since med school is really competitive now, a ms or phd is the next step for me. i have the grades for the phd program but ppl tell me that its up to 3 yrs and you may be overqualified afterwards...meh
GRE is the first step, i need above 1100, i want 1150-1200. anyone take it yet? or anyone doing their masters or phd?
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
PHD is retarded hard, no joke only 12% of people that enroll in a PHD program get one.
Ever consider an MBA? Or do you really like med?
If you want to be a doctor, make sure you are not doing it just for the money, because it is REALLY REALLY hard, not just grade wise, but the residency and all that...
I know a guy that goes to Emory as a premed, that kid literally DOES NOT SLEEP, I'm talking about 8 hours a week, but he justifies it with getting a 4.0. He has gray hairs and hes not even 22 years old.
umm...im on a bio premed and its not that difficult. and the phd is in bio, but that leaves me with very few choices of a career: research or industry.
right now im trying to get into some research labs and hopefully that can bulk up my pathetic resume (reason #1 im not taking the MCAT as undergrad)
the bio advisor said that the masters in bio is kinda pontless unless i wanted to get into med school.
i talked too the public health people and i dont think i like that kind of work.
so here i am, 1.5 yrs left and completely lost lol.
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
This is just my advice based on what I've seen. My fiancee is a 3rd year med student as are the majority of our friends.
First off, don't go into medicine if it's the status or money your interested in. Most med students drop out if that's their motivation and those that don't become miserable doctors. However if you legitimatly want to do just to help people, etc. it's rediculously rewarding and you should love it. If you're planning on med school I wouldn't waste the time/money on a masters unless you aren't confident in how you'll do on the MCAT, have a GPA below 3.7 or interviews for med schools. Not that many med students have masters and almost none have phds
Also, don't expect medical school to be anything like college, pre-med or not. Medical school is much much more demanding. Of course you'll adjust to it but the first two years of medical school require several times more studying than college. A lot of people drop out in the first year or two. Starting with third year the focus is on actually working as a doctor and can be a lot of fun.
Plus with the way Obama is running things now is not a good time to be a doctor...
I mean its always good to be a doctor, but its going to suck allot more for the health industry as a whole if he gets his way.
With 1.5 years left its not too late to change majors if you think pre-med is not working out.
exactly, if i do the phd in bio im overqualified. my bio core GPA is decent, but i did poorly in maths, dont think that really counts tho.
yeah ive got friends in med school that say that the first 4 months is all the undergrad upper level bio you did - and if you dont know that background, then you might as well drop.
with the new healthcare stuff, public health is heating up. so thats first choice atm, but i really have been wondering if i can make it as a professor and do research
i just dont like the people that are MPHs, they are all advocates and people i dont like lol. i the healthcare thing is more business than bio, another huge minus.
recently ive been more interested in organic chem, im really good at it and the stuff is kinda interesting. ive done research labs in organic compounds so i know its the kind of stuff that im into. its too late to change majors now.
o well, MPH it is for now, anyone taken a GRE? how is it? i heard its like the SAT but harder and easier.
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
okay, im on track to graduate from uni in about 1.5 yrs
anyone here take the GRE or MCAT or any other CATs? im thinking of going to grad school atm...
took the mcat on sept 12th in the process of applying now to med schools.
i think you should look into the md/phd programs that many med schools have. it is even more competetive than regular md, but it would allow you to practice medicine AND do research.
however i don't think it's too late for you to change majors.. better to be a year or two older than other students than be regretting your career choice 30 years from now.
If you're worried about the tests, i'd recommend a prep course. i took Kaplan's prep course for the MCAT, but i've heard Princestone Review's is better and i don't doubt it.
