior who is going to major in biology in college. I know for a fact that I have a passion for medicine and only want to become a doctor, not really in it for the money. I was wondering if any med school students or pre-med students or doctors have any general advice on what to start thinking about and doing now to better my chances for being admitted into medical school. If you need any other information just post. THank you!:)</p>
<p>This whole forum is pretty much dedicated to that, definitely flip through some older threads. Consider getting involved in volunteering, explore non-science/medical interests, have fun in college, take your education seriously but don’t take it too seriously.</p>
<p>Start first at the top 3 or 4 sticky threads in this subforum and read through those. Pretty much every imaginable general question is answered in those pages. </p>
<p>If you have a specific question then it will be easier to answer then. Largely the answer is go to school to learn, stop trying to game the system that so many people spend so much worrying about. The nitpicky details are far overblown in importance by Premeds and often people learn later that they spent way too much energy at gaining that 1-2%</p>
<p>The system itself is pretty basic – don;t get arrested, don’t cheat, limit your ‘party’ time but don’t spend 100 hours a week studying (that’s more for Med School), do well in your classes, learn the information either in classes or selfstudy to do well on the MCAT, gain some experience in life both with some Medical EC or research experience (because you like to do it NOT b/c you think it will good on a resume) and/or general life skills dealing with people and groups. </p>
<p>Pet Peeve – has the word “Passion” become the new Pro-active or Networking. Man that word is starting the grate. I guess I have a short fuse for the buzzword of the week: Med Interview “Why do you want to go into Medicine” “Sir, I really just like to help people.” Every Adcom members eyes immediately roll upward, brains turn off, and the first thought is “Next”</p>
<p>Just do well and you’ll get in. People generally over-exaggerate a bit too much when it comes to the difficulty of getting into med school. If you study hard and know your ****, you’ll get in.</p>
<p>But if you want Harvard, Penn or Johns Hopkins- that’s a different story.</p>
<p>@cys19: So what’s the story… the different story, I mean?</p>
<p>He means that you have to be pretty exceptional within the premed applicant pool to get in.</p>
<p>Yes, get as close as possible to GPA=4.0 and MCAT=34+ and you should be fine. Do not forget about EC’s, but nothing extraordinary, no publication is needed. Again, Harvard, JHU, WUSL, Chicago…some others will look into something else that we mere mortals are not aware of. You cannot read their mind, do not waste time. But if you want to apply there, why not? Go ahead, spend your $90 application fee, do not listen to anybody who says no. You will need to work very hard at any UG that you choose to attend, it is not easy… but again there are geniuses out there, you might be one of them.</p>
<p>Begin by graduating high school with a good GPA. That’s all for now. Honestly, live in the present (but have tentative plans for the future).</p>