Help Out a Pre-Med'er

[BluePastU]

Hey folks,

Just moved in and on my way thru college. It's pretty intimidating right now with all I have to do and all the things that people have said. My one biggest fear is obviously not doing well enough to get into any med-school. What are some tips that you guys have to help me out? I have been told so many different things about what to major in. Right now I am thinking about Pysch but I have heard that is a horrible choice because everyone majors in either that or Bio. Also, any other tips that you can tell me to help me get thru these next 4 years would be much appreciated.

Thank You

 

[cobravert03]

The best advice I could give you as a physician:

Change your major to PRE-LAW!! :read:

 

[CobraCallie]

Well.. I'm actually going onto Med School..

I chose not to major in pre-med because of the incident if I chose not to go into med school. So I chose Nutritional Science, which is a pre-professional degree. So.. currently I work at Pfizer, and plan on med school.

Also.. I'm gonna tell you. STUDY HARD! No joke... MCATs are tough, I know a couple of people who had to retake them. I'll say, for every 4 credit class you take, study around 8 hrs a week. Don't let your grades drop... it's tough competition.

One other thing, make sure to do some work in the medical field before you apply for med schools. When they're looking at tons of kids with 4.0 GPA's, the ones that will get in, will be the ones with experience in the field...

Good luck...

 

[cobravert03]

No, really... I'm serious. Medicine's not the career it used to be. You'd better want to do it for love of humanity alone, because there's NO money in it anymore. It costs more and more to take care of people, and we're getting paid less and less to do it. Many practices are closing or docs are retiring early because they just can't afford to work anymore. In many cases, it costs ME money to operate on people. Change is coming, but it will take crisis to make it happen. Hopefully I will last that long. Luckily, I never wanted to be rich...

Good luck in whatever endeavor you choose - just make sure it will make you happy. Taking care of my patients makes me happy - worrying about how to keep my practice open doesn't.

 

[CobraCallie]

First of all.. Medicine is NOT the career to do, if you're only in it for money. It's way too much stress, and long hours, that even with the money you make, it's not worth it.

Make sure you absolutely love medicine. You don't even have to go to med school, to work in medicine. Look into nursing (yeah.. I know.. "female job" but for real.. some of the best nurses I've ever worked with, are the male nurses in the ER. They're awesome. Also look into radiology, it's an AWESOME field to work in..

 

[blumnday99]

Originally posted by CobraCallie
First of all.. Medicine is NOT the career to do, if you're only in it for money. It's way too much stress, and long hours, that even with the money you make, it's not worth it.

Make sure you absolutely love medicine. You don't even have to go to med school, to work in medicine. Look into nursing (yeah.. I know.. "female job" but for real.. some of the best nurses I've ever worked with, are the male nurses in the ER. They're awesome. Also look into radiology, it's an AWESOME field to work in..

There's dentistry too.

 

[dorky LS1 chick]

I'm majoring in Nursing then plan on applying to med school for a few reasons..

#1 - get my feet wet. I've wanted to be a doctor since i was about 3...but I'd like to make sure it's definitely something I want to get into before shelling out the $$ and the years in my life for med school..

#2 - as Callie said...there's thousands of people with 4.0 GPAs that want to get into med school..so naturally they're going to look for someone who has experience in that field. I'm going from nursing --> med school.. that makes me that more favorable to get in.

 

[SNCBOOM]

My best friend and roommate is pre-med and he's following a biology major class scheme now. He loves it with a passion that is equal to mine of cars. I'm pre-engineering so it's basically math and physics for a while. My buddy has always told me to diversify to make yourself noticable...:shrug:

 

[gyacopetti]

Originally posted by cobravert03
No, really... I'm serious. Medicine's not the career it used to be. You'd better want to do it for love of humanity alone, because there's NO money in it anymore. It costs more and more to take care of people, and we're getting paid less and less to do it. Many practices are closing or docs are retiring early because they just can't afford to work anymore. In many cases, it costs ME money to operate on people. Change is coming, but it will take crisis to make it happen. Hopefully I will last that long. Luckily, I never wanted to be rich...

Good luck in whatever endeavor you choose - just make sure it will make you happy. Taking care of my patients makes me happy - worrying about how to keep my practice open doesn't.

Ya my dad is good friends with gp and he has to pay 100 grand a year just for 400,000 dollars of coverage. Who is getting f ucked there???

 

[BluePastU]

The money was definetly not the main reason for choosing a medical profession. I won't lie tho, it wasn't for "helping people" either. It's just something I liked to read about....the development of the human body. Mostly muscular development and how the body grows both thru hypertrophy and hyerplasia (sp?)...cell growth and cell mitosis respectively. I would like a profession that I enjoy doing, but also can get me into a comfortable lifestyle where I don't have to worry if my family will have food, if my kids will have enough money to go to the college of their choice and if I can enjoy life without stressing about saving every dollar to pay all my bills. My father has to work 10-12hrs/day 6 days a week. Mom is a RN. Both of them have given my brother and I a "comfortable" lifestyle. We had most of the things we wanted, especially the college we wanted to go to. I want to give my children the same opportunities I had. Don't worry tho, if I do get a good profession, daddy's gonna get a nice lile Porsche Carrera GT....even if it means me living in the slums for a few years, guess it's the least I could do for him.

As far as pre-law goes. What careers other than attorney are out there? I don't think I would be very happy in that field.

Thanks for all your help folks.

EDIT - Oh yea. Im changing my bio course because taking it would pretty much be a waste of time. Was thinking of psychology. If I were to go pre-law, what should I take? An english class? Im taking chem, bio (soon to be changed), political science and cells & human development (one of my core classes [in a liberal arts school]). Thanks again.

 

[BluePastU]

TTT

 

[SID297]

This is the best advice you'll ever get so pay attention.


Get to know the people on the board of admissions. Become friends with them. And rarely talk to them about medical things. Talk to them about the things they are interested in. Trust me, this'll go a long way for you.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Originally posted by cobravert03
The best advice I could give you as a physician:

Change your major to PRE-LAW!! :read:

Agreed! or Electrician or Plumber!

 

[BluePastU]

^^^ Are you being serious or joking?

 

[manystangs]

My advice, if you are a man get a sex change. Many med schools have quota's and men just aren't as helpful to their numbers.

 

[TrueBlueGT]

Here's my best advice to an undergrad:

1.Study when you need to

2.Party when you need to

3.Don't always assume that your education is only found in books. I learned as much outside of the classroom as I did inside.

 

[BluePastU]

^^ Very good advice. Not a big drinker, will probably only be partying once or twice a month....and of course only on the weekends. Weekdays and im hitting the books as hard as I can...still working on being able to sit down for hours on end just reading. And im forced to do some research/attend seminars outside of class as a requirement...although it is just more work for me....I guess it will be a good experience to make me a "well-rounded individual" .

Anyways....thanks guys, and wish me luck on the rough road ahead :cryying: :read: :xpl: