<p>When applying to schools, I applied asundecided but recently have decided that I would like to go into Pre-Med.</p>
<p>I was wondering if pre-med was a program that I can just sign up for in the beginning of the year? Or did I have to apply to a specific school within the schools I applied to? </p>
<p>I put in my application that I was undecided but interested in journalism and health care. But recently I realized I'm more interested in pre-med. Will this be a problem?</p>
<p>Schools I applied to: UM (accepted), BU, BC, Fordham, GW, Tufts, Holy Cross</p>
<p>“premed” is a label you give yourself; it just means you intend to take the relatively few classes required for applying to medical school. Some schools might allow you to sign up for specific advising, etc. if you are intending on a health career or may be even have a “pre-health” major, although the latter is pretty rare. But bottom line is you can complete the requirements and apply to med school no matter what college you attend.</p>
<p>There is an excellent premed guide online that I suggest you read; it is at [Amherst</a> College Guide for Premedical Students](<a href=“http://www3.amherst.edu/~sageorge/guide1.html]Amherst”>Amherst College Guide for Premedical Students) You can also find books about preparing for med school, lots of websites with info, etc.</p>
<p>Given your relatively recent decision med school is “right for you” I’d suggest the 1st thing you do before you get in too deep is find out more about it. That means understanding the years of training that is required, the costs, the types of jobs doctors do, etc. as well as the alternatives. IMHO to be able to make an informed decisionyou ought to do enough investigating to be able to give an impromptu 5-10 minute talk about how one enters the field, what one does in the field, and related careers in the same general line of work. I think a person should be able to do this for <em>any</em> career they’re considering or they haven’t really thought it thru enough. And BTW there are plenty of good jobs in the medical area that don’t require an M.D. and the time/expense it takes to get.</p>
<p>And as you’ll find when you look into it an unofficial requirement to get into med school is experience in a medical setting; before they let you in they want you to understand what the work will be like. You could start as a volunteer somewhere as early as this summer; better now than 2 years down the line in case you take the classes and then decide it isn’t for you after all.</p>
<p>*I was wondering if pre-med was a program that I can just sign up for in the beginning of the year? Or did I have to apply to a specific school within the schools I applied to?
*</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a “premed program” or a premed major. You major in whatever you want, and you also take the 8-10 courses that med schools require…</p>
<p>2 semesters of Bio
2 sems of Gen Chem
2 sems of OChem
2 sems of physics
1 sem of Calculus
and some med schools have other req’ts…such as Stats, BioChem, etc.</p>
<p>I put in my application that I was undecided</p>
<p>so, at some point, you can choose a major and just include those pre-med required courses.</p>
<p>I would suggest choosing a major that easily incorporates some of those req’d classes, but also prepares you for another career if you don’t end up going to med school.</p>
<p>BTW…Are you a strong student? Do you have high stats?</p>