Hello,
I’ve gathered alot of great information already, and want to express my appreciation for this forum. It is a welcoming community offering support.
I am an acupuncturist, and a professor of Chinese medicine. My practice is integrated with a neurologist, and I focus largely on neurological and psychiatric conditions. I’ve also worked in free clinics, and hospitals in China. I’ve worked closely with a mentor, an MD psychiatrist who is an authority on Chinese medicine, for 9 years. I have a busy, full-time practice, and a teaching and writing load. I’ve published some papers, contributed chapters to a book, teach and develop seminars, and have a full-length monograph in the works.
I have decided to pursue a medical degree: either MD or DO. I am going to take all prerequisites, even repeating organic chemistry and biology. I’ll be encountering calculus and math-intensive physics for the first time. I have some trepidation about math. My undergraduate degree was literature and asian studies, so not a lot of hard science or math. Between undergraduate and my MS in TCM, I have a 3.7 gpa (3.7 for both phases).
I’m 35, married with a 4-year-old son, and I have to meet with an advisor soon to plan out a schedule for taking all the courses. The co-requisites and math pre-requisites for Chem and Physics are really going to consume my time.
Can someone advise me about realistic time frames? And when should I think about MCATs? When will I be ready to start applying? 2009? What’s a good resource for guidance (a book for example) to the planing and timing? My only option is to take night classes at a community college. Will this hurt my application at high-ranking schools? Does it ever help to have contacts among faculty or deans at potential med schools?
Thanks for reading such a lengthy introduction. I presume that more information allows greater clarity. I look forward to joining in the discussions.
Brandt,
For what it’s worth, my post bacc program has me taking pre-med classes for the next three years with (fingers crossed) acceptance into med school in the fall of 2010.
I’m 39 (for another few weeks) and my undergrad was in English/Technical Writing. Getting the rust off the science and math parts of my brain took a bit, but everything seems to be getting close to full working order now.
hak
- Brandt Said:
Thanks for reading such a lengthy introduction. I presume that more information allows greater clarity. I look forward to joining in the discussions.
Hi Brandt, and welcome to OPM! As you've already gathered from your perusal of the forums, there are many possible ways to go about the pre-med path. Your plan certainly sounds reasonable to me.
Given your concerns about your lack of a math background, I'd focus on getting that under your belt initially so that you are then geared up for the real "meat" of your prerequisites. If you are going to be working and going to school at night, you'll also have to keep that in mind as you figure out your timeline. I personally think it would be inadvisable to take more than one or **maybe** two courses while working that much (though there are some on here who've pushed the envelope).
So when to apply will be determined by your ability to complete coursework. I think it's *possible* that you might apply in 2009 but it may take you until 2010 before you're ready. Hard to say right now - I will give you the same advice I was given, which is: Start with one course. See how it goes. Gradually increase your workload but always, always, keep your academic performance foremost. Don't ever bite off more than you can chew.
You can't take the MCAT until you've completed your prerequisites. If you've taken all of the prereqs in the year or two leading up to the MCAT, and really focused on them and done well, you've done part of your MCAT preparation already - but that is definitely not all it takes to be ready for the MCAT. In the three to six months leading up to the MCAT, you can figure that preparing for it will be the equivalent of another 4-credit class with lab.
Hopefully someone who's more recently been through the process can recommend some resources for you that spell out the process.
Finally, will CC grades hurt you? Probably at some schools. You've got a good undergrad and grad GPA and an interesting story, so if you get stellar grades at your CC, AND do well on the MCAT, many schools won't care. I frankly don't know about whether it'll be more of an issue with "high-ranking" schools; my guess is that it might be but I will answer your question with one of my own: If a high-ranking school can't evaluate you on your merits, including your community college grades, would you want to go there simply because of its rank? It's kind of a rhetorical question, obviously, but most folks who've gone to med school in the United States will tell you that rank isn't actually very important in what you end up doing, so it shouldn't take up much focus in your current considerations.
Good luck!
Mary
Hi,
Thanks for the sound advice. I’ve got a perspective on this endeavor that is new to me: start now, do one thing at a time, and keep going until it’s done. Yet I am oddly both convinced of my eventual success while being unattached to the outcome.
As for “high-ranking school” it is really only incidental to the fact that there are about 7 doctors at Harvard whose work has already strongly influenced my own, and so I dream of going there.
It appears to be a place where I could formally pursue my work in integrative medicine, cross-cultural psychiatry and PTSD even while doing med school coursework.
Thanks again for the welcome, and good advice. I’m going to start with Math and focus on finishing my book before taking on a tougher schedule. Nothing obviates the necessity for a 4.0 and a great MCAT, and that’s far down the road, and shrouded in mystery.
Sincerely,
Brandt
Dear Mary and Brandt,
Nice to see you, Mary, at 2007 conference in Chicago.
Last year, I left the conference with amazing images of OPM people in my heart, because I never knew people can be this determined in their dreams.
Somehow, this message would be long, I have four questions.
(1)I have some questions for your topic group.
I have two bachelor’s degree, music and chemistry.
GPA I gathered for these two are 3.4 and 2.99(3.1
for science)
Not impressive at all.
I was a foreign student from Taiwan when I got
second degree, my first degree was from Taiwan.
I asked UC Davis medical admission office, he is really helpful, he advised me to take 30-40 upper -level biology classes to show that I am capable of getting good at science.
I need two years to have these done presumably
I got good grades.
I am already 43 years old, unmarried, single Chinese American! My determination is strong however, I kind of dislike repeaing org chem and
doing another 1/2 bachelor degree level stuff after doing research in biochem for six years.
If I go back to school, I feel like there is no progress in my life after being a working professional.
I must have strong reasons to do this kind of upper-level classes.
Should I get a master degree in molecular biology instead?
I wonder what people will do if the take prereqs
the second time around and does not do a 3.6 or above, would they continue their journey to apply?
Or just totally give up the dream? In that case,
I would rather get to foreign med schools rather than giving up my dream!
With all this time, I can do a PhD! My family physician is a Chinese womam doc who did her MD after her PhD and kids’ first six years.
It seems that people in med school admission still consider Chinese American applicants who
immigrate to US after age of 25 still have to
prove themselves with a PhD. The older age you
got, more degress you have to show to get into
med school.(That is what my aunt told me to get
a PhD in whatever! She is a MD Anderson Associate Professor down in Houston.)
Should I just get a master and publish or do well in my research work and then apply to med school?
(2)What do you think of those Carribean med schools? I reviewed some doctors profiles in Thomas Jefferson’s Neurology category, there is this one Asian doc who did it in Ross Medical School and got internship and residency at Stony Brook and later also become a good neurologist in Thomas Jefferson. I am 43 and eager to progress in my journey of medicine. I kind of got tired of
having to retake org chem and upper-level classes.
If I can save time of two years, I would take Carribs and find a good residency place (I wonder how people can do that!)
Especially, New York, New Jersey seem to take foreign med graduates pretty openly.
I am afraid of getting tired and not be able to survive in this long journey so I am thinking of making it would be easier for me to just start Caribbean schools and save those time of biting
org chem books.
(3)Would people with health-related jobs (PA, accupuncturists, TCM doc) get to enter med school
easier than us?
(4)Would be the Carribs med graduates get fellowship research opportunities later in their
career?such as NIH ?
Your answer would be greatly appreciated. 
–Lin from New Jersey
Lin, may I respectfully suggest that you start a different thread and ask ONE question per thread, your post is just too long and complicated to answer! And besides, we are hijacking Brandt’s thread. Thanks.
Mary