Premed at Bama Questions - Ask Here - Anyone can reply

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>Too late to edit the post upthread, but needed some additions…(see Bold)</p>

<p>The med school app process for the traditional applicant:</p>

<p>Take the MCAT soph or junior year. ** It’s best to try to take the MCAT on the early side (late soph yr /summer between, or fall jr year) in case the test needs to be taken again.</p>

<p>Only in recent years has the idea of taking the MCAT more than once been seen as OK. In the past, that was more of a “no no”. It takes about a month to get the results of your MCAT exam. **</p>

<p>Come up with an application list based on your stats and whether your state residency matters. **A number of public SOMs do not accept any OOS students except for students with STRONG links to that state (former resident, undergrad in that state, etc) or MD/PhD or MD/XXX…so don’t be misled if you see OOS numbers on their reports. **</p>

<p>Junior year: ask several profs and others for LORs - ** at least one needs to be a prof from a science class ** Get those lined up. Your LORs will get sent to the Committee and from those AND from your Committee Interview, a Committee Letter will get created. ** Find out how many LORs the Committee will accept. I think when my son applied the Committee would only accept 5 LORs.</p>

<p>Work on Personal Statement a few months before starting the app. Bama has a class (honors?) that includes creating a PS for the med school app. **</p>

<p>Students do not directly apply to med schools. There is a central clearinghouse, AMCAS, that students use to apply. This is like a SUPER Common App process…but much more than a Common App. Everything goes thru AMCAS…your transcripts, LORs (or Committee Letter), your app, etc…all go thru AMCAS. AMCAS verifies your app (which takes 1-2 months), verifies your transcript, RECALCULATES your GPA to a standard method, and then your “App Package” (app, transcript, LORs/CL,), gets sent to the med schools that you’ve selected. ** An A+ is calculated as an A. Other pluses (B+) do receive extra pt consideration. **</p>

<p>** The AMCAS APP opens around May 1st. So a traditional applicant begins filling out his AMCAS app around that time. The app is huge. I think I remember it being around 17 pages, but I may be wrong about that.</p>

<p>Although med schools accept apps through about November, DO NOT WORK TOWARDS THAT DEADLINE. It is VERY IMPORTANT to get your app submitted to AMCAS by early-mid-summer. </p>

<p>Many premeds make the mistake of seeing the app deadline in Nov timeframe and work towards that. That is a death sentence unless you have some needed hook (male URM, etc). The issue is this: Med schools ONLY interview about 10% of applicants and those interview spots “fill up” with all those who get their apps in early. Schools may “hold back” a few interview spots for the super-hooked later applicant, but the regular applicant wouldn’t likely get one of those reserved spots. </p>

<p>Since it takes 1-2 months for AMCAS to verify an app, you can see that submitting the app to AMCAS in late-July could be “late” because AMCAS may not verify til Sept and then available interview spots become more rare. **</p>

<p>After schools finally receive your app info, Secondaries are sent out. Secondaries are usually a list of MORE questions and essays specific to each med school.</p>

<p>**The process gets expensive because you pay to apply to each school, you pay AGAIN to submit secondaries, you pay travel expenses to attend interviews, and so forth. Since notice for an interview is rather short-notice, if airfare is needed, the last-minute purchase can be quite high. </p>

<p>Some estimate the med school app process to cost between $5k-$10k (the higher end might include a MCAT prep class (about $2k)), depending on number of apps and travel costs. **</p>

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<p>Medically related opps in Tuscaloosa:</p>

<p>Shadowing at the Student Health Center</p>

<p>Shadowing at area doctors’ offices (Advising has lists of doctors you can contact, or contact some on your own)</p>

<p>Being a Scribe at DCH</p>

<p>Shadowing the Spanish interpreter at DCH (this is really interesting and your medical Spanish will improve - my son did this. The interpreter at DCH was a MD from another country who is waiting licensing here)</p>

