I will start this thread by saying that I have always wanted to be a doctor. I want to try.
Right now I could use a mentor, since I am totally lost in this process. I am trying to research schools to find out if this is for me. I have talked to my doctor, and she encourages me to try, but what next?
I see where most require the MCAT. I have checked some materials out of my library, and have looked at some forums online. I also have a link to http://homepage.mac.com/dsacco/before.html and am getting concerned that I may have bitten off a little much.
Anyone want to post the path I need to tread?
Quote:
I will start this thread by saying that I have always wanted to be a doctor. I want to try.
Right now I could use a mentor, since I am totally lost in this process. I am trying to research schools to find out if this is for me. I have talked to my doctor, and she encourages me to try, but what next?
I see where most require the MCAT. I have checked some materials out of my library, and have looked at some forums online. I also have a link to http://homepage.mac.com/dsacco/before.html and am getting concerned that I may have bitten off a little much.
Anyone want to post the path I need to tread?
Welcome, and you’re in the right place!
There are lots of things you’ll need to consider, and do. In addition to the MCAT (which, btw, essentially all schools in the US and many overseas require), you need the science pre-reqs, and a relatively high GPA in your undergraduate course work.
The general science pre-reqs include a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, a year of general biology, and a year of physics, all with labs. Some schools require a year of english, calculus and/or statistics, and other courses. Without knowing more of your situation, I can’t offer more but remember, it can be done.
All this may seem daunting. There are many on this board (myself included) that are doing what you mention - I’m 48, a degreed engineer and retired AF pilot, and I’m going and getting the pre-reqs myself right now. A year from now I should be on my way to medical school, so it can be done.
Good luck!
Don’t forget that you always have access to an advisor from your undergraduate school. If you are an alum, even if you’ve been out for awhile, almost every school will give you access to a pre-med advisor.
This wasn’t too practical for me since I’m about 1000 miles away from my alma mater and 10 years out from graduation! But I have received excellent help from the advisor at Northeastern where I completed my post-bacc pre-reqs!
You would probably do well to start with a little book I liked by Sanford J. Brown, M.D.: Getting Into Medical School: The Premedical Student’s Guidebook (9th ed, 2001). While it is more geared to a traditional-aged college student, the nuts and bolts of what you need to do to prepare is explained simply and is relevant regardless of your background. (He does also have a chapter for non-trads.)
It is not long, it’s an easy, friendly read, and it will help you figure out what to do first. What you should NOT do first is pick up an MCAT book 
because without the prerequisite courses under your belt, that is going to be just too intimidating.
Let me share how I started, not because it is THE way to do it but it might help you think about this as a journey of many steps. When I got fired up about getting into med school, I immediately had to confront the fact that my previous foray into pre-med coursework as a college freshman had been a disaster - it was a miracle that I got a C in general chemistry, because I am not sure I understood a blamed thing.
So I figured, well, obviously I have to take chemistry and do better than that. Although I was also looking further ahead, figuring out a timetable and finding out about the schools I’d apply to, my first semester I JUST took gen-chem 101 again with the idea that if I did well, then I could jump into the whole pre-med path with both feet. But initially (continuing the feet analogy) I envisioned myself as just “testing the waters” with my big toe.
It wasn’t til I completed that first semester successfully that I started telling people of my plan to apply to med school, and started seriously working on my timetable and planning everything out. Initially, it was just a short-term experiment to see how I did in chemistry.
There are any number of books (besides Brown’s) on the premed / med school application process, and I’d suggest you pick up one because it’ll give you the nice broad overview you need to start out. We’re better at more specific questions and I suspect that right now we could easily overwhelm you with a lot of detail. Good luck!
I’ve looked at the link you posted, Dorris, and I can see why it would leave you with more questions. That website appears to be geared to people who already know all the steps to take to prepare for applying to med school, so it is leaving out all the stuff that YOU need right now.
Tell us what your educational background is, whether you have a bachelor’s degree (and when did you get it), what are you doing now (working, in school?), what sort of medical experience you have (if any), what is it that makes you think you’d like to be a doctor.
This sounds like a lot but just a few key facts will give us a much better sense of just where you are in the process and what sort of guidance you need next.