<p>I went to Brown, now I’m at Penn MD-PhD. Ask your questions.</p>
<p>Besides getting good grades, what do I DO?
I’m not REALLY interested in research, but I plan on at least looking at a couple of labs to see if there’s anything I fall in love with.
Do I start reading MCAT books now? (I didn’t get PLME.) Which ones?
Besides getting good grades, what did YOU do as a pre-med at Brown that set you apart?</p>
<p>Sorry if these questions seem really dumb or too generic. I just know I want to be a psychiatrist and that I want to major in cognitive neuroscience, but pretty much nothing about how to really succeed as a pre-med.</p>
<p>I was building on some questions and was about to make a thread to ask, but this is just perfect 
What would be better:
-to take the minimum premed requirements, and choose any other course that I may feel like, while having a non-science/science major
-take the minimum required subjects and build on that, like if they require a year of chemistry and lab, I would do 3 years of chem and lab?
How important is research? I believe I would enjoy it but will it help my application to med school?
When is the best time to take the MCAT?
What are the best courses to take in preparation for the MCAT?
Is a 4.0 GPA hard to attain and is it a shoe-in from Brown to a good Med school?
I tend to grasp well in class, so if the professor is great at explaining, I know i can be expected to do really well. Which concentration would you suggest for someone like that, while still being science, eg Nueroscience, Psychology, Human Biology etc?
Does the Biological subject that I concentrate in decide which hospital I will eventually be matched up with during residency??? Like if my undergrad concentration is Nuero, will I end up being matched with Nuerology,etc?(You may not be able to answer this, but hopefully you can try :))</p>
<p>I really hope you can help out :)</p>
<p>^^ good questions!</p>
<p>Also, what importance does the major play in getting into med school. For instance, I’ve heard of students who’ve majored in history/art/English but were premed because these classes are supposedly easier to maintain a higher gpa in than biological classes. Is this true? & if so, will it help the med process?</p>
<p>Alright, so for whatever dumb reason I can’t get the quote mechanism on this board to work. I’m just going to c+p if that’s ok with everyone.</p>
<p>Potterpie:</p>
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<p>A good application has several pillars. Good grades and recommendations are important. A demonstrated interest in medicine (through volunteer work, advocacy, club presidencies) is equally important. If you want to get into a top med school, research is also important. An ideal application will have good GPA, MCAT, recs, presidency/membership in some campus organization(s) related to service, and a long history of research (with pubs, though not necessary. Research is a whole separate discussion I’d love to have).</p>
<p>Keep in mind that research encompasses many things. You don’t have to do benchwork; working with doctors at the medical school who are doing studies directly on patients is something a lot of people like doing.</p>
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<p>At this point, I would pick up just a basic book and flip through it to see what you’re facing. The content of the MCAT is surprisingly similar to AP Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (with the exception of the organic chemistry). You may find that looking at it now will put you at ease. If it doesn’t, you at least know what you’re facing. You don’t have to go too crazy about it now though, if you choose not to. Just randomly flip open a book the next time you’re at Borders.</p>
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<p>Me personally? I was pretty vanilla. This isn’t updated: [MDapplicants.com</a> - View Profile](<a href=“http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=10571]MDapplicants.com”>http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=10571). Ignore the MCAT score. </p>
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<p>Your questions are neither dumb nor generic. They are very important. There are many intelligent applicants who would thrive at great medical schools, but don’t make it because they don’t know how to play the game right. Esp at Brown where Dean Simmons is…not the best.</p>
<p>Studyzone:</p>
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<p>You’re asking an interesting question because people do both. If I had to chose one of your two options, I would pick the second one. You don’t necessarily have to do 3 years of chem (I was a biochem major and I think I did like 2.5 classes solely in the chem dept), but showing that you’re not afraid of advanced science classes is a good idea (esp because advanced biology only helps in medical school). </p>
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<p>VERY and YES. Esp for top medical schools. If you think you’ll enjoy it, that’s even more reason to get pipettin’</p>
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<p>As early as you’re comfortable, before the summer after Junior year (I think may is the drop dead day). Brown’s monthlong winter break was a golden opportunity to study, so I took it in the January of my 3rd year.</p>
