@iwannabe_Brown What did you mean by
“Even after I committed to going that route, I still hated much of what, in my opinion, being pre-med stood for”
Also, did you take a gap year?
@mom2collegekids Did your son take a gap year?
Thankfully Brown is relatively devoid of this behavior, but I was referring to the stereotypical pre-med attitude: grades are more important than knowledge, school is a competition to be the best, doing things “to look good” for medical school, etc.
And yes, I did take a gap year because had I not, my application would have been submitted way too late (I hadn’t even begun MCAT prep before the end of junior year), and I didn’t have enough research yet to be even remotely competitive for MD/PhD.
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@mom2collegekids Did your son take a gap year?
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No. He applied during the summer after junior year. He went to med school straight from undergrad.
Why do you ask?
@mom2collegekids I was just wondering how necessary a gap year is to be competitive for med school.
Gap years are not necessary. The majority of students that my S graduated with from med school came straight from college, just like mom2collegekids’ S. What is necessary, however, is a competitive app, period (and I’m not just talking about GPAs/MCAT). A competitive app is something that may require gap year(s) because of need (eg grade repair), or sometimes simply by choice. So how necessary a gap year is, is student dependent. There is no one size fits all kinda answer.
Maybe this link will be helpful
https://www.aamc.org/students/aspiring/324772/gapyear.html
You got to have some life and fun at college. Why don’t you have combo of major(s) / minor(s). Many do!! But they do not constantly think about GPA / MCAT, etc. they just do their best I every single class and it works!
…in regard to “Also, how would taking an extra year affect your MCAT?” - I do not know, but I would predict that taking gap year would affect MCAT score negatively. D. made sure to take MCAT 2 weeks (she regretted such a long break later, she complained that it cut her summer time) after her finals in Physics and one of those upper Bio classes that are helpful on MCAT (either physiology or genetics). She said that this way, the material was still fresh in her head. She was not much into Physics, her favorite was Gen. Chen, she did not need to study Gen. Chem. for the MCAT at all.
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how would taking an extra year affect your MCAT?
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When were you planning on taking the MCAT? You should take it soon after you’re done with the prereqs, which should be around end of junior year.
As I stated above though, someone not taking a gap year must complete the MCAT ideally by early may after junior year (since ideally you should submit AMCAS the day it opens with scores in hand), at the latest by the end of june requiring MCAT prep concurrent with school and working on your AMCAS app. A person taking a gap year has the luxury of taking it at the end of the summer after junior year with MCAT prep occurring outside of school or working on AMCAS. My commitments during the school year (D1 athlete, fraternity stuff, school in general) far exceeded a full time job so studying for the MCAT and working on AMCAS on top of all of that would have been a hindrance. The gap year allowed me to do MCAT prep on top of just a full time job, and then I could work on AMCAS all during senior year (although I actually I took 1 month off between graduating and my job and just did it all then, submitting my AMCAS on an acceptable, but not ideal late June day).
So, depending on your school schedule, that gap year can make a huge difference on your MCAT based on the amount of time you can devote to it.
@Jugulator20 Thanks for providing the link!
@MiamiDAP I definitely would consider a major/minor study, what did your D take?
@mom2collegekids Definitely after pre-reqs, but I would probably want to get some MCAT prep done…which a gap year might be useful for…
@iwannabe_Brown Aside from retaining knowledge from college studies there is really no downside to gap year right (if you didn’t blow the year and do nothing). How much of MCAT prep did you feel you needed to be prepared? (i know it varies per person but I want to know a rough estimate of how much time i should dedicate)
Also could anyone having done (or have any info) Biomedical Sciences shed some light on relevancy to med school, pre-reqs, attainable high GPA (generally) etc.
Thanks
RE: biomedical science --I looked at some of the course requirements at different schools. I would say it depends on what college you’re attending. There doesn’t appear to be a great of consistency from one school to the next about what exactly is a biomedical science major. At one program, biomed science was the de facto pre-vet major. At most others, it’s clinical lab science --which is a vocational degree designed for individuals who want to be hospital/clinical lab techs or pathology assistants. Neither of those are ideal pathways for a pre-med. If the college you plan to attend offers a BMS degree that doesn’t fall into either of the above categories, then it might be a viable major for a pre-med.
And I’m not IWBB, but D1 & D2 both dedicated about 2 months to MCAT prep. (Both were on gap years and both were working more than full time while also doing MCAT prep.)
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Definitely after pre-reqs, but I would probably want to get some MCAT prep done…which a gap year might be useful for…
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When will you be done with prereqs? Wouldn’t that be junior year?
