This is a wonderful forum. I think after I let my thoughts come out here, I can either feel more confused, more direction and clarity, power that I can do it.
My question has probably been answered a 1000 times but I couldn’t find a thread for it. I graduted with a degree in engineering in 2002. So, my sciences and everything is 8 or more years old, but I have the degree.
first, Do I have to retake the science courses to apply to medical school?
Secondly, how does my experience working as an engineer for the last 8 years help me?
Third, when I have voluteered, I have always done that abroad. How does that experience help me.
4th. Back in 1999, I worked as a CNA before focusing on college fulltime, does that help me? In what way?
5th. When should I start applying, assuming that my undergraduate course work is accpeted though its a little old?
Finally, I plan to take mcat in may of 11.
Now you know why I’m confused as hell.
oh, one more piece of old, but important info. I’m 37 (sigh), but rather bee 97 than dead.
Welcome to Old Premeds!! It has been very helpful to me in my journey so far. I think I can give you some starting information at least.
Looks like a lot of questions!
Let’s see :
first, Do I have to retake the science courses to apply to medical school?
It depends.Perhaps not. Some schools have rules regarding how recent your core science courses have to be. Checking out the medical school guide from AMCAS and AACOMAS will help you narrow down a lot of info about schools you might be interested in. I do think it may be worthwhile to take some again. The question is how much you remember for MCAT’s. You might get an MCAT review book, or look for some at the local library, such as ExamKrackers, and see how it looks. Things change so fast in biology it might be worth redoing that.
Secondly, how does my experience working as an engineer for the last 8 years help me?
Well, that’s part of what you should address in your personal statement. What qualities have you developed thru your work/life experience? It doesn’t help or hurt you by itself, but it CAN be a great contributor to your personal statement
Third, when I have voluteered, I have always done that abroad. How does that experience help me.
It’s not a problem, that your volunteer experience is abroad. On the applications you are asked to list volunteer experiences, and a contact person for that organization if there is one. I don’t know how much checking they do. On the AACOMAS application (for DO schools), I think you had to give more data - what you did, what your responsibilities were, and an estimate of hours. I would look for some volunteer opportunities in the intervening time before applying next year.
4th.
Back in 1999, I worked as a CNA before focusing on college fulltime, does that help me? In what way?
By itself, the experience is not something that will make your application stand out as there are many people with EMT experience or something similar. But again, this can be part of your personal narrative - what did you learn about the roles of the different health care professionals. What interested you about working with patients? WHat did you find inspirational or motivating?
5th.
When should I start applying, assuming that my undergraduate course work is accpeted though its a little old?If you take the May 11 MCAT you can apply next spring - say June. That is nice and early in the cycle, and by having such an early MCAT date, you should have scores back before submitting your application. Prior to then, you will want to get copies of any previous transcripts, and have the information (in one folder) with the grades and how to send off to have a transcript sent directly to the AMCAS or AACOMAS organization. You also will want to collect some letters of recommendation which will be needed for your application -check out some of the threads here for more details. Shadowing one or several physicians can give you an opportunity to explore what areas of medicine you might be interested in, and also develop a connection from whom you could request a LOR.
Hope that’s enough to get you started on!
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Not necessarily. You should retake some biology and you should take some upper level science courses to prove you are still academically competent. Most schools will have some vague statement about pre-reqs should be no more than "x" years old (with x being anywhere from 5-10), but very few of them make it a hard and fast rule. As long as you do well on the MCAT, older pre-reqs will probably be fine (and have some recent coursework to show). Another good reason to take some new coursework is so that you have people who are able to write you academic letters of recommendation.
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It helps you in the same way it helps any non-trad having life/work experience - it makes you a more well-rounded candidate. You will want to be able to articulate well why you want to leave engineering and pursue medicine.
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Do you mean does it help you vs volunteering in the US? It helps in that it makes you a little more interesting - your volunteer experiences are likely different than the majority of candidates. How much it helps you depends on how well you articulate the meaning of the experiences to you and how it has influenced you.
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It doesn't hurt - it's healthcare experience and patient care experience, which is something that is looked for.
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You apply in the summer (June/July) for med school starting in August of the FOLLOWING year. i.e. - if you are applying in June/July of 2011, you will start medical school in August 2012. In theory, you could apply in summer of 2011 if you do well on the MCAT and the schools you are interested in don't think your pre-reqs are too old. You could make a strong argument for waiting a year and making sure you build up your application by shadowing, obtaining letters of recommendation, preparing for the MCAT (especially in subject areas that you are not taking current coursework in), working on your personal statement, investigating medical schools, etc.
Kate & emergency1, thanks for your response. You guys are singing the songs my ears like to hear. So, few of the webs on my eyes are beginning to go away. Confusion has given way to “I can do it, show me the mcat exam.”
Now, I have thus far taken microbiology (6years old), biology 1(3 years old), I think I will need to take another bio class?
how do I find a doc to shadow? Is this necessary/required?
Does the LOR have to come from a doc?
How much weight does one from a doc carry?
Is the mcat as hard or harder that the likes of examcrackers, etc?
Thanks thus far for you help. If anybody else has something to suggest, please do. It seems my momentum is taking shape.
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I would take an upper level biology class or two. Look at the AAMC listing of topics covered on the MCAT and look for a course or two that meet those requirements. Genetics or immunology are good courses that are very useful in medical school. Many medical schools are starting to require biochemistry as a pre-req, so you may want to consider that.