<p>Volunteering at DCH</p>

<p><a href=“http://dchsystem.com/body.cfm?id=38084”>http://dchsystem.com/body.cfm?id=38084&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.volunteer.ua.edu/”>http://www.volunteer.ua.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.uabmedicine.org/giving/how-to-become-a-volunteer”>http://www.uabmedicine.org/giving/how-to-become-a-volunteer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://aed.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Service-Opportunities.pdf”>http://aed.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Service-Opportunities.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Bama coordinates at least one Medically-related overseas trip each year. This allows students to get hands-on experiences (taking vitals, assisting with physicals), while also getting to witness some surgeries, child birth, etc. </p>

<p>Mock Interviews: Bama brings in actual Interviewers from UAB SOM and USA SOM to do “mock interviews” so that students get a more realistic practice for real interviews.</p>

<p>Bama’s Committee also does Mock Interviews.</p>

<p>Signing up to be on the ListServ for Bama premed advising will alert you to the many Guest Speakers and other medically related opps that come up. If you’re a parent, then I suggest signing up as well. Students get so many emails that some of these important ones sometimes get overlooked. </p>

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<p>I wanted to readdress the issue of taking the MCAT more than one time. The following is from a mom who well knows the med school app process. She currently has one child in med school and a second child who will start med school in the fall…so she’s been thru all of this twice (and still lives to tell about it!!) Anyway, she posted the below and it’s worthwhile info to share:</p>

<p>"Different medical schools consider multiple MCAT scores differently. Some only consider the most recent; some look at an average of the scores. There is no ‘score choice’ for the MCAT–all scores get reported to all med schools a student applies to for up to 5 years after the original test date. (Rumored to be even longer than that.) And not a single medical school superscores.</p>

<p>Lastly, it’s really, really bad to retake the MCAT and score lower on the retake. Kiss of death.</p>

<p>So unless your S’s MCAT is way, way off (>5 points) his practice scores, or his MCAT score is so low (<28) it will seriously damage his chances for an acceptance, or his score is seriously unbalanced with any section <8, he shouldn’t consider a retake. AMCAS has data tables showing the likelihood of a score change. Once a student scores in the 31-33 range, his odds of improving his score are approx. equal to scoring lower on a retake. And most retaken scores are within +/- 2 points of the original score.</p>

<p>2 or 3 points on his MCAT score really won’t make much of difference how his application will be received, assuming his application is well rounded and competitive to begin with.</p>

<p>Med schools really prefer students who are ‘one and done’ because for all the standardized exams (USMLE, shelf exams) that med students take retakes aren’t allowed."</p>

<p>So the takeaway is that unless your score is not med school worthy, don’t retake. </p>

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<p>** More on medically-related ECs at Bama.</p>

<p>Many profs at Bama are doing medically-related research. Interested premeds should contact those profs to assist in those research opps. </p>

<p>The Caldwell Lab (Dr Guy Caldwell and Dr. Kim Caldwell) is one of the most famous labs at Bama. Their research involves studying malfunction in basic cellular mechanisms associated with diseases of the nervous system.
<a href=“http://bama.ua.edu/~gcaldwel/”>http://bama.ua.edu/~gcaldwel/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>But, there are many other profs who have medically-related labs with research opps available.
On many STEM professors’ webpages, they list what their current research is. Students contact those profs to pursue a student research position. If the initial contact is via email, attach a resume; if the initial contact is “in person,” then bring a resume.</p>

<p>A STEM prof will often mention student research opps during their classes. There are often emails sent to students that mention various opportunities.</p>

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<p>Another Medically-related opp…</p>

<p><a href=“Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama”>Education Abroad – International | The University of Alabama;

<p>The program to Ghana is a 2-4 week educational medical mission at a local community medical Center in Elmina, Ghana. A full range of health problems are seen at this District Health Center. Patients of all ages and genders are seen here. The primary activities include observing and participating in a traditional daily clinic and taking part in public health outreach to outlying more rural communities. Opportunities for visiting a psychiatric hospital and a leprosarium also exist, though the core program is a primary care experience.</p>

<p>This offers an opportunity to experience a health care system run on a $6.00/capita budget in a stable democratic African country. English is the official language in Ghana but many patients speak a version of Akan, the major indigenous language in Ghana. Cross-cultural communication and adaptation opportunities are also a part of the trip.</p>