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they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
lol ove heard a lot of things about kaplan, not many good ones either. ive been told exam crackers and princeton are good tho...but my overall GPA isnt med school appropriate atm (damn calculus...) so id have to go to grad school to bump it or kill the MCAT.
im taking all the rest of my higher level bio course next semester...micro, animal, labs, genetics and biochem. thats not going to do any favors to my GPA either. but its definitely too late to switch, im on track for a 4 yr degree
good luck on your apps if u get the look over, you can always go to med school in the Caribbean and transfer
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
there's also DO schools (doctor of osteopathic medicine) which usually have lower standards for GPA and MCAT scores.
but the curriculum isn't that much different from MD, and you can still become any kind of doctor you'd want to be.
the biggest difference i think is that it may be harder to get a residency in some fields.
so there's always that too
that's what i'll probably do if i don't get accepted to the MD programs i'm applying to.
your next semester sounds terrible btw!
i'll be taking biochem next semester too though
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they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
if u do good in orgo youll do fine in biochem. thats why i flirted with changing my major, i did amazing in orgo. but yeah, my next sem is gonna be hell...i really despise those intro labs you have to do...animal lab is a bore.
my friend applied to like 30 med schools wow. hes getting his responses now, already rejected by a couple. u gotta see the out of state acceptance % of the schools, like USC is like 99.9% in state, and no out state.
sadly theres only like 3 med schools in GA
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
If you want to go to medical school, I think you still have time to make that happen as an undergrad. Doing well on your MCAT is pretty critical if you feel that you have other deficits in your application; applying early is also very important for a laundry list of reasons. I applied late and regretted it because instead of getting in easily, I had to fight tooth and nail to try to convince admissions committees that I was serious about going to med school.
If I were you, I would sit down tomorrow while waiting for Torchlight to finally be released for download and work through a practice MCAT doing your best to simulate real testing conditions to get a feel for where you would score if you didn't prepare. Then based on those results try to figure out what you don't know so that you can go about learning it before you take the test for real--of course this mostly applies to the hard science sections. For the verbal section, just read as much as you can I guess, especially science or medical stuff.
Sorry, I'm quite tired as it is way past my bedtime and I have a dense day of learning about shit tomorrow (we just started Gastrointestinal today...). If you have any more questions or want to know what it is like to get into or go to med school, in theory I should be a useful person to ask since I have made it through about 1.5 years of med school (and still go there)...
I don't know how badly you screwed up your GPA and I didn't think mine was fantastic, but I am under the impression that if a decent/good MCAT score and rugged, manly, good looks can get me into med school, they can do the same for you!
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All science is either physics or stamp collecting.
- Ernest Rutherford
3 of my cousins took the MCAT..they're all really hard studiers and they're fucking smart as hell..the test, however, is really difficult..if you get 12 on the Biology part, that's way more than great..that's what I heard at least.
the science sections are easy for most students, its the verbal part that effs ppl up. my friend got a 34 on the MCAT but got looked over or wait listed by every school she applied to. 15 in bio, 14 in phys but a mere 5 in verbal. the benchmark is 8 for most schools, under 8 and you automatically get ignored.
im not doing med school just yet, i think grad school first and then depending on how the first year goes i might give it a shot.
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Remember the String of Ears
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
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anyone here take the GRE or MCAT or any other CATs? im thinking of going to grad school atm...
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
GRE is the first step, i need above 1100, i want 1150-1200. anyone take it yet? or anyone doing their masters or phd?
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
Ever consider an MBA? Or do you really like med?
If you want to be a doctor, make sure you are not doing it just for the money, because it is REALLY REALLY hard, not just grade wise, but the residency and all that...
I know a guy that goes to Emory as a premed, that kid literally DOES NOT SLEEP, I'm talking about 8 hours a week, but he justifies it with getting a 4.0. He has gray hairs and hes not even 22 years old.
right now im trying to get into some research labs and hopefully that can bulk up my pathetic resume (reason #1 im not taking the MCAT as undergrad)
the bio advisor said that the masters in bio is kinda pontless unless i wanted to get into med school.
i talked too the public health people and i dont think i like that kind of work.
so here i am, 1.5 yrs left and completely lost lol.
