Biggest Questions

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Help Me!


I’m trying to figure out a list of the most common questions premed students have about anything medical school, residency, etc.


I’d love to here from the OPM community! Please REPLY with some of the questions that you had started on the journey.


Thanks,


Ryan

2

On med school, I’ve wondered what summers are like for med students. Do schools tend to have required classes or rotations or are they free?

3

Great question.


A good blog post from another physician written earlier this year is here:


http://blog.acphospitalist.org/2012/02/how-medical…


Bottom Line - Majority of programs are setup so that the summer between first and second year is YOURS. Beyond that, and through residency, you have very little “you” time.


Any other questions!? - If YOU don’t have a question - what about questions that you see repeated all the time in the forums (maybe they’re not properly explained elsewhere so people keep asking).

4
  • Doc Gray Said:
Help Me!

I'm trying to figure out a list of the most common questions premed students have about anything medical school, residency, etc.

I'd love to here from the OPM community! Please REPLY with some of the questions that you had started on the journey.

Thanks,

Ryan



I've always wondered what schools are geared more towards Hispanics and African Americans? And not just in their student body but also in their faculty and resources???
5

julio,


I don’t think there are any schools specifically geared to a particular demographic but they just traditionally seem to have a certain section apply and hence get accepted. Off the top of my head Meharry and Howard are predominantly Black schools.


As far as Hispanic the only ones that come to mind are the two in Puerto Rico. I think there were three but there was something to do with accreditation. These schools are US accredited and are NOT carribean schools. If memory serves and they haven’t changed the requirements I know that one of them has 2 semesters of Spanish as mandatory for everyone and the other is flexible in that regard. Other than that I would look into areas where there are strong Hispanic/Latino populations. California, Texas, Chicago, New York, Miami…


For the OP


Some common questions that OPM’s have are

    Can I even apply at my age?


    What schools look favorably at my age and experience? Which schools do not?


    What is the opportunity cost I see mentioned?


    Who should I talk too and not get laughed at?

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  • Julio Cesar Said:


I've always wondered what schools are geared more towards Hispanics and African Americans? And not just in their student body but also in their faculty and resources???



I think what croooz is probably the best. It's going to be more of an area population.

The issue with faculty and resources is with EOE laws. That kind of information just isn't available.
7

Cool! Good to know. Thanks guys :slight_smile:

8

The MD v DO thing always comes up, but I’ve been reading that med school clerkships in DO schools can be a bit more difficult to obtain and schedule especially in schools not directly affiliated with a teaching hospital. Any input?

9

I have also wondered about opportunity cost but with regards to the new healthcare law. Will it have any significant effect on salary? At this point, psychiatrists and primary care have the lowest income of physicians (what I want to do isn’t much higher). At that lowest income, it is still worth it for me to go into undergrad + graduate debt.


Will that change?


If it changes, will the funding system change to keep the net debt-to-income ratio the same?

10

I can only answer for my school - 3rd year, all our clerkships rotations are scheduled by the school except one. They will schedule that from a number of electives, or if we have a special one in mind we can schedule it ourselves. 4th year we schedule our own, either at our base site hospital or “audition” rotations, wherever - up to us. The lack of a teaching hospital large enough to accomodate our 200 student class is made up for by use of statewide campus regions, each containing several possible base site hospitals, which we select/get in lottery prior to 3rd year.


Kate

11

Curious…how does the admissions committee view someone like myself with two bachelor’s and a MA plus pre-meds (in progress) in addition to being an ED RN (BSN prepared)?


I know my MCAT and GPA does come into play but isn’t it a holistic view too? My cGPA is around 3.3, don’t have a sGPA yet since I am in progress.


Thanks!!

12

Leuschner -


very favorably, that’s how. They actively recruit non-trads, like nurses if you have nursing experience (a bit less favorable if you are fresh out of nursing school). My one bachelor’s and master’s degree went over very well. It implies you are a lifelong learner, which is important these days in medicine particularly. If you shadow a D.O. (and even better have a LOR from them) that goes over very well also 3.3 as an overall GPA is fine.


If you are interested in WVSOM specifically, it’s good to talk with their admissions recruiter, Danny Seams.


Kate

13

Does knowing a second language give you an advantage in the application process? I’m currently serving in the Peace Corps and am conversational in Georgian and Russian. However, my Russian could use a lot of work, so I’m wondering if I should try to learn more before applying to med schools.

14
  • rram48 Said:
Does knowing a second language give you an advantage in the application process? I'm currently serving in the Peace Corps and am conversational in Georgian and Russian. However, my Russian could use a lot of work, so I'm wondering if I should try to learn more before applying to med schools.



being bilingual isn't as much a big deal, as the fact that you are in the Peace Corps!

If Russian was a big language in the area you were applying to, that would make a difference.

Ultimately it's the list of attributes that separate you from your peers, and it sounds like you are doing that!
15

How does an old premed get over a bad science GPA from the past?


My cGPA is 3.4 but my sGPA is around 2.7 and I’ve taken A LOT of sciences, but they are 5 or more years old. I’m planning on retaking many of them, and even though I’ll get 4.0 as a post-bac, my overall sGPA will be minimally affected (will go up to 2.9 I think).


Would retaking courses I got a B in improve my chances of being accepted to med school? Or should I just relearn the material on my own (in preparation for the MCAT)?

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  • bluemonkey Said:
How does an old premed get over a bad science GPA from the past?

My cGPA is 3.4 but my sGPA is around 2.7 and I've taken A LOT of sciences, but they are 5 or more years old. I'm planning on retaking many of them, and even though I'll get 4.0 as a post-bac, my overall sGPA will be minimally affected (will go up to 2.9 I think).

Would retaking courses I got a B in improve my chances of being accepted to med school? Or should I just relearn the material on my own (in preparation for the MCAT)?

Similar to what I've posted elsewhere, and wrote an article about (http://bit.ly/OEN51G) - You need to build relationships so that you can explain your GPA. If you don't have a relationship, you will likely not make it past the computers filter.
17

What about tri-lingual or quad?

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  • croooz Said:
What about tri-lingual or quad?



As far as helping you durng the admissions process? It helps you tell a story of why you know so many languages, but besides that I dont know how it helps.

Anything that helps set you apart is great. If you got into a conversation about all the languages it would be fun to write Thank You in all the different languages in your thank you letter.