Want to get into Medicine...any help is appreciated

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I really want to get into Medicine when I am older. I am currently a sophomore in High School, and I took the PSAT earlier this year, and achieved a score of 192. I scored well in Writing and Math, but I really need to study up on words since I did poorly on the Reading section for the SATs next year.</p>

<p>As with most other students, I have been receiving a bunch of college letters lately, and yesterday, I got a letter from a college that I was always interested in -- Case Western Reserve University.</p>

<p>To all of you out there -- What are the advantages and disadvantages of Case's Pre-Med programs? Do they guarantee Med school? If they do, is it a good Med School?</p>

<p>Also, what do you suggest I do in High School in terms of extra curricular and academics to boost my chances of getting into schools with accelerated Medical Programs (Med School guaranteed)?</p>

<p>I have some more questions, but I'd like these basic ones to be answered first.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!</p>

<p>Stephen</p>

2

<p>well i'm going off next year to college to do premed, and i've always wanted to be a ct surgeon since i knew what career options existed. soph year i realized that maybe it was time for a reality check, and decided to check if medicine was truly for me, i carried out the following procedure:</p>

<hr>

<p>volunteered at a hospital for 100 hours. although i did a lot of remedial work, filling pitchers, talking to patients, organizing the floor, i found myself slowly getting acquainted with doctors and nurses. A really cool nurse gave me more advanced jobs, (tho not really that great in an advance), and i slowly started to understand how doctors were and how nurses acted, etc. Within a year, i watched a couple of my friends that went in to share the experience flee in agony (they figured out medicine was obvioulsy not for them), and a couple others (like myself) truly admire the doctors and nurses whom we worked with. If anything, you get a feel for what the doctors (interns, residents, full doctors, surgeons, etc) go through. make sure you get a real job on the floor, not some desk job or courier.</p>

<p>Next, I realised that maybe research would be my thing. I continued to take a summer off purely for employment, and interned at a pharmacology lab in NYU. The professor that i was under made me work like crazy. I started off slow enough, doing remedial stuff, but after i showed promise and interest, I actually begun to set up experiments etc for the grad students and professors. you need to show interest tho, and although i enjoy it, now i also know that the research aspect of medicine might also be for me, just like surgery. Dont be blinded by just the craving to be the traditional doctor, i found many MDs working at the lab having the time of their life :)</p>

<p>The final step was my courseload. I didnt take many humanities, and at my school, after one passes through the major standard classes, there is an eclectic variety of classes to choose from to pursue your interests. I took a BUNCH of science courses (the whole science line-up of bio, chem, psych, physics, and ANATOMY*) as well as Math to prepare for premed. hehe pre-premed</p>

<p>*Anatomy - wow, this was another "weeder" course, that either made or broke kids interested in med. Most of the courses in my school, whether AP or not are really competitive and rigorous, but this course was taught by a teacher that was truly learned and seemed to want to emulate the atmosphere of med. The class was hands-on (dissected a cat for a year) as well as rigorous in memorizing the countless anatomical and physiological facts. The class of 20 spent many sleepless nights memorizing these 'obscure latin terms' , and i believe half announced that they were definitely not continueing in the medical profession by the end (the teacher was successful in that)</p>

3

<p>
[Quote]
volunteered at a hospital for 100 hours. although i did a lot of remedial work, filling pitchers, talking to patients, organizing the floor, i found myself slowly getting acquainted with doctors and nurses. A really cool nurse gave me more advanced jobs, (tho not really that great in an advance), and i slowly started to understand how doctors were and how nurses acted, etc. Within a year, i watched a couple of my friends that went in to share the experience flee in agony (they figured out medicine was obvioulsy not for them), and a couple others (like myself) truly admire the doctors and nurses whom we worked with. If anything, you get a feel for what the doctors (interns, residents, full doctors, surgeons, etc) go through. make sure you get a real job on the floor, not some desk job or courier.

