Hello,

I am a junior right now at UMASS Amherst. I have been psych and pre-med until last year where I switched into the Neuroscience track, mainly because of all the science requirements needed for med school can be put to use through this major. I believe like said above, you need a full year of physics (including labs), One full year of Inorganic Chem and Organic (again, including labs), a math (at least one semester of stats, calc, or computer science), and then of course the into to Bio. It is best to talk to someone in your school so get the definate required classes (meaning, class numbers, etc). Right now personally I'm trying to figure out if I am do the sciences well enough to get into med school and to even do well on the MCAT's. I've only got to do the Organic chem, but being in neuroscience I have much more to go. 🙁 It's tough, and also like above I'd like to be a psychologist or something of that sort 😉

Hello, my name is Michael
I took general chemistry with the lab component and got an A first term and A- second term. But when I took biology I got b for both semesters. Personally I think that nyu, just makes biology harder for no apparent reason but I would like to know how this looks for medical school. Over gpa is 3.55

Mk91,

I believe your grades are definitely competitive for most medical schools. It is not unusual to get B's here or there in your required pre-med courses, especially at a college that has a decent/hard pre-med program. If you continue getting a mix of A's and B's in your pre-med courses and then do well on your MCAT exam, I think you will get accepted somewhere for medical school. You will have a tougher time at the better medical schools but should be able to get accepted at some of the mid schools and most of the lower level schools (I don't think any medical school is really a low level though - just all relative).

If you get mostly A's in the rest of your pre-med courses, that'll help. However, organic chemistry is pretty tough and it depends on just how hard your school grades those classes.

This is of course just my opinion - but 3.5 and above should give you a reasonable chance at the mid level medical schools.

I'm confused on what a "year of biology" means...

Does this mean two semesters of biology?

Does "English Comp I" and "English Comp II" count as a year of English?

Does "General Biology w/ Lab" count as one of the biology classes, and does "Botany" count as one?

Thanks
-C

Chance,

Any two semesters of English courses should be fine for the one year of English. The two you mention would be as good as any.

For the one year of biology, you need to have the biology course plus a lab for the entire year. At schools on the semester system, that would be two semesters. Usually there is a first year biology course offered for people majoring in biology, and that is the class you would want to take as a pre-med. Your school advisor should know which courses are the appropriate ones for medical school. Botany would not typically be one of the courses you would take for the year of biology.

Chance,

Any two semesters of English courses should be fine for the one year of English. The two you mention would be as good as any.

For the one year of biology, you need to have the biology course plus a lab for the entire year. At schools on the semester system, that would be two semesters. Usually there is a first year biology course offered for people majoring in biology, and that is the class you would want to take as a pre-med. Your school advisor should know which courses are the appropriate ones for medical school. Botany would not typically be one of the courses you would take for the year of biology.

Thanks a lot for the help.... I'm slightly discouraged because I'm 25, only have about 30 hours of school, and I have always wanted to go to med school. I feel like it will be hard to get in because of probably being 28 before being able to apply. However, never had a problem getting good grades. My GPA is over 3.7 and would be 4.0 if I hadn't gone through a crisis to where I missed a major exam in two classes which dropped me to a B. I can easily re-take those, however.

A few B's won't keep you out of medical school. It has become more common for people to take time off between college and medical school, so you shouldn't feel too out of place. You can also do a google search for "non-traditional medical student" and you'll find plenty of resources about medical students who didn't go straight through from college to medical school.

Medical school is very challenging, and I would guess it is even tougher as you get older. Nonetheless, there are plenty of people who go to medical school a few years after they finish college.

As I attempt to clean up this site and make answers easier to find, I've decided to create this thread.

This is the thread where I am moving all questions that don't fit better in another thread. Feel free to post your question here and if I feel like it should be moved to another thread or to its own thread, I will do that.

Dear DrDave,

Thanks for this informative forum.
I'm 24 and considering applying to med school. I have an undegrad degree in French from Oxford University and I'm currently finishing up my MA in clinical psychology at Columbia. My GPA from Oxford, after converting to american scores, is around 3.5. At Columbia, so far i didn't get anything below A-, and i have only 4 classes left so im expecting to get a very high GPA. I haven't taken any science classes so i know i'd need to complete the pre-med courses. I'm considering getting a job as an RA while taking classes in the evening. I know i'd be starting very late but my other option is applying for a PhD or a PsyDin clinical psych which takes 5 years, is very difficult to get into (they accept about 8 students a year out of 300 or so, for most schools, and most of them require full-time job experience so i wouldn't really have a chance to get in for the next two years or so) and then i believe the jobs and a general career route is not as secure as that of an MD. I would like to be a fertility doctor or a neurosurgeon. I currently have a volunteer RA internship at a psychiatric hospital and i love it.
Am i too old to start? I have had interest in biologuy but i had never taken any college-level classes because the european system allows you to study only one subject. I know for sure that im not brilliant at math or physics but i believe i can pull through. I took a stats class for my psych degree and to my surprise got an A+ (but i understand that pre-med will be at a higher level).
Also, would i have to take 1year of English even though i have a degree in French?
I would really appreciate your advice! Thank you!

What are some things that medical schools look at when it comes to accepting students. For example, do they look at age? Would applying at say 19 years old look bad because medical schools might not think I'm mature enough? Also, do they look at your ethnicity? and finally, do they look at things like volunteering and research opportunities?