<p>i am a sophomore in highschool and i want to be an orthopedic surgeon, i just dont know what would be a good college to go to for undergrad and what to major in...</p>
<p>any college that has average to above average reputation for its academics. For instance, I wouldn't recommend going to community college, but as rather enroll into a such that's somewhat known and competitive. Just remember, work you but off in undergraduate school, choose a major, or even double major that you enjoy. As long as you have taken the required courses for med. school, your major will not matter much. Overall, it's very important that you keep you GPA and MCAT score very high, and obtain good recommendations and show that you participated in activities. If you have more questions, search up medi. school majors. Your are not the only one that posted this question before.</p>
<p>The other thing I would reccomend is not to have your heart set on one specialty in medicine. </p>
<p>You are a long ways out from even getting into college, and actually choosing a residency program is a decade away for you (3 more years of HS, Minimum of 4 undergrad, and 3 - 3.5 of med school). I'm entering my second year of medical school, and I (along with 95% of my classmates) have only vague ideas of what type of specialty I/we want to go into. I started out a year ago wanting to go into ortho, and now I'm totally not interested. I'm hoping pediatric cardiology at the moment, but I know that it could change. The only thing I'm absolutely sure of is that I want to work with kids in some sort of specialty setting, and I'm farther along than most in that regard. Peds cardio, peds pulmonology, peds surgery, peds critical care, and so on are all very distinct possibilties.</p>
<p>So keep an eye out for other fields of medicine and just other careers in general. Most HSers don't recognize the huge number of occupations that exist. If I wasn't in medical school, I'd be going to grad school for a job that I didn't even recognize it existed until my freshmen year of college. I didn't even realize I would enjoy the job, and that it was something I could do until 2nd semester of junior year of college. So just be open minded about things.</p>
<p>Bigredmed, what's the key to med. school admittance? Being smart, working hard, or not giving up?</p>
<p>Combination of all 3...</p>
<p>Medical school admissions really are an examination of the complete individual. you can't just stand out in one area and make it. I know of several people who didn't get into to med school b/c of one area. One friend it was GPA, another a poor MCAT score, a third b/c of lack of experience with MD's, and yet another was rejected b/c of a horrible interview. Small things can keep you out. You have to be the complete package.</p>
<p>I consider myself a very "smart" person. Not to boast, but I've always done well on standardized tests, and was in the talented and gifted program all through elementary, junior high/HS years. But I had some setbacks in undergrad like a C+ in organic chem II. To be just one of the things you listed is not enough.</p>
<p>i had a "not so good" freshman year,, my gpa was a 3.8, so i think i can get that up.. but i was wondering if that will hurt me a lot, like not having a good freshman year..</p>
<p>hurt you a lot in what? </p>
<p>I don't think a 3.8 is that bad. </p>
<p>Unless you are hoping to get into an Ivy league school or other competitive school, (which I know very little about ivy admissions but there are places to look at on this site), then it shouldn't really impact you. You can go to a state university and enter medical school without a problem so don't think that you have to go to a really competitive admissions school.</p>
<p>when you apply for medical school, do they look all the way back to freshman year in high school. and if they do, & you didn't do so well.. but you did like really well sophomore, junior & senior year do they care about freshman year?</p>
<p>I think med schools are mostly focused on considering undergraduate studies, since it reflects your ability and knowledge up to date. They might consider something you did in high school such as if you received a international price for a research project, which would somewhat show your potential to the admissions people. In other worlds, they would mostly focus on your undergraduate GPA and MCAT score, rather than your high transcript.</p>
<p>Very, very few (I only know of one - WashU in St. Louis) look at anything from your HS academic record, and I think they only look at ACT/SAT, or maybe class rank. </p>
<p>Anything you did of note in HS you would have to include in your personal statement, as the AMCAS application explicitly states that you are only to include "post-secondary experiences" (read:after HS) on the application.</p>
<p>Further, you're only applying to be a doctor, not having your sins read back to you. While they're are some people who experience their calling to medicine before HS, (like myself), there are plenty of people who don't reach that turning point until well into college (I have one friend who decided in the summer before junior year of college). This isn't like applying for the CIA or other FBI (which do really thorough background checks of applicants for certain positions).</p>
<p>In short, HS accomplishments determine undergrad school. Undergrad accomplishments determine med school acceptance. But HS accomplishments don't matter to medical schools.</p>
<p>and again a 3.8 is not that bad.</p>