<p>Courses:</p>

<p>Note: students are required to be enrolled in three hours of course work for this program.
CHS 423: Independent Study (3 hours)
CHS 622: International Community Health Elective (3 hours)</p>

<p>Excursions
May include:
Kakum National Park (Rain Forest)
Elmina Castle
Cape Coast Castle
Assin Manso Ancestral Park
Nzulezo
The village on water and in Accra Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park
Museum and Du Bois Centre</p>

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<p>OK not exactly a pre-med question per se but related.</p>

<p>My DD will be attending this fall on the Presidential and in HC. She has declared Chemistry as her major on the initial application with a minor in MicroBiology. Her intent is to eventually become a DVM. </p>

<p>She also wants badly to become an MDB member, having participated in state and Northeast marching band competitions the past 4 years and as Woodwind captain. We have her now looking at the ChemE with (pre-med) as a potential. </p>

<p>My question is: Will MDB activities be too much in addition to the Engineering curriculum? Are there many Engineering students that are participating in MDB AND keeping grades up. We know that an undergrad GPA less than 3.5 and you can pretty much forget about getting into Veterinary School. thanks for your response.</p>

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<p>“My question is: Will MDB activities be too much in addition to the Engineering curriculum? Are there many Engineering students that are participating in MDB AND keeping grades up. We know that an undergrad GPA less than 3.5 and you can pretty much forget about getting into Veterinary School. thanks for your response.”</p>

<p>I know kids who’ve been able to manage both, and I’ve known kids whose grades suffered a bit. Much depends on your D.</p>

<p>This is what I would suggest:</p>

<p>If your D is coming in with any AP credits, especially AP Calc, I would either have her use that credit so that she can have a lighter load during Fall Frosh by not taking a math that semester…or have her retake Calc I so it’s easier for her. (I would have my kid skip math if she’s strong in Calc). Keep in mind, Calc II does not build on Calc I. </p>

<p>If she’s coming in with AP English credits, that’s a biggie, too, because that means not having to be bogged down Fall frosh semester with several writing intensive assignments. </p>

<p>If she is a ChemE major, then many of her classes will be sequenced, but she’ll have some flexibility with when she takes some of the Core (if not covered with APs), so she can juggle those to make sure Fall semesters are easier. </p>

<p>If she takes a lighter load her Fall frosh semester and still finds that it’s too much, then she might decide not to do MDB for later years.</p>

<p>As for Ochem…I would not want to take Ochem I or II during a fall semester with MDB. The semesters that my son took Ochem, he kept outside activities to a minimum. He only worked 2 hours a week (on FRIDAY afternoon), to minimize distractions and to keep his time open. </p>

<p>Much will depend on how organized and personally-disciplined your D is. If she’s likely to get caught up with the social side of college, her grades will suffer. I imagine that the MDB kids have social stuff that they do - parties, get-togethers - hanging out, etc.</p>

<p>The minimum to get into vet/med school really needs to be higher than a 3.5 these days because admissions are just getting so competitive. Vet admissions can be even tighter since there are fewer vet schools. </p>

<p>I’m assuming that vet schools also consider both the cum GPA and the BCMP GPA, if so, then managing each semester so that those GPA’s are high 3.7+ is important. </p>

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<p>Thank you for your response. She has AP credit for Calc I and II as well as ENG101 and ENG 102 and the two required Biology courses. In HS during Marching Band season they would put in 2 and 1/2 hours practicing each school day and still keep up with class. It was a load. Lightening fall Freshman year sounds like a good idea.</p>

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<p>Having those AP credits will be a big help making Fall semester freshman year a light one. </p>

<p>What are the rules for vet schools and using AP Bio credits? For med schools, you can’t use AP Bio credits for their req’ts, BUT you can use them to skip Bio I and/or Bio II and take higher level Bio classes with labs. Do vet schools have similar rules? It’s nice to be able to skip at least Bio II since that’s about plants.</p>

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<p>m2ck, Not sure about the Bio (if AP credit is allowed into Vet school rqmts) — something we need to check on. thanks</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1614453-ua-medicine-and-community-for-premeds.html#latest”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/1614453-ua-medicine-and-community-for-premeds.html#latest&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Medicine and Community</p>