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<p>It can be tricky, but I’ve seen it done. And it is far from a shoo-in [is it shoe or shoo?]. In fact having a lower GPA with more ECs is better. If you have a 4.0 and nothing else, you won’t do very well.</p>
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<p>I would not worry about professors who are bad at explaining things. The majority of profs I had were perfectly good at that (with one exception being BI1270), so there is no need to sacrifice any kind of rigor for that reason. Besides, its not like the less rigorous the subject the better the teachers. I will warn you to stay away from Human Biology, as it is the absolute bottom of the pile. A rough ranking of rigor goes something like Biochem ~ Biophysics > Straight Bio ~ Neuro > Psych ~ Cog sci > Human Bio.</p>
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<p>Not in the least. People major in art and go to med school; your UG work has little bearing on where you end up. I did drosophila genetics at Brown, and I have no intention of doing anything related to that.</p>
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<p>Wisdom908:</p>
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<p>This is a somewhat complex and contentious issue. Let me start with the hard facts. About half the people in my medical school class majored in a non-hard-science subject. Now how many of those double-majored or minored in something sciency, I can’t say. That seems to suggest that you can major in anything and go to med school. And its very tempting to major in a non-science subject, where in many cases the grading is easier.</p>
<p>Now let me offer the flipside. Its my sincere belief that people with a solid science background in college do better in medical school. This is mainly based on anecdotal evidence. From my own personal experience, the skills needed in medical school classes are basically identical to many of the skills I used in my major. In fact, I thought the med school classes were a little easier. </p>
<p>The bottom line is, if you’re shying away from majoring in a science because its too hard, med school will kick your behind. Don’t do it. If you’re legitimately interested in a non-science subject and want to major in it, do it. But don’t do it because you perceive it as easier. Not only does it set up a bad precedent for yourself, your interviewers will be able to see right through you a lot of the time.</p>
<p>You mention that taking a few years of chem is good because it shows your willingness to take advanced classes. If I concentrate in Biology, will the advanced biology courses show such a willingness or should prospective med school applicants choose advanced chemistry and physics classes?</p>
<p>Brown Alum in MD/PhD program at top 20 school here.</p>
<p>Zulatooka,</p>
<p>Other than the required classes, take the classes you want to take. I took the basic physics classes and a year of orgo and that was it for my non bio sciences.</p>
<p>Is it detrimental to your Application if you take all your classes as pass/fail?
How would you have a GPA if you take all your classes as pass/fail?</p>
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Easy answer: you won’t get into any med school nor will you get a secondary application for the top schools. If you read the admissions sites for top med schools, they say that they specifically don’t want pass/fail classes.
You don’t have a GPA.</p>
<p>All S/NC might not be the choice to make if you’re thinking about applying to med school, but if you’re curious about some people who choose to go gradeless, here is a recent BDH article about taking everything S/NC
[</a>" + artTitle.replace(“-”,“”) + " - " + “The Brown Daily Herald” + "](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/off-the-mark-ditching-grades-for-s-nc-1.2519266]”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/off-the-mark-ditching-grades-for-s-nc-1.2519266)</p>
<p>While I suspect it is a bad idea and would definitely not recommend the all S/NC route (or even any S/NC within your major or pre-med classes), I believe gunit5 is exaggerating a bit (although I agree that you probably wouldn’t get in anywhere unless you were doing something ridiculous on top of school) seeing as I see nothing on my school’s website about pass/fail, and most schools only technically require that you pass the course.</p>
<p>I know someone who graduated Brown (circa 1983 or 1984) who took all his classes pass/fail. What he did to supplement all his grades were letters of recommendation from every single professor that ever taught him at Brown.</p>
<p>Unconventional? Yes, but he is now a top executive at Amgen.</p>
<p>Thanks soo much. When you said:</p>
<p>Keep in mind that research encompasses many things. You don’t have to do benchwork; working with doctors at the medical school who are doing studies directly on patients is something a lot of people like doing.</p>
