<p>OP, no one was being rude, just blunt and honest. Most people with your stats aren't ready for medical school.</p>
<p>Niddumas are you a medical student?</p>
<p>To the OP, ignore what these pessimists are trying to tell you. You can definitely become a doctor if you feel like it. The important part is to simply do well in college. I would advise you to work hard, get into the best school you can, or your flagship state university, and study in a medical related field. </p>
<p>There's many medical schools in the US. As long as you don't insist on going to Harvard Medical School only, there are many options you can take to ensure that you can become a doctor.</p>
<p>I think being a doctor is pretty boring, and that usually people become doctors for the financial aspects, but that's just my take :). (Please don't flame me for that.)</p>
<p>Also Kareem, most people here on CC come from slack high schools, which is why people may disparage you for your sort of low GPA. Don't worry about it though, for Med school, what matters most is college GPA, MCAT, and your recs. (This is from the medical adviser at Caltech.)</p>
<p>1.) Do not ignore any source of data. But be aware of its limitations.</p>
<p>2.) There exist some people who are simply not qualified to become physicians. We don't know whether the OP is one of them. It is too early to tell. But it is not true to tell him that "you can definitely become a doctor if you feel like it." It is possible -- we don't know -- that he is simply not capable.</p>
<p>3.) KKW is, of course, correct that the important thing is to do well in college.</p>
<p>4.) Many people do come from very poor high schools. A low GPA from a very strong high school is much better than a low GPA from a poor high school. KKW is right. However, the OP has not told us how good his high school is. It might be an excellent, Andover or Exeter-type school. It might be a pretty-good public high school. It might be one of the "slack high schools" mentioned in KKW's post.</p>
<p>KKW is completely right that your high school record does not matter. The only reason anybody is suggesting concern is that high school record has SOME predictive value as to college record. That's all.</p>
<p>Your high school record does not influence your admission to med school at all. However, getting into, going to and graduating from med school requires a substantial time commitment and ability. No matter how hard I train I cannot run the 100 in 10 seconds. If you focus in college you can get into med school if you have the ability AND desire (That means not doing many things you may want to do in college and beyond). Many, many people have the smae wants you do and insisit that they are going to med school and don't. Many due to rejection, many recognize it is not what they want.</p>
<p>One more thing; med schoolin Egypt is not free. Somebody pays for it.</p>
<p>Dude, OP, I never said you can't get in. You can, but from your high school record, you don't appear as an avg med school applicant. Who knows, maybe a clean slate in college will help you out. Anyways, I re-read my post and I come off as a dick. I had a tough week at school and I'm planning on applying to med school too, so I maybe got mad. Anyways, good luck and you can do it if you actually do it. As a vocal sample in "To Make Manifest" by Thavius Beck says, "Thoughts determine what you want, actions determine what you get."</p>
<p>CamaroLover, UMDNJ is a university with 3 medical schools: New Jersey Medical School in Newark, where my spouse and I are faculty; Robert Wood Johnson in Piscataway or Camden (preclinical) and New Brunswick, and the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Camden.<br>
visit us at <a href="http://www.umdnj.edu%5B/url%5D">http://www.umdnj.edu</a></p>
<p>My parents are also immigrants, so i know what your facing.. The main thing is to talk to people who have went to college here.. alumni, people from your school who graduated, college fairs..
your voluntary services look good.. esp since you did them in Egypt..how else are you involved in your community? however the SATs may be an issue.. what was ur Verbal and math scores? those are crucial.. you may also need a killer essay/ reccomendations..
Have you thought about becoming a PA? (physician's assistant) .. It is a four year program, and if you really want to be a full physician afterwards, you can take your MCATs then after the 4 years.. so you have a back up plan 2. a lot of my friends are doing that . seeing how medical school is so costly and competitive. My cousin graduated from premed with good scores/ extracurriculars in 2001 and she just got accepted to medical school in 2007.. How commited are you?
the main thing to remember is that it doesnt matter how you do on the SATs or your GPA in high school. . as long as you do in College.. I'm sure you have the drive and ambition to become a dr. .</p>
<p>Some schools also have programs for disadvantaged students .. whose scores do not truley reflect their success. try checking colleges for those.. I knoe NY has the HEOP program .. check if nj has something like that.. it won't slow you down, but it will also benefit you..
Good Luck!</p>
<p>at least you're African American, if that helps at all</p>
<p>It would help a lot, but I don't think Egyptian qualifies.</p>
<p>lol I just realized that you lived in Egypt...so my comment was a little relevant after all.</p>
<p>Here's a word of advice: with your grades, there's no way you'll be rejected from med school here - and that's a fact! (My brother is in his third year there, so I'm familiar with the requirements). So why not do your post grad in the US after completing your education over here. There's another upside to it as well: the yearly tuition is about $20, so I guess it's pretty affordable. wouldn't you agree?</p>
<p>
[quote]
So why not do your post grad in the US after completing your education over here.
[/quote]
Because this is really, really hard to do.</p>
<p>not really. I know lots of kids who did their seven years of med school over here (with top grades, of course) then took the American Board exam, passed, and went to the US.
Of course the int'l success rate on that test is about 51% only, so that might be a problem. But other than that, I don't see why it shouldn't work.</p>
<p>
[quote]
with top grades, of course
[/quote]
Is this guaranteed?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Of course the int'l success rate on that test is about 51% only, so that might be a problem. But other than that, I don't see why it shouldn't work.
[/quote]
Other than that? Why do we need anything other than that?</p>
<p>And, if you really do need something other than that, then statistics clearly indicate that even among those who apply for the match, only half of them are matched anywhere. Those are bad odds.</p>
<p>all I can say is: study. Of course the grades aren't guaranteed, you have to work for them. And the statistic is just that; it doesn't really mean anything. It's not a difficult test, so I've been told, and alot of people from here go on to have very successfull lives abroad. But as I said, nothing comes easily; it takes a huge amount of work, and if you think you're up to it, then I suggest you apply for med school here, and see how it goes from there.</p>
<p>So you might get good grades. If you do, you might pass the boards. If you do, you might match into a US residency of some kind.</p>
<p>Sounds like a waste of a lot of time and a lot of squandered US-based resources.</p>
<p>Stay in your home country. Get a college education there. Go to medical school where you eventually want to practice. Just be normal.</p>
<p>^ Okay so be normal and do undergrad from here...but still you're in the same spot... you work really hard to get a good GPA and study tons for the MCAT only to find out there is no guarantee of getting into med school? Because no, grades and hard work wont cut it, you gotta have hours upon hours of research, shadowing.. how is that not a waste if you don't get in? If you were a FMG atleast you would have had a MD degree and could have eventually ended up practicing.</p>
<p>1.) It's been four years, not seven.
2.) You still have a US-based BS.
3.)
[quote]
If you were a FMG atleast you would have had a MD degree and could have eventually ended up practicing.
[/quote]
Not in the US, you couldn't.</p>
<p>You can either go to college, take the MCAT, and find out you're not going to be practicing medicine or go abroad, go through the hell of med school and the USMLE's, and find out you're not going to be practicing medicine.</p>
<p>I like the first one better. College is much easier than med school. The MCAT is easier to study for than the USMLE's. Plus, with the first option, you should have a decent backup career since you can major in whatever you want. With the second option, you're stuck with a foreign MD and no other skills.</p>
<p>BDM and I posted at the same time. Similar lines of thinking.</p>
<p>Since when could you not practice in the US as a FMG? Correct me if im wrong but FMG's account for a large percentage of physicians here in the U.S.A. Way to be naive.</p>