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Require, no, but probably necessary especially if you don't have recent healthcare experience. I didn't have any shadowing and was asked about it at every single interview (I did however, have recent healthcare experience). It is expected that you fully understand what you are getting yourself into and shadowing is one way to do that. It can be difficult to find a doc to shadow. You can try personal contacts - i.e. ask your personal doctor if he/she could recommend someone. You can also contact your undergraduate institution and as if there are any alumni in your area who are physicians and then contact them to shadow.
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How much weight does one from a doc carry?
It depends. If you are applying to DO schools, they usually require that you have a LOR from a practicing DO. There are many DO's that will do that after a simple interview. Most of your letters should be academic letters (and thus an important reason you should take some new coursework). Med schools typically either want a committee letter (which is difficult for many non-trads) or 3-4 letters of recommendation, most of which should be academic letters.
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You'll get varying opinions. A good place to start would be by taking one of the free full-length MCATs that are offered by the AAMC. These are actual old tests. I have seen some people who think the MCAT is getting harder, but a practice AAMC MCAT is a good place to start. It will give you some idea of how much review you need to do and whether or not you need to consider a formal review course. I cannot emphasize enough that if you want med schools to overlook the age of your pre-reqs, you need to have a strong MCAT score.
Ok. I will get ready for one of those courses come January. On the shadowing part of the equation, any insight on how I can go about doing that since I have a demanding full time job?
Is this doable on a weekend? I’m thinking the chances are small to none.
On the mcat exams, I have taken one sample from aamc and it did appear to be somewhat easier than than some I got elsewhere like berkely physics, chemistry, etc.
If you’re interested in DO the American Osteopathic Association has mentor program that may be able to match you up with an interested DO: iLearn.
ER physicians and hospitalists would be possible docs to shadow on the weekends. If you cannot find someone directly, volunteering in your local hospital’s ER may give you an opportunity to get to know some doctors who you could then approach regarding shadowing. You can also “cold call” some. If there is a local medical school, they may have a list of doctors who have agreed to be contacted by students regarding shadowing. Finally, your own physician may be very willing to help you out.
Look upon the shadowing experience as an opportunity to explore the life of a doctor, to learn approaches to diagnosing and treating patients, and to enrich your narrative of why you want to be a doctor and what you feel are some of the challenges in modern healthcare. Be sure to keep a diary of experiences you have while shadowing - thoughts, things that moved you. This will be invaluable when writing your secondary applications
Kate
Kate mentioned ER and Hospitalists–which is a FANTASTIC place to start if you need weekends, but you may also want to look into various family doctor offices in your area. I, too, have a full time job and needed this experience on the weekends, and here’s what I discovered: Both my daughter’s pediatrician and my own family doctor have office hours on Saturday, and both have agreed to let me volunteer and shadow on any Saturday that I’m interested. My PCP said that Saturday was actually a great day to come in, because they usually operate with less staff, so there’s lots of help needed. Several of my friends’ doctors have hours on Sunday as well… according to the admissions committee folks I’ve asked, it’s not important what specialty you shadow–it’s the exposure to the life, schedule, and patient interaction of a physician (any kind of physician) that’s helpful. So even if you know you don’t want family practice or peds? Shadowing a few will still help you out, and there is still much to learn from those physicians. (Of course, ideally you would be able to shadow specialties you were truly interested in…but if your schedule trumps all of that, it’s something to consider!)
I also asked one of the biology profs at a local university about this, and she immediately lit up and started naming names of physicians who are always willing and able to help with shadowing requests. She basically said, “let me know when you are ready–I have a whole list of people you could follow.” So I also agree with previous posts saying to consult with a local university… in my experience, that’s been very helpful! Put yourself and your story out there in a sincere way, and you’ll be surprised how many people want to help. Physicians have all been where we are right now…and many of them remember and want to give back.
Best of luck, and keep us all posted!
i’m also an engineer, graduated in 2001, and plan on taking the MCAT in may 2011. even though i took some bio and physics classes back in undergrad, i decided to retake the classes so i can be fresh for the MCAT. i also found many schools like to have pre-reqs within the past 8 years. i figure it can’t hurt anything.
i think it really depends on what your target schools are. i want to be able to apply to a broad range of schools so i set myself up so i won’t have any restrictions when it comes to when/where i took all my science courses (4 yr state univ within the past 2 yrs). plus it helps with getting research opportunities and LOR’s from professors.
- sirtosti Said:
My question has probably been answered a 1000 times but I couldn't find a thread for it. I graduted with a degree in engineering in 2002. So, my sciences and everything is 8 or more years old, but I have the degree.
first, Do I have to retake the science courses to apply to medical school?
Secondly, how does my experience working as an engineer for the last 8 years help me?
Third, when I have voluteered, I have always done that abroad. How does that experience help me.
4th. Back in 1999, I worked as a CNA before focusing on college fulltime, does that help me? In what way?
5th. When should I start applying, assuming that my undergraduate course work is accpeted though its a little old?
Finally, I plan to take mcat in may of 11.
Now you know why I'm confused as hell.
oh, one more piece of old, but important info. I'm 37 (sigh), but rather bee 97 than dead.
Shameless plug for my blog (I'm an engineer, 37, and in med school) - Engineer to Med student blog
How does your background as an engineer help? Hmm…logic, a framework to analyze and process information. I think your background is actually quite valuable. My husband practiced as a chemE/process engineer for 8 years or so before going to law school, where the analytic skills are also a huge boon.
As for the experience as a CNA, it gives you an insight into people…you get to see people at stressful times in their lieves, and provide intimate care for them. You don’t have to start school afraid of touching a patient or afraid of the intimacy that is forced on you at times just because of the nature of the job.
Ask someone who knows you these questions…you’ll be surprised what they see in you that you didn’t recognize but that will ring true once spoken.