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I’ve always been passionate about medicine and caring for people; however, after BS and MS degrees in math, I continued down that road, and ended up applying the math to real-world problems and got a Ph.D. in engineering. I make a very good living as a professional engineer; however, I have absolutely no passion for what I do. Hence today I have deep urgings to pursue that which I love best – caring for human beings. To get there I’ll need to start with the premed courses – minus the physics and the genereal chemistry requirements. However, since my undergraduate days are many moons old, I’m unsure about where to start. Therefore, my question is the following: Should I take the other four courses (organic chem I & II and bio/biochem) and then prepare for the MCAT, or is it wiser to take some additional science courses?
Ballou
Hi there,
All you need is really General Biology and Organic Chemistry (two semesters worth of each with lab). Since your other pre-reqs are older, check with the schools that interest you. If your engineering grad work is recent, that along with your General Biology and Organic Chemistry should be enough.
As for the MCAT, you probably need only a review (could be done with a formal course like Princeton Review or Kaplan) or picking up some retired exams (available for order on-line) doing a few and seeing where you stand once you are done with Organic and General Biology.
You do not need to take Biochemistry. With your science background, I doubt that medical school biochemistry would pose too much of a problem. If you can take both courses at the same time, you could likely be done in a year and applying in two years.
In the meantime, get some hospital/clinical volunteering under your belt and some physician shadowing too. Good luck and welcome to the group!
Natalie