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>I've already signed up for Volunteering at OSU Hospital this summer. While there, should I talk to them about more advanced positions for the next summer (or possibly, later during that summer)? A friend of mine also told me of the Research programs. I'm not sure if they offer it here, but I will look into it.</p>

<p>
[Quote]
The final step was my courseload. I didnt take many humanities, and at my school, after one passes through the major standard classes, there is an eclectic variety of classes to choose from to pursue your interests. I took a BUNCH of science courses (the whole science line-up of bio, chem, psych, physics, and ANATOMY*) as well as Math to prepare for premed. hehe pre-premed

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>Heheh, I just finished my course selection and am taking AP Physics and AP Chem (both double period) next year, and then AP Bio my senior year. Unforunately, Anatomy isn't offered at my school; it was at my last school, but my family moved.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. Do you know anything about Case, and what college are you going to next year for Pre-Med?</p>

4

<h2>Yup, Case is a decent school, my friend got in there via Early Action. I looked at it, and I didnt like it much for various reasons: Location, reputation (a lot of people said it wasnt a great school, steered me away saying that there were schools in better areas that are better for premed), and the fact that there are better premed programs at other universities. Case also seemed to me to be solely concentrating in the sciences, and I was looking for a school that was reputable for the sciences, but also could back me up in other things such as Polysci, business, etc (Case is really good in engineering, and such sciences, but from my sources, i didnt hear much about anything else which was a bummer) </h2>

<p>I'm going to University of Rochester next year, which is in my (and many other's) opinion one of the best options for premed. As you know, there is no such thing as a "premed" major, and you major in anything you want to major in, with the premed courses in the background. UR offers a "Cluster" system, where each student (except for engineers), can take a series of courses (a minor) in two other subjects, while still holding a major. This is great for premeds in that they can do the traditional Science major with premeds fulfilling that, but then they also have the oppurtunity to experience other disciplines such as in my case, politics and business. Also, a lot of kids going to the school are declared Premeds, something like 15% of each class, which is A LOT!!!!!! That meant to me that the premed program must be established, whereas even in some ivies, there is a program, but its small and you may not get as much attention. UR aside from a top rated Business school, an on-the-rise Politics/Humanities section, and a reputable music school had a great academic/social community, which I thought was a quintessential part of premed. Other schools may have a good premed program, well established and all, but as my cousin was telling me, the competition is cut-throat, you will have to endure sneering, cheating, all that competitive -crap- that I experienced in going to a competitive high school. This is detrimental to your academics, and UR is known for having students work together to form a great learning environment, although it may be competitive, it's still fun to see 3/4 premeds working together studying for their next exam, or hanging out.</p>

5

<p>hhahha, it's funny because i was in the same position as you were a year or two ago, and I did massive amounts of research to reach the schools that I thought were the best for premed. So naturally, i'll pass these on to you:
Rutgers - School of engineering (my safety and it had a great BME program, reputable, in state for tuition just in case..)
Wash U in St. Louis - One of the best ranked premed programs in the nation, well known for its rigor. A downside is the competition, as the rigor is well-known, it's known that that kids can go crazy from work over the four years, and achieving that 3.6 thats needed is very tough in the weeder courses of premed at WUSTL.
Michigan state University - Lyman Briggs school - THe LB school is like a pre-professional type school i think, and it has a decent rep among MSU for admitting good students, and good natural science
Cornell - good school for the sciences, but VERY VERY hard to achieve that 3.6 - reputable none the less
NYU - just for a well rounded education, it has a good reputation
and finally....</p>

<h2>University of Rochester - this school came in late in the process ( i thought i was done with my list halfway through the summer before my senior year, but after looking at this school, doing premed research, and visiting, it all came together :) )</h2>

<p>if you are looking for a good premed program, make sure you read up on the info about premed in general. For example, when looking at a school, reputation means a lot, but it is important to be able to achieve the 3.6 gpa to be competitive for med school. Research is another biggy, well-rounded education outside of Premed, The latter decision of colleges seemed to all fall into place for these criterium.</p>