<p>I am a senior in high school and struggling with the decision to get into pre-med. On one side i would love to be a doctor and i would definitely enjoy it. However, the main thing is that i dont know if im smart enough or have the work ethic to go through all of med school. I know that my stats as a high school student are probably not representative of my potential as a pre-med student but i just want to get some opinions.
Currently, i have a 3.8 gpa with a 32 on ACT(36, 35, 26, 32) taking AP chem, Bio, calc BC.
I know that my gpa could be higher, the only things that brought me down were Spanish and Literature. I feel like even getting a 32 was difficult for me, wouldnt the MCAT be loads more difficult?</p>
<p>So to people who have gone through premed/med school, do you think there is hope for me to survive through med school? I know I have the ability to persevere, just dont know about getting the grades.</p>
<p>Note: Again, i just want to know some peoples experiences and opinions. I know that my high schools stats may not correlate to college success. It just seems that everyone going through med school were ridiculously intelligent and got great grades in high school as well.</p>
<p>Agree with IWBB- you need to do things in order- start out with the premed curriculum (very few schools have a premed major) and see how you can handle the workload. Some schools are more rigorous than others. I don’t see why you doubt yourself at this point. A 3.8 GPA and 32 MCAT are things to be proud of. Medical school is rigorous, no doubt about it. I still remember my first year finals- slept about 20 hours the whole week. If you really don’t feel that you can dedicate the time and put your life on hold for many years, then perhaps it isn’t your cup of tea. But I really don’t think that you’ve given an indication that you wouldn’t be prepared for the rigorous workload ahead.</p>
<p>Way too early. How you feel now has no consiquences. You will have to go thru college, which will be much harder than HS, you have to grow personally and then assess everything sooner or later. Hopefully you will have very early weed out killer class that will make it or break it for you. Unfortunately, not all programs are designed to have it in the first semester of freshman year.</p>
<p>Pre-med is a label. Take the label if you want, but at this point it doesn’t really matter much. Take some of the necessary courses and see how it goes. If you’re a science major, you’ll probably be doing that anyway. Find somewhere to volunteer or shadow. There’s no way you could be expected to know at this point if medical school is right for you. Play it by ear, try some things out, and keep an open mind about pre-med and alternatives.</p>
<p>“What was that 26 on the ACT?”
-I did not ask because I had a feeling that it is Reading (or Verbal, not sure about section name). This combo of scores is sooo familiar!!!</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP
yes it was Reading. Reading for me is just a problem of reading actively to actually understand the passage. </p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I understand it is extremely early, its just i do not want to be changing my decisions frequently. I live in Michigan so i plan to either go to Umichigan ann arbor or Michigan State. </p>
<p>Its just that I feel like the MCAT will be 100 times harder than the ACT and that iv heard the MCAT is big on reasoning and reading. </p>
<p>Do you think that the amount of preparation for the MCAT will be a really large part in doing well. I ask this because i feel like my test taking skills for standardized tests are much weaker compared to other tests</p>
<p>As you’ll learn in college (since many high schools don’t really operate this way), the “amount” of work you do is meaningless. It’s the “quality” of your work that counts.</p>
<p>It’s way too early to be worrying about the MCAT. By the time you take it the format will be changed with more psychology and sociology emphasis. See how you do in the basics like Organic Chemistry and Biology. Volunteer in a hospital and/or shadow doctors and find out if the job is really right for you. Relax and enjoy college.</p>
<p>Agree with all the others. You’ll be fine should you choose to go down the med. school path.</p>
<p>For now, just fill out those college and scholarship applications, find a school that is a good fit for you, and enjoy what remains of senior year.</p>
<p>The MCATs will be harder but you also have more knowledge and maturity. Your 18 year old high school senior self will not be taking that test. Your 22 year old college grad self will be taking it. Don’t worry about MCATs now, you have lots of other hopes to jump through before that becomes an issue.</p>