Hello everyone,
I've been browsing these forums for a few weeks now as I've been interested in medical school for a while now just didn't know where to start.
I talked to my pre-med advisor and she said I had decent chances of doing medical school if I follow some steps, but I wanted to get some second opinions. I also had a few questions.
I have two years left to graduate with my B.S. in Chemical Engineering from one of the top state schools in Texas.
My first semester I had all C's and my second semester I had all B's and one F (which was removed from my GPA calculation). I had an untreated anxiety disorder that got really bad my first year of college, panic attacks and such, that really affected my ability to take tests until I had it documented and treated. Ever since then, my grades have increased every single semester to where I have A's and a few B's. I went up from a 2.1 GPA my first semester to now having a 3.3 cumulative GPA. So I'm definitely below the average for medical school, but realistically I could bring mine up to a 3.4 or 3.45 by the time I graduate.
These are my pre-req grades:
Engineering Physics (Mechanics) - A
Engineering Physics (Electricity & Optics) - A
Biology I - A
Engineering Biology - A
Chemistry for Engineers - C
Chemistry II - B + A in lab
Organic Chemistry I - A
Organic Chemistry II - B (lab not yet taken)
English I - A
I also will be doing a year-long research project starting this semester with a team in my department involving designing a new type of DNA replicating device (PCR machine). I did a bit of volunteer research with my professor last semester studying nanowires for biomedical applications.
As far as extra-curriculars, I don't really have a lot of involvement in medical organizations but I've been involved in a fraternity since first semester that focuses on philanthropy, community service and helping out in local area. So I've been doing that for a few years now. That takes up most hours of my week where I'm not doing school. Is it bad that I'm not spread thin and rather am more intensely focused in 1 or 2 extra things?
If I decide to pursue medical school seriously, I could do shadowing in December and take my MCAT next summer. I would then spend the year after I graduate taking Biochemistry, Anatomy/Physiology, Microbiology and Molecular & Cell Biology to prepare for medical school, so I'd enter Fall of 2016.
What kind of MCAT score should I shoot for to offset my low GPA? Do I have a reasonable chance to get into some Texas medical schools? I would be shooting for UT Southwestern or UTMB Galveston or Baylor College of Medicine.
Now for other questions. I'm having trouble finding a good answer to this on the internet. What is lifestyle like in medical school? Is it really like 0-4 hours of sleep every night, no social life, etc? I'm a chemical engineer so I arguably am in one of the hardest undergraduate majors available, but I get 7 hours of sleep most nights with some good time management. I really can't handle getting 0-4 hours of sleep most nights, I would break/crack. I have tried, but really. I don't like pulling all nighters, I only did one last semester. I do everything within my power to avoid those situations by managing my time fiercely. My health isn't that great and if there's no reasonable way to finish medical school without living a healthy lifestyle with decent sleep, exercise, and food possible to time management then I seriously doubt I'd be able to do it. People make it sound like it's impossible to live a lifestyle that isn't just 19 hours studying/at the clinic all day. I don't know if I could do that lifestyle even if the science of medicine interests me so much. In that case I might want to do a graduate degree in biomedical engineering of sorts.
Also, do residencies cost money to do or do you get paid to do them? And are they easier or worse than medical school itself?
Thanks for the help.
I've been browsing these forums for a few weeks now as I've been interested in medical school for a while now just didn't know where to start.
I talked to my pre-med advisor and she said I had decent chances of doing medical school if I follow some steps, but I wanted to get some second opinions. I also had a few questions.
I have two years left to graduate with my B.S. in Chemical Engineering from one of the top state schools in Texas.
My first semester I had all C's and my second semester I had all B's and one F (which was removed from my GPA calculation). I had an untreated anxiety disorder that got really bad my first year of college, panic attacks and such, that really affected my ability to take tests until I had it documented and treated. Ever since then, my grades have increased every single semester to where I have A's and a few B's. I went up from a 2.1 GPA my first semester to now having a 3.3 cumulative GPA. So I'm definitely below the average for medical school, but realistically I could bring mine up to a 3.4 or 3.45 by the time I graduate.
These are my pre-req grades:
Engineering Physics (Mechanics) - A
Engineering Physics (Electricity & Optics) - A
Biology I - A
Engineering Biology - A
Chemistry for Engineers - C
Chemistry II - B + A in lab
Organic Chemistry I - A
Organic Chemistry II - B (lab not yet taken)
English I - A
I also will be doing a year-long research project starting this semester with a team in my department involving designing a new type of DNA replicating device (PCR machine). I did a bit of volunteer research with my professor last semester studying nanowires for biomedical applications.
As far as extra-curriculars, I don't really have a lot of involvement in medical organizations but I've been involved in a fraternity since first semester that focuses on philanthropy, community service and helping out in local area. So I've been doing that for a few years now. That takes up most hours of my week where I'm not doing school. Is it bad that I'm not spread thin and rather am more intensely focused in 1 or 2 extra things?
If I decide to pursue medical school seriously, I could do shadowing in December and take my MCAT next summer. I would then spend the year after I graduate taking Biochemistry, Anatomy/Physiology, Microbiology and Molecular & Cell Biology to prepare for medical school, so I'd enter Fall of 2016.
What kind of MCAT score should I shoot for to offset my low GPA? Do I have a reasonable chance to get into some Texas medical schools? I would be shooting for UT Southwestern or UTMB Galveston or Baylor College of Medicine.
Now for other questions. I'm having trouble finding a good answer to this on the internet. What is lifestyle like in medical school? Is it really like 0-4 hours of sleep every night, no social life, etc? I'm a chemical engineer so I arguably am in one of the hardest undergraduate majors available, but I get 7 hours of sleep most nights with some good time management. I really can't handle getting 0-4 hours of sleep most nights, I would break/crack. I have tried, but really. I don't like pulling all nighters, I only did one last semester. I do everything within my power to avoid those situations by managing my time fiercely. My health isn't that great and if there's no reasonable way to finish medical school without living a healthy lifestyle with decent sleep, exercise, and food possible to time management then I seriously doubt I'd be able to do it. People make it sound like it's impossible to live a lifestyle that isn't just 19 hours studying/at the clinic all day. I don't know if I could do that lifestyle even if the science of medicine interests me so much. In that case I might want to do a graduate degree in biomedical engineering of sorts.
Also, do residencies cost money to do or do you get paid to do them? And are they easier or worse than medical school itself?
Thanks for the help.