Some Heads up needed before going to College...

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I have multiple questions regarding Pre-Med and MCAT.</p>

<p>Before I give you my question, I suggest you have a little background of my courses i have taken during my high school career.</p>

<p>Freshmen:
Semester 1: Honors Integrated Sci 1, Economics, Honors Algebra 1, English 9.
Semester 2: Honors Biology 1, Global Studies, Health Ed, Spanish 1</p>

<p>Sophomore:
Semester 1: American Studies 1, English 10, Honors Geometry 2, Honors Chemistry 1
Semester 2: Honors Biology 2, Honors Algebra 2, Human Health & Disease, Latin 1</p>

<p>Junior:
Semester 1: American Lit, Honors Physics 1, Honors Pre-Calc, Health Science & Tech 1(Year Long Course and part of HOSA)
Semester 2: Latin 2, US History, Honors Physics 2, Health Science & Tech 1</p>

<p>Senior: (Classes I planned to take)
Semester 1: EMT(Year Long course and part of HOSA), AP Calc 1, AP Psych 1, Advance Writing/Short Story
Semester 2: EMT, AP Calc BC(skipping AB), AP Psych 2, Net Sports/Pottery</p>

<p>EMT is a course where in first semester you finish learning about the Human Anatomy and Physiology(Started in Health Science & Tech 1), and 2nd semester you learn to work with the EMT.</p>

<p>Class Rank: Some where in Top Half</p>

<p>Now I will ask you questions that I am concerned about...(Please answer my questions IF you are in the Pre-Med Program ONLY)</p>

<ol>
<li><p>If you are in a Pre-Med Program and you are majoring in Biology, what would your typical day schedule would be?</p></li>
<li><p>If you are part of HOSA, what are the chances of getting into a pre-med program compared to an average person who takes many AP classes and takes sports?(I am taking 2 AP classes, but I will be taking 3 or 4 AP exams)</p></li>
<li><p>When I am in college, should i continue to be part of HOSA? Advantages and Disadvantages?</p></li>
<li><p>I am taking AP Psych? as a senior class. If I want to become a Cardiothorasic Surgeon or Neurosurgeon, should i switch out of this class to take AP Lit, AP European History or I should stick with AP Psych?</p></li>
<li><p>A typical question you would expect would be, is MCAT difficult?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you for taking your time to answer my questions.
~Depathak15</p>

2

<p>1) Just like any other college kid. You may eventually get into a lab, or do some hospital volunteering, but for the most part, I don’t think it’ll be much different than anyone else.</p>

<p>2) You don’t get into a pre-med program. That’s something I finally figured out. You don’t apply to any pre-med program, you just take the pre-reqs and apply to med school. Pre-med programs are simply advising programs at schools to help you do what is necessary to get into med school.</p>

<p>3) It can’t hurt. And probably not any different than being in any other pre-med society.</p>

<p>4) What you take in high school has zero effect on what type of doctor you will become, zero. Heck, it probably has little effect on whether you get into med school or not.</p>

<p>5) Yes.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>How do you know you want to become a cardiothoracic surgeon/neurosurgeon?</p>

4

<p>Grey’s Anatomy, House, and E.R. Duh.</p>

5

<p>I think the real question is how European history will help someone be a good neurosurgeon :confused:</p>

6

<p>ZFan covered everything. Make sure you read the stickied threads in this forum for much more detailed information.</p>

7

<p>Yeah vouch. Question 4 is ridiculous. Selecting your high school classes based on what you THINK you will specialize in 7 or 8 years down the line is crazy.</p>

8

<ol>
<li><p>Check with prospective schools; it’s school-specific</p></li>
<li><p>About the same as anyone else but most pre-med programs don’t make you apply (some do – such as at my UG – if you want all the extra perks) – you simply take the pre-req classes…</p></li>
<li><p>Sure, why not?</p></li>
<li><p>I am taking AP Psych? umm… you’re in HS. it’s highly unlikely you’re going to end up doing what you think you’ll be doing in 8-12 years… Psych is more applicable to medicine, by far…</p></li>
<li><p>yes, especially for non-native English speakers and other people who forget how to use their articles properly as well as people who do not do research on their own to find answers to their questions before asking other people</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>Quote from phonyreal98:
How do you know you want to become a cardiothoracic surgeon/neurosurgeon?</p>

<p>Well, I pretty much know the whole entire anatomy and the physiology of the heart and the brain. And, I have shadowed couple of surgeries. So I am pretty sure that I can handle it. And It has been my dream too!</p>

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<p>And ZFanatic, thank you for the advices.</p>

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<p>depathak15-Do you realize how long it will take for you to be board certified in both specialties? Much less accepted into surgical programs for both? Do some research ,kiddo.</p>

12

<p>Just realized OP is a naive high schooler with big dreams. He hasn’t even figured out PreMed is not a major. My bad.</p>

13

<p>um…i am not thinking about doing both of them. I know it is going to take a long time!!! I haven’t decided which one, but its going to be one or the other.</p>

14

<p>And who is OP??</p>

15

<p>OP=original poster=you.</p>

16

<p>Batllo, I think he meant either cardiothoracic surgeon OR neurosurgeon, not both. God forbid you attempt that. you’d be like 50+ before you even get out of residency.</p>

<p>I would recommend staying in HOSA. I don’t know what it is, but if you end up being part of an EMS (as an EMT) it’ll look good on your medical school application, better than BS hospital volunteering and random shadowing, at least. It’ll show that you skipped the cookie cutter EC’s and went straight into actually helping people.</p>

<p>As for AP Psych, I honested lol’d. High school classes affecting medical specialties? No way haha. I don’t even think college classes will affect what my medical specialty is going to be; the only thing that will is clinical rotations.</p>

<p>I’ve never heard of a Pre-Med program. I’ve heard of Biology majors who say they’re pre-med to hint that they want to go to med school.</p>

<p>That being said, I’d just go to whatever UG I was going to go to anyways, without wondering about the pre-med program. Be active in EC’s wherever you go, keep up your grades and MCAT, and you’ll do well enough to get into med school.</p>

<p>That being said, the MCAT is a pretty difficult test. Not the hardest you’ll ever take (that’d be USMLE), but definitely harder than the SAT in the Verbal section. As for the science sections, it’s all about how much you study and how much you can retain in your brain.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much evilbooya for giving me some advices.</p>