<p>How can I do this? I haven’t liked my neuroscience lab because most of what I do is just histology, but working with actual doctors doing studies on patients sounds amazing. Would I just explore Alpert’s website, pick a doctor doing neuro/psych research, and email him with a resume asking to work with him? What qualifications are they looking for among freshmen undergraduates who want to work with doctors? I’d assume that my high school accomplishments don’t matter to them.</p>
<p>How soon do you recommend diving into medical ECs? Do non-medical ECs, like a capella and student government, interest medical schools, too?</p>
<p>I also saw on your profile (thank you for sharing) that you shadowed a psychiatrist. I’m not sure how to approach doctors to shadow, either. Do you just email them, too, with a resume attached? Are potential shadowees looking for the same qualifications that researching doctors are from undergraduates?</p>
<p>Hi Potterpie,</p>
<p>I didn’t really do any medical ECs until the year after I graduated (I don’t recommend this approach). I was a varsity athlete, heavily involved in greek life leadership, and a Kaplan tutor/teacher. Non medical ECs are fine and encouraged, but definitely have 1 medical one.</p>
<p>In terms of getting involved, yes, it really is that simple. E-mail people, ask them if they take on undergrads either to shadow or assist in research. (essentially you’re writing a cover letter) You could send a resume or not in the first e-mail. A lot of people say you should, I usually didn’t (when I was looking for research opps, and then my clinical exposure came from someone I already knew). I would say through your sophomore year in college you could list things from high school. You are right that they mean less than college stuff, but it’s better to have your resume take up most of the page, and people understand that as a freshman/sophomore in college, you will probably have to prove your talents through your high school involvement. By junior year you should have enough to fill up a resume without including high school things (other than maybe an award or something).</p>
<p>As a freshman there is probably not much you can do unless you already have some experience, but many professors want to teach/train you and you can get your foot in the door by being part of a lab doing SCUT work, eventually progressing to doing more advanced stuff as you learn more. Every type/field of research requires different skills, so I cannot comment on neuro/psych research.</p>
<p>I don’t think any doc would keep you from shadowing based on any “skills” you might be lacking as shadowing entails just observing. They may ask for a resume or something just to get an idea of who you are.</p>
<p>“If I concentrate in Biology, will the advanced biology courses show such a willingness or should prospective med school applicants choose advanced chemistry and physics classes?”</p>
<p>Yeah this should be enough. You’ll have to take enough chem anyway. </p>
<p>“I know someone who graduated Brown (circa 1983 or 1984) who took all his classes pass/fail. What he did to supplement all his grades were letters of recommendation from every single professor that ever taught him at Brown.”</p>
<p>This is by far the exception and not the rule; I wouldn’t advise doing anything like this.</p>
<p>“In terms of getting involved, yes, it really is that simple. E-mail people, ask them if they take on undergrads either to shadow or assist in research.”</p>
<p>Yes. Email a LOT of people, though. Like >20.</p>
<p>“As a freshman there is probably not much you can do unless you already have some experience, but many professors want to teach/train you and you can get your foot in the door by being part of a lab doing SCUT work, eventually progressing to doing more advanced stuff as you learn more.”</p>
<p>Very true. The undergrads in my lab’s first job was to make the fly food and pour it into the little vials. I graduated to benchwork a few weeks later though.</p>
<p>Ouch! I picked Human Bio as my concentration when I applied, and on reading your post about it being at the “bottom of the pile,” I’m scared now :(</p>
<p>If I were to do a double major in Human Bio and Int’l Relations, how would that fare in the MD app process? Or would it not have any effect?</p>
<p>^ I’m not premed, but I just wanted to let you know that they recently changed the requirements for International Relations. You can definitely do premed and IR, but I think it has 20 requirements now (with or without a language requirement?). Then you have a few premed requirements. Some people only that 4 classes a semester, so that would leave you with 12 free spots to take premed classes. If you’re interested in doing a lot of exploration with different classes at Brown, keep that in mind or consider taking 5 classes a semester after freshman year.</p>
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You’re certainly not bound to your choice on your application. In fact, you won’t be a human bio concentrator unless you formally declare it in your sophomore year. You shouldn’t do a concentration that’ll make you unhappy, though.</p>
<p>Your application to medical school will rely on way more than your concentration. If Human Bio is what you want to do, then do it. If you want to do IR, then do that. If you want to double, then do that. If you’re doing any of this things ONLY because you think it helps you for med school, don’t do it.</p>