Transferring to a CSU... interested in Med-School

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am a Sophomore at Allan Hancock College awaiting acceptance into a California State University. My major is Psychology and I had planned on attaining a B.A. in Psychology and later go to grad school to get my MFT license. I currently have a 3.0 GPA and have applied to schools like Long Beach (Which I know I did most likely not make...), Northridge, Pomona, Fullerton, Chico, Sacramento, and Channel Islands. </p>

<p>I know that I still have to get accepted to a CSU so this question is being asked a bit in advance.</p>

<p>Recently I have been studying Psychology during my winter break in order to refresh my memory before I take some Psychology classes in order to get my units up to the 60 units required. During the process I have found that I am very interested in the Medical aspect of the field. Psychiatry sounds like a very rewarding career. I have seen a Psychiatrist for personal reasons and do enjoy their practices. </p>

<p>I have really started to enjoy studying. I wake up, go to the gym, come home, eat and then study for most my day. I recently relocated so I close friends but I get some social time from family/volunteer/class/clubs. I am 23 and before this fall I did not take school seriously and did a lot of partying. That is why my GPA is this low. </p>

<p>I have read that the Psychology Major does not help with being a Psychiatrist. You focus more on medical things. Is this true? I would not want to major in BIO.</p>

<p>My questions are:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>With this GPA is it possible to get into MED-School? I know I would have to pretty much ACE my CSU courses. </p></li>
<li><p>Do Medical Schools even consider CSU applicants? </p></li>
<li><p>Would I be able to retake a couple of the general required courses (Anatomy, Biology, Chemistry) at the CSU even if I passed them. I feel like the CC classes I took were not very informative, i feel the CSU might be more informative if I can get a good professor. Or I guess I can study these on my own? :(</p></li>
<li><p>Would I have to do this Post-Bachelorette?</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>" Psychiatry sounds like a very rewarding career."…Hmmm…I wonder makes you say that.</p>

<p>" I have read that the Psychology Major does not help with being a Psychiatrist.*"</p>

<p>Perhaps far in the future, but it is no different from any other non science major in terms of preparing you for medical school. </p>

<p>BTW, you will have done a lot of bio by the time you get to the psychiatry part.</p>

3

<p>Yes, CSU students get admitted to medical school, but a flat 3.0 GPA is not going to get it done for med school admissions. You will need to significantly up your game in a number of very difficult classes. Are you prepared for that? You should talk with a counselor at Allan Hancock about what it takes to be a competitive medical school applicant.</p>

4

<p>Psychiatry deals with the ** medical management** of mental illnesses. Unless this is what you want to do, then med school school is the wrong path.</p>

<p>You don’t need to major in bio, but you do need to understand that medical school itself is largely the study of biological topics. Unless you’re interested in studying biological subjects (and willing to put thousands and thousands of hours into studying biology), you may find med school to be place where you will not be successful.</p>

<p>To answer your questions:</p>

<p>1) No, your current GPA is not competitive for medical school admission. You would need to substantially improve your GPA (into the 3.5+ range). You also need to understand that med schools look at 2 different GPAs: your overall cumulative GPA and your science GPA (all bio, chem, physics and math classes). Both are important and both need to be in the 3.5+ range.</p>

<p>2) CSU students do get accepted into medical school. Please consider that California med schools are extremely competitive due the number of applicants. You’ll need to be willing to relocate out of state for med school.</p>

<p>3) for allopathic medical schools (MD), both your original grade and any retake must be reported and are included in your GPA calculations. So retaking a class (even if you did well in it originally) will raise questions about your competence. You would do better to take a higher level or an additional different classes rather than repeat any class in which you earned a C or better.</p>

<p>4) Medical schools expect students to have the prerequiste classes completed by the time you apply to med school. You’ll also need to have completed the pre-reqs before you can take the MCAT. Whether you’ll be able to do that while still an undergrad is up to you and the policies of your college.</p>

<p>If you are not able to raise your GPA into a competitive range during undergrad, you can consider enrolling in a grade-enhancing graduate program and applying after completing it.</p>

<p>Please understand that having a good GPA +MCAT score are only the lowest level of qualifications that med schools looks for in applicants. You will also need to have the ECs that med school expect: medical volunteering, community service, physician shadowing, leadership positions, and bench or clinical research.</p>