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<p>Does Bama publish the percentage of their Regular and Honors Students getting accepted in Med Schools.</p>

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<p>On our visit to UA somebody from.premed advising told us that 157 kids applied to med school…did not say how many were admitted…does that not seem like a real low number given the size of the school
? Or do you think I got number wrong?.</p>

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<p>lol…no, that’s not a really low number. </p>

<p>That said…the number who apply to med school has little/nothing to do with the size of a school. The school offers over 100 majors…many which lead to other career paths. and, some kids do a Glide Year and wouldn’t be counted…and many med school applicants today are non-trads.</p>

<p>All schools harshly weed to begin with (this cuts about 75% at nearly every school)…and then by the time students are rising seniors and deciding to apply, only a smaller number decide to apply.</p>

<p>157 is a decent number, by the way…</p>

<p>However, it seems in the last 2-3 years, Bama has really been attracting a lot of OOS kids who want to be premed, are grabbing the merit, and going forward. The Chem Eng’g dept has said that a good % of their students are premed…this is a significant change. So, the numbers might bump a bit…but won’t likely grow by leaps and bounds because a number of those kids will decide to stick with ChemE as a career, especially since the pay is high w/ just a BS.</p>

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<p>Dad, do you want to rephrase this question? Every Bama student doesn’t apply to med school (obviously), so what point would providing a % of honors or % of non-honors getting accepted to med school be? maybe you want the answer to a different question?</p>

<p>That said, I would guess that every student who got accepted to med/dental/vet school was either in honors or had the stats for honors. Statistically, a student who scores lower than an ACT 28, has a very unlikely chance of surviving premed/vet/dental, scoring well enough on the MCAT (etc) to get in. (The ACT is a good predictor to the MCAT).</p>

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<p>Sorry let me re phrase the Question.</p>

<p>1) How many overall students (Honors + non-honors) applied to Med schools and how many get really accepted, just the acceptance percentage like 85% or 65% . ( like 300 applied but 200 get accepted)</p>

<p>2) How many Honors students applied and getting accepted in Med-Schools. Just the percentage of accepted students. I am sure this percentage will be higher then Overall percentage.</p>

<p>some other Schools do publish these stats. </p>

<p>But i agree that 157 is a pretty good number to be admitted to Med School.
Med Schools dont have that many seats and the competition is very tough…</p>

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<p>I don’t think honors/non-honors are split out. Premed Advising isn’t part of the HC, so I dont think it gets split out. </p>

<p>But think about it…to get accepted to med schools these days, you need at least a 3.5 BCMP GPA and 3.5 cum GPA (preferably higher)…plus a qualifying MCAT…usually at least a 29+…unless you have some URM hook.</p>

<p>So, virtually any Bama student who has those GPA qualifications will either be in the honors program or be qualified to be in it.</p>

<p>when I spoke with Dr. Hutt, the former Pre-med advisor, he said that with the above stats, instate students had about an 85% acceptance rate…and OOS students had an even higher acceptance rate. </p>

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<p>So, if about 157 applied (after heavy weeding), and about 85% got accepted, that’s about 135 accepted.</p>

<p>If Auburn has 135 accepted, and UAH/UAB/USA combined have another 125 accepted…plus the other privates and publics in the state provide another 50-100 accepted, that’s a lot for this state (about 470). The population is less 5 million…and the two med schools are seating less than that number…about 250 total each year.</p>

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I need to add that with the “new” MCAT, it is advised/required for students to also take biochem, stats, psych, and sociology.

I say “advised/required” because some med schools are adjusting their req’ts, so it’s best to just take them…and the MCAT now has been changed to include Q’s in the social behavior sciences.

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What classes should a freshman take first semester premed majoring in biology

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Typically, a frosh premed would be taking Principals of Bio I and Gen Chem I for fall frosh semester.

Since those are VERY demanding courses, and Fall Frosh semester is a semester of adjustments, I wouldn’t take anything else that is going to be very hard/demanding.

Does your child have any AP credits? If so which ones? does he have AP English credits? If so, it’s great to be able to skip frosh comp.

oops…edit. I see that you’re the student. )