Worried about floundering in Pre-Med

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>PSedrishMD and whomever else is interested in giving advice-</p>

<p>I've wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember, and it''s never seemed that impossible, but lately, with college looming ahead, I'm nervous about my ability to survive a pre-med curriculum.</p>

<p>I'm a much more verbal person than anything else, I've excelled in any english class I've ever taken, and as far as science goes, I love chemistry, and do very well in that subject and in Biology. (A's in AP classes). I'm worried, however, about math and physics, mainly physics. I have a C right now in my class, though I am fairly confident that I will bring it up to a B before the semester concludes. My teacher is just as hard as any I'm likely to come against in college, an he tells me that scores on his tests in class would likely be higher in a college course, because of the bell curve. I average about 72% on his tests. One of my questions is this... would getting, say, a C+ (2.5) in physics in college, if combined with As and Bs in other science course, severely hurt my chances of getting into med school?</p>

<p>Also, provided that I am not able to get the required score of 4 to get Calc BC credit at my intended school (university of florida) , should I retake this course in college? or will it likely not affect my med school admissions chances? ( I received a 4 on my Calc AB test, which I took my junior year)</p>

<p>Lastly, just how intelligent do you have to be to get into med school? I mean, I will have taken 7 AP classes by graduation, have a 1340 (710V 630M) and a 4.1W GPA. But the way I hear everyone else talking about med school, I'm inclined to believe I might not cut it.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time,
- A Discouraged Senior
-laceycheer</p>

2

<p>Lacey:
Everyone who succeeds has some occasional doubts; I think that's part of what motivates a lot of people to work harder.
Speaking of which...a C+ won't help and of course will hurt, but not kill your chances for med school admission. However....and this is where the math comes in: your grades will almost always have a linear relationship to the amt of time you've invested in studying. If 6 hours a week buys you a C+, almost certainly 12 hours will buy you a B+.....etc. I think the question is "how much do you want it".
I'll tell you it's better to put in the time now than to have to look back in 20 years and realize what could have been.
Lastly, how smart to be a doc? Well, pretty smart but not genius. Definitely a good work ethic and an ability to organize are required. Overall though, I think MDs are not brilliant in the way physicists might be considered to be so.</p>

3

<p>Hey if you put your mind to it you can do anything. If you really want to be a doctor, you'll go to college for as long as it takes (4+ years) to get ur gpa and mcat up to med schools standards. With your scores and grades, as long as you're willing to work i think u'll do just fine.</p>

4

<p>If you can't hack the pre-med stuff, then what makes you think you can hack the real hard stuff in med school? I don't want a doctor who took an easy path as an undergrad because they weren't confident in their abilities.</p>

5

<p>Yea, I think that even though ppl say to take an easy courseload so you get get a high gpa it isnt too good. So how do you think you'll do when you're hit with science classes that you were hardly exposed to in college (the prereqs)? I don't know, I'm thinking of going premed or prelaw and I'll probably major in Biology or Chemistry for premed or Political Science for prelaw- both related to the fields. I dont know though, I'll have to talk to my college advisors to see what they think.</p>

6

<p>My friends that went through medical school and who took the most rigorous path as undergrads said that it paid off during the first year of med school because a lot of it was review, especially the biochemistry class that tends to be a killer for those who had non-science majors in college. That way they were able to focus on their gross anatomy lab, which was tough. Having a bunch of the classes from year 1 as review is a big help when it comes to adjusting to med school.</p>

7

<p>Yea thats kinda what I was thinking ;).</p>

8

<p>I never said that I was planning on taking an "easy" path in college. I plan on becoming a Biology major, and an anthropology or history minor. I expect to do well in Biology and Chemistry. My main concern is college physics, this is the only course I'm afraid of "not hacking". I'm worried I may get a C+/B-.... but by no means do I believe being less than steller in this one subject will make me a bad doctor. And I plan on in addiction to the Chemistry/Biochem/Organic Chem/Physics/ Biology PreReq's I plan on taking these Science courses: Genetics, Anatomy and Physiology, Evolution, Eukaryotic Cell Struc. & Function.</p>

<p>Other Medical-related courses include: Introduction to the Professions of Medicine, The History of Medicine, The History of Science, Medical Ethics, General Psych and Infant Psych.</p>

<p>Unrelated question for PSedrishMD:
This may be a stupid question, but are math courses included in science GPA?</p>

9

<p>Sorry if I misunderstood your post. I think that one C+/B- grade will not ruin your chances. That is one grade among many, and if you get top grades in everything else, everything should be fine. But you shouldn't psyche yourself out about physics, since you haven't even taken it yet. Go in there with a positive attitude and maybe things will turn out fine. A lot of my friends from college who didn't think they were that smart just worked their butts off rather than worry about not being able to hack it, and now they're all done with their M.D.s and are very successful at what they do.</p>

<p>Don't forget, this stuff will show up on the MCAT, so you'll need to know it one way or another!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>Look, michelec, alicantekid, the point of choosing an easy path into medical school is obviously a compromise. If you can go to a tough school like MIT and take the toughest courses they got and still get straight A's while still having the time to do all the volunteer and EC work that med-school adcoms like to see, then that's exactly what you should do.</p>

<p>The problem, of course, is that the vast majority of people can't do that. The more rigorous your courseload, the lower your grades will tend to be, and the lower your grades are, the lower your chances of getting admited to med-school. Sure, by taking tough coursework, you will be more prepared for the rigors of med-school. But what does that matter if you don't get into med-school in the first place? </p>

<p>I think people need to take a look at the odds that premeds are facing. Med-school admission is no guarantee to anyone, even if you do work hard and even if you do present top grades. Nationwide, almost half of all premeds who apply to med-schools each year get rejected from every single med-school they apply to. That's right, every single one. And that doesn't even count those people who want to go to med-school, but don't think they have a reasonable shot at getting in, so they don't even bother to apply. </p>

<p>Look, arguably one of the toughest parts, if not the toughest part, about becoming a doctor is getting into med-school in the first place. Med-schools practically never flunk anybody out, but the key is that you gotta get in. If you can't get in, then your medical career is over before it ever really started. </p>

<p>It's simply far far too simplistic to just tell people that they should just take tough coursework, work hard, and get top grades. You can work your rear-end off in tough premed coursework and still get lousy grades, simply because everybody else in those classes is also working hard, and the class grades are curved which means that only a certain percentage of the class is going to get a good grade. Case in point - the vast majority of people in the world just do not have what it takes to get an A in biochemistry at MIT, even if they worked as hard as they could, simply because everybody else in the class is brilliant and hard-working and the curve is harsh. Clearly telling everybody that they need to take such a class in order to prepare them for the rigors of med-school is irresponsible - most people would not help but actually gravely hurt their chances of med-school admission were they to take this class. Sometimes discretion really is the better part of valor.</p>

<p>Look, at the end of the day, there is a balance between taking courses that prepare oneself for the rigors of med-school and simply taking courses that maximize your chances of getting into med-school. There's no point in preparing yourself well for med-school, only to not get in.</p>

11

<p>....what he said....</p>

12

<p>Thanks 4 ur help</p>