Planning, Juggling, Acceptance

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hello. I recently followed some advise that I received from a fellow oldpremed person. He told me to talk with the admissions advisor from the med school I am interested in. I sent my transcripts off to her and she reviewed them. She told me that I need to get straight A’s for two years in order to show an upward trend. If I do that I might get accepted. Well, I have a 3.0 gpa and am struggling to get to that A level. I work about 60 hours a week and am planning to retake the first ochem and take genetics this fall. I originally got a C+, I want to retake it and get an A. I am planning on getting a tutor. I am wanting to take the MCAT this spring and apply. If I get 4 A’s before I apply and a great MCAT score could that do the trick?


If I nail the MCAT, could that make up for my 3.0?


How do you all juggle work, school, friends, family, and time for yourself?


Is there a way to do it that won’t make you go crazy?


Thanks for reading,


Sallison


Much thanks for replying!!

2

Medical School application is a crap shoot. There is NO magic number. You can have a 4.0 and 40+ on the MCAT and still not get into medical school.


there are many factors involved when an admissions committee reviews and applicant.

  1. Is this person dedicated to lifelong learning and medicine

  2. WHY does this person want to go into medicine? Are they just doing this because their parents are doctors and have to or do they just want to make a lot of money?

  3. Academics. Medical schools want to ensure that you will be able to complete their program. However, this is not always a guarantee. I know someone who has 2 masters degrees and failed out of medical school.

  4. Personality. Is the applicant good with just books? Do they have a good chance of having a good bedside manner? Is the student a leader or are they a follower?

  5. Success. Will the applicant be a success in the program or will they decide to drop out? If they complete the program, will we be proud that they came from OUR program?

  6. Classmates: How will this person mesh with the rest of the class? Are they obnoxious? Were they nasty to the secretary, the custodian, the security guard?

  7. What will the applicant do while they are a student here? Will they embarrass our school or make our school shine?


    The MCAT and your GPA get you the interview. The success of the interview gets you the acceptance. The admissions officer will not tell you that you can simply get a B and that should be fine. They want to see HOW dedicated you are to the process and by giving you this challenge of needing to get all A’s, they want to see if you will at least try.


    There is no magic number, no magic formula, and no magic words to get you an admission to medical school. There is only you and your desire. Remember, your numbers get you the interview, but how well you do in the interview will determine if you get in.
3

Bravo!!! Well said. I see an adcom member in the budding!!!

4
  • Sallison Said:


How do you all juggle work, school, friends, family, and time for yourself?



While I am not in the same situation that you are and I've not started back with classes yet, I can offer my opinion on how I project this to work out for me. It is (or should be) understood that medical school is going to be a long and arduous journey. As such, sacrifices have to be made. For me, the first thing to go is time for myself, then friends, then family and school. I will need to give myself the best chances to do as well as I can in school to be successful, and if my personal life suffers for it for a few years, I am certainly okay with that. If I wanted it another way I would just keep my job that I have now.

Oh, and the reason I didn't list work in my list of priorities to lose is that in order to go back to school I have to quit where I am now, so any job I have will be tailored around what I need to do for school.

Mike
5

Thanks for all the response.


I have decided to take one course this semester (OCHEM 252).


I feel more comfortable taking one course while I am working full time. I had already tried taking two courses while working full time and it resulted in B’s. I think taking one course will be alot more manageable.


I assume it is better to get a higher grade, than to take two classes and get B’s.


Tomorrow is the first day.


Thanks again.


SALLISON

6
  • Sallison Said:
Thanks for all the response.

I have decided to take one course this semester (OCHEM 252).

I feel more comfortable taking one course while I am working full time. I had already tried taking two courses while working full time and it resulted in B's. I think taking one course will be alot more manageable.

I assume it is better to get a higher grade, than to take two classes and get B's.

Tomorrow is the first day.

Thanks again.

SALLISON



One of my growing list of non-trad maxims is never risk bad grades by taking too much too quickly. Taking longer to finish will not be of much notice to adcoms. Bad grades will