I am a 26 year old working towards a Bachelors in Business Administration (1 semester left). My plan is to graduate, get a better job, and pay/save money for premed requirements.
For the past 3 years, I have taken an interest in becoming a doctor. I decided that I don’t want to live with regrets, so I would like to pursue this dream!
I would like some advice from you folks!
STRENGTHS:
-Disciplined, hard work ethic, motivated,
-Love learning
-Favorite subjects (statistics, world history, literature,)
WEAKNESSES:
2.64 GPA (partied/wasted time my first 2 years of college)
I don’t see your age as an issue, or a weakness. What I do find “wonky” is the favorite subjects part …
By and large almost every premed, med, resi, fellow, MD/DO person I know, LOVES the sciences … the hard sciences (pick one or all of them).
Your GPA is low. That can be overcome by taking the pre-reqs and getting solid A’s, not so much to increase the overall GPA (because you can’t really) but to show you can handle the material.
What to do?
Register for gen chem for science majors if your school has different levels of gen chem.
Must be with lab.
Get an A.
At that point, you can decide if this path is still of interest to you. You may very well get that A and decide it is not worth doing more work along the road; or you may well decide you love the hard sciences and go forward.
Either way, one step at a time.
Then… if all the pre-reqs are done you have the MCAT. It is a beast. A seven hour of mind numbing beast … physics integrated with biochem; biochem integrated with biology and gen chen; organic embedded in physics and then biol meshed with psych and soc.
Hi and welcome. It’s great that you have an interest in pursuing medicine!
I recommend that you shadow a doctor for an extended period of time, like once a week for a couple of months at least.It is important that you know what you’re getting yourself into. The road to becoming a doctor is grueling and the training is intense. Try to get experience inpatient if you can. On the plus side the shadowing experience is really good for a med school application if you decide to pursue the path to med school.
Taking a science class is great to see if you actually like the subject matter, but I can’t stress enough to try and get to see clinical medicine.
I agree that getting some clinical experience – be it shadowing or volunteering that includes DIRECT patient contact – is key. You want to make sure that your interest in medicine is not a passing thing. I would make that determination of whether (for sure) you want to pursue medicine before enrolling in any of the pre-requisites.
You did mention you haven’t had any trig or physics. You need trig for physics, so if you’re going to make a run for this, a trigonometry class – or serious self-study, if you’re a motivated learner on your own – is necessary.
For your family doc, with whom you presumably already have a relationship, email might be fine. I know my family doc was very supportive and encouraged me quite a bit!
I agree with Lorien - take a trig class first - local community college would be fine. I’d also say brush up on algebra skills before taking Chemistry!