I currently go to St. John’s. I’m planning to become a doctor but I just don’t think the school where I am at now is tailored well to my needs as a pre medicine student. Especially since I’m currently in the PA program(forced by my parents) but I need to switch majors and start the pre med track. I don’t have any intention on completing a PA degree and I’d rather attend a school where the resources are a better fit. So can someone please recommend me some schools or just give me your thoughts on this situation in general. I would probably need to transfer somewhere and I reside in New York.
You don’t need a particular major to go to med school – just fulfill some prerequisite courses and that’s it. There is no requirement to have a “pre-med” degree to get accepted to med school. What you will need is a high GPA in whatever you major in, and strong test scores. Look up some medical schools that you are interested in, and go to the admissions section to find out what they look for. That is what you need to accomplish as an undergrad. I don’t know why you couldn’t do that at St. John’s.
The PA program should prepare you just fine for med school, and it would give you the option of getting a good-paying job if you decided four years from now that you are not up to many more years of college right away. If you have a straight science degree or humanities degree or “pre-med” degree, that won’t get you a decent-paying job without a graduate degree.
Listen to your parents who are paying for your education. If you don’t want to be in the PA major because you think you won’t make top grades, then reconsider your plans to become a doctor and think of something else. If you think it would prevent you from becoming a doctor to have that major, then you are mistaken.
You’ve made other posts on here about being confused as to what to major in, and how you aren’t really sure about medicine. Go to the career center and take some career interest and aptitude tests to help figure this out. Discuss the results with your parents.
@mommyrocks yes I am aware that there’s no specific major, but I do plan to major in biology because it’s what I’m interested in. I don’t want a PA because of fear of low grades. It’s a fear of being something I don’t want to be. And like I’ve said in some other posts, career center did not help and pointed me in the wrong direction. My parents are not supportive so there’s not much to discuss. St. John’s is unnecessarily expensive especially if I’m not receiving a higher tier of education. I’m a freshman by the way.
I certainly understand your parent’s perspective, the PA degree offers you a professional medical degree, and great job prospects if your medical school dreams don’t pan out, this is good adult planning on your parents part. A biology degree by itself doesn’t leave you with quite the same prospects. Making the changes you are describing is going to have to be worked out between you and your parents since they are the people paying for your education.
You complained about this last spring. Unless you are prepared to pay 100% of your own education you pretty much are going to have to honor your parent’s wishes. Poor you. I don’t understand how studying for a PA would not prepare you for med school. I think you went into this school predetermined to hate it. Not much anyone here can do about that.
Why is it that you can switch schools but you can’t switch majors within St. John’s?
As you know, St. John’s University is one of the few remaining Bachelor of Science Physician Assistant Program available in the US. Most have transitioned to a Mater’s level program and are VERY competitive to get into, given the large pool of applicants who wish to pursue a Physician Assistant career. I think your parents might be concerned that a pursuing a degree in Biology and not getting into medical school might leave you with very little career options. I have seen so many “Premed”/Biology graduates who failed to gain entrance to medical school are “forced” to seek another undergraduate degree in (for instance) Nursing or other healthcare-related degree. In the case of nursing, these graduates have to spend another 1 - 1.5 years doing prerequisites just to gain entrance to an accelerated BSN (or ASN) program (1.5 - 2 years).
If you are fearful of low grades in a PA program, then one would be concerned about your ability to be successful at gaining entrance to an MD/DO program. There are other Physician Assistant Programs in the NYC, if the St. John’s University program is cost prohibitive. CUNY-CCNY has a PA program that was also a 4-year program, but they have now transitioned to a 5-year BS/MS degree program (better than other PA programs which requires an undergraduate degree for entrance to their MS PA program, which typically last 2 - 2.5 years).
I think you should stick with your PA program, although you will in all likelihood, have to take a number of prerequisites needed for medical school after completing your PA degree. A PA degree is a good fall back position in case medical school doesn’t pan out.
@OspreyCV22 maybe I did go into a school predetermined to hate it but how would you feel if you could have chosen somewhere else to go but you were forced to follow a career path you didn’t want to follow? @NavalTradition st. john’s is very expensive and scholarship as well as financial aid does not help much. @Jamrock411 I don’t want to use it as a backup. At PA interviews they ask you why you would want to be a PA over a doctor. I’m not going to say it’s a fallback option. Also I won’t have room for all the prerequisites during undergrad so if I wanted to do that, I would have to do it during the summer at a different school or something. The problem with that is that medical schools don’t like to see that you took big courses like physics during the summer. They’d rather see it during a full school year but in the PA program I would not have room for that. I’m also not fearful of low grades. The sentence was just written poorly and gave off that connotation.
I don’t think you’ve really thought this through.
I agree with @Jamrock411:
At my dd’s UC, in the Spring, they have to limit graduation seats to four per family, because **she and 999 of her peers will be graduating with degrees in biology/premed, and there are not enough seats in the auditorium to house the visitors! That’s at one UC!!! ** Med school is not about just studying biology, it involves the types of courses covered for a PA because more and more PA’s are working the clinics and hospitals. You are very lucky your school provides that option,
It sounds as if you don’t like your school because it’s not prestigious enough for you, or. . . . . Mommy and Daddy actually know what they’re talking about.
Where would you go that would be a “better” fit? Will you go to a UC where you and everyone sitting next to you in all of your classes is competing for a seat in med school?
I’m confused. Why can’t you major in biology at St. John’s? Why are the resources at that school inadequate for you?
Is this about wanting to go to a school that is a better fit or about St. John’s being too expensive for you and your family? If St. John’s is too expensive now, why wasn’t it too expensive when you first attended there? Surely, if your parents want you to stay in this school, they have the means to pay for it. If you and your family can’t afford it (or you and your family don’t want to take on loans because you’re planning on going to medical school in the future, which is perfectly understandable), then that’s a different situation entirely, and you should be focusing on finding schools that would be financially do-able (and remember that aid for transfer students is often poorer than aid for freshmen). That’s a very different question than trying to find a school with a lot of resources for premed and biology students.
What are your parents not supportive of? Switching schools or switching majors? If you switch schools, how will you pay for it if your parents are not willing to help you?
@“aunt bea” @baktrax like I’ve been saying. the tuition at st john’s is a lot and my family doesn’t have that kind of money. I could care less about prestige because I’m considering transferring to a cheaper CUNY or SUNY school. I know it may seem baby-ish of my parents but they’re more likely to spend money on something at st johns that’s more guaranteed( PA program) then something less guaranteed( biology major). I have two other siblings so please do not assume that my parents can pay for it. A low budget CUNY SUNY school would not be financially demanding.
So you’re going to transfer to a CUNY/SUNY then?
You want strangers here to tell you what you want to hear. That probably isn’t going to happen. You need to work this out with your parents.
@NorthernMom61 im not asking for anyone to confirm what I think about this situation. I’m just wondering what others think. @NavalTradition yes i am.
So is your question just which CUNY/SUNY should you transfer to (since that’s what you’ve already decided)? If that’s your question, there might be a better forum to post it in than College Life.