I prepped for the MCAT over the course of 2 months (mid June to mid August). On week nights probably just a couple hours a day. On the weekends, closer to 5 or 6 hours. We’re talking about 7 years ago at this point so the only thing I know for sure is the 2 months.
In terms of downside, technically you’re giving up a year of peak salary but of course then the question becomes if your peak salary would be different if you didn’t take the gap year.
@WayOutWestMom Thanks for the information, which pre-med majors would you recommend? What did your D1 and D2 take?
I don’t recommend any particular major because different individuals have different interests and academic strengths. I’ve met individuals with a wide range of majors (including agriculture, Italian, geography, electrical engineering, sociology, psychology, business, English lit, Latin American studies, music theory & performance, and even one who graduated from divinity school before applying to med school–so a theology major, plus all the usual suspects–biochem, bio, chem, neuroscience) who were admitted to med school.
Choose a major that you’ll enjoy. (There’e empirical research demonstrating that students who like their majors do better academically.) And one you know you’ll do well in.
As for my daughters—
D1-- double major in physics and applied mathematics with a minor in chemistry
D2-- double major in applied mathematics and biological neuroscience
My daughter has not yet applied (class of 2017 cycle) but she is double majoring in English lit and biology. Why? Because she loves both subjects. Major in something you like. Med schools don’t care.
maintaining a high GPA
preparing for MCAT
preparing for rigor of med
completion of pre-reqs
Others may disagree, but I can only based my opinion on D’s experience. She graduated from Med. School in May.
I do not think that major is important for the first 3 of the 4 above. Some major will require more efforts than others though. Specifically, engineering is the hardest of them all. But maintaining a 4.0 in engineering is still possible and some on CC are done it. Well, we are still talking about UG. Do your work in every class, do it on time, do it correctly and seek help when there is slightest doubt in understanding of the concept. These will lead to A in class. No genius is required, but, again, many here believe so.
You will have to prepare for the MCAT, no matter what is your major. One exception is if you are particularly very good at some subject(s). Again, D. mentioned that upper Bio classes (physiology, genetics, others) were very helpful. Do not get me wrong, she still took formal Kaplan class and was preparing for MCAT a lot outside of classes. She also said that scheduling the MCAT right after her junior spring finals (Physics, physiology) was helpful. Again, major does not matter. D. took the old MCAT, but maybe she would be better at new one, she took tons of psych classes for her neuroscience minor.
D. said that one cannot prepare in UG for the rigor of med. school. According to her, the academic level of classes in med. school is quantum leap higher than in UG. However, what has helped her is great time management skill that she has developed since age of 5. Being excessively busy with your life will help. She kept herself very very busy in UG, many ECs (all medical ECs were done during school year), job, 2 minors, even tried her sport in freshman year, had to drop it later. This enabled her to continue being involved with ECs even at Med. School and these helped later when she applied to residency. Anyway, keeping yourself busy at college is a good idea, again, major does not matter.
Yes, some majors will have all med. schools pre-reqs included. But, again, you should choose your combo of major (s) /minor(s) based on your interests. You do not want to put yourself thru 4 years of misery in UG, you want to have a satisfied life in college, otherwise, it simply will not work.
Best wishes!
I went to school with the intention of applying to med school or some other health professional school. I majored in biology and minored in chemistry. I had the grades but did not take the MCAT because I was burned out. Biology/chem majors are not easy! Is it easier than engineering? Well, only if you find the application of engineering courses difficult. Engineering requires much higher level math courses than a bio degree, though a chem degree probably comes close in math in most places (at least a BS in chemistry). My daughter who is in a ChemE program will end up taking only about one more chem course than I did for a minor. But she’ll take much more math plus the engineering courses.
Personally, after getting my undergrad degree and working in industry for a while before returning to grad school, I say IF you can do the high level math well (read that as without stressing and struggling constantly), I’d go for an engineering degree so I’d have more options (and honestly, more respect and better pay should you decide to work a little before med school). I realize that GPA thing is a big deal, and some engineering programs are notorious for lower GPAs, but still, majoring in bio or chem are no guarantee to high GPA either. I see students going into MS programs in anatomy and such in order to get accepted to med school. It’s not all bad (especially for maturity and analytical thinking skills), but certainly adds to the debt load and time commitment.
And as a side note, I’d suggest reading this article: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/05/27/407967899/a-top-medical-school-revamps-requirements-to-lure-english-majors. Very interesting approach, but certainly not for everyone. I have met Spanish majors who are med students. How they did it, I don’t know, but it does happen.