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
First off, don't go into medicine if it's the status or money your interested in. Most med students drop out if that's their motivation and those that don't become miserable doctors. However if you legitimatly want to do just to help people, etc. it's rediculously rewarding and you should love it. If you're planning on med school I wouldn't waste the time/money on a masters unless you aren't confident in how you'll do on the MCAT, have a GPA below 3.7 or interviews for med schools. Not that many med students have masters and almost none have phds
Also, don't expect medical school to be anything like college, pre-med or not. Medical school is much much more demanding. Of course you'll adjust to it but the first two years of medical school require several times more studying than college. A lot of people drop out in the first year or two. Starting with third year the focus is on actually working as a doctor and can be a lot of fun.
Signature and avatar courtesy of Indestructible.
I mean its always good to be a doctor, but its going to suck allot more for the health industry as a whole if he gets his way.
With 1.5 years left its not too late to change majors if you think pre-med is not working out.
yeah ive got friends in med school that say that the first 4 months is all the undergrad upper level bio you did - and if you dont know that background, then you might as well drop.
with the new healthcare stuff, public health is heating up. so thats first choice atm, but i really have been wondering if i can make it as a professor and do research
i just dont like the people that are MPHs, they are all advocates and people i dont like lol. i the healthcare thing is more business than bio, another huge minus.
recently ive been more interested in organic chem, im really good at it and the stuff is kinda interesting. ive done research labs in organic compounds so i know its the kind of stuff that im into. its too late to change majors now.
o well, MPH it is for now, anyone taken a GRE? how is it? i heard its like the SAT but harder and easier.
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
i think you should look into the md/phd programs that many med schools have. it is even more competetive than regular md, but it would allow you to practice medicine AND do research.
however i don't think it's too late for you to change majors.. better to be a year or two older than other students than be regretting your career choice 30 years from now.
If you're worried about the tests, i'd recommend a prep course. i took Kaplan's prep course for the MCAT, but i've heard Princestone Review's is better and i don't doubt it.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
im taking all the rest of my higher level bio course next semester...micro, animal, labs, genetics and biochem. thats not going to do any favors to my GPA either. but its definitely too late to switch, im on track for a 4 yr degree
good luck on your apps if u get the look over, you can always go to med school in the Caribbean and transfer
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
but the curriculum isn't that much different from MD, and you can still become any kind of doctor you'd want to be.
the biggest difference i think is that it may be harder to get a residency in some fields.
so there's always that too
that's what i'll probably do if i don't get accepted to the MD programs i'm applying to.
your next semester sounds terrible btw!
i'll be taking biochem next semester too though
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
my friend applied to like 30 med schools wow. hes getting his responses now, already rejected by a couple. u gotta see the out of state acceptance % of the schools, like USC is like 99.9% in state, and no out state.
sadly theres only like 3 med schools in GA
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
If I were you, I would sit down tomorrow while waiting for Torchlight to finally be released for download and work through a practice MCAT doing your best to simulate real testing conditions to get a feel for where you would score if you didn't prepare. Then based on those results try to figure out what you don't know so that you can go about learning it before you take the test for real--of course this mostly applies to the hard science sections. For the verbal section, just read as much as you can I guess, especially science or medical stuff.
Sorry, I'm quite tired as it is way past my bedtime and I have a dense day of learning about shit tomorrow (we just started Gastrointestinal today...). If you have any more questions or want to know what it is like to get into or go to med school, in theory I should be a useful person to ask since I have made it through about 1.5 years of med school (and still go there)...
I don't know how badly you screwed up your GPA and I didn't think mine was fantastic, but I am under the impression that if a decent/good MCAT score and rugged, manly, good looks can get me into med school, they can do the same for you!
- Ernest Rutherford
Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions
im not doing med school just yet, i think grad school first and then depending on how the first year goes i might give it a shot.
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."