Journalist with minimal science background...med school prospects?

[SomeGuyOverThere]

I'm new to this forum :)

The last time I studied math or science was in grade 11. I have an honours BA in english and masters in journalism and have worked as a copyeditor, editor and reporter for the last seven years. 

I know that non-science applicants to med school aren't uncommon, but is it necessary to get at least some science courses under my belt before considering applying? 

[rmorelan]

5 hours ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

I'm new to this forum

The last time I studied math or science was in grade 11. I have an honours BA in english and masters in journalism and have worked as a copyeditor, editor and reporter for the last seven years. 

I know that non-science applicants to med school aren't uncommon, but is it necessary to get at least some science courses under my belt before considering applying? 

at most school not really - some have some prerequisites but many don't

a two  things pop to mind - are your undergraduate marks high enough to be competitive, do the schools you are considering require the mcat  (which is a test where about 1/2 the material is science) or those courses.

some will argue that even if not necessary it might be a good idea to try some science courses. Perfectly valid opinion, although medical school itself is designed to actually teach you the medicine (and I would argue a lot of premed science courses don't really apply and are far less useful than people make out). 

 

[SomeGuyOverThere]

thanks for that response!

have you met/heard of any med school students with a background like mine (lacking science)? and how do they tend to fare in the program?

[WinterCanon]

As a general comment, I would recommend going to the websites of schools that interest you, and looking at both the hard prerequisites as well what kind of attributes an average admitted student has.  This is really the only way to know what you need to do to get into medical school.  

I was a musician with no science since high school when I decided to apply to medicine.  I ended up going back to school for one year of mostly 1st year general sciences and some other prerequisites, partly to allow me to apply broadly and partly to help me prepare for the MCAT.  With no university science background at all, I think it would be really tough to truly nail the MCAT, but your millage may vary.  Of course, a high MCAT score may or may not be important, depending where you end up applying.  

That being said, I agree with rmorelan that those basic science courses really haven't helped much at all in medicine.  Taking undergrad anatomy and embryology courses, as many of my classmates have, would have made first semester easier, but chemistry, physics, even biology?  Nah, not really at all.  That being said - I do think you need to be the kind of person who picks up science quickly.  If that's you, you'll have a fine time in med school regardless of whether you have actually done science coursework recently or not.  

[SomeGuyOverThere]

WinterCanon,

well it sounds like doing what you did and taking some time off to do some undergrad science courses is the way to go. off the top of my head, i'm interested in mcmaster's med school (i also did undergrad there) and even though their prereqs dont seem heavy on sciences, like you said it would be best to broaden my options

[frenchpress]

I studied computer science and had basically no science before deciding to apply to Med. I ended up taking some science courses part-time (back when UBC still had prereq courses) - I agree with other posters that much of the knowledge isn’t super helpful in medical school, but having some basic introduction to chemistry, physics, biochemistry etc. made it a lot easier for me to self study for those sections of the MCAT where I had to teach myself a lot of content. Sections like biology, psychology I found a lot easier to self study (more memorization). If you can apply to a school that doesn’t require the MCAT/only CARS then it’s a lot less important to take any science — you will get what you need to know from the curriculum or be able to pick it up as you go.

All that said, I ended up finding biochemistry really interesting, and am glad I took it before starting med school. As much as you really don’t need to know that much basic science to be a good doctor, sometimes it just makes it easier/faster to learn things or dive a little deeper in to topics you’re interested in. So if there are some relevant science classes that you’re interested in, you could start there, and see how it goes. If you’re a science natural you may want to do more, or self study for the MCAT. If not, focus on schools that don’t require prereqs or the MCAT — which is limiting, but doable.

[rmorelan]

5 hours ago, SomeGuyOverThere said:

thanks for that response!

have you met/heard of any med school students with a background like mine (lacking science)? and how do they tend to fare in the program?

they ultimately do just fine once they get in - again med school teaches you the medicine. People have the weird notion that UG science is great prep for med school in terms of content. There is some overlap but clinical medicine isn't like a lot of the premed style science courses (every time this comes up we seem to settle on anatomy, human physiology, and immunology can be helpful - maybe any pharmacology you happen to have picked up. But most of the rest? Most of chemistry/physics and probably biochem doesn't directly help that often - or does so rarely that you have to relearn it by that point anyway. A lot of biology courses are the same - it just isn't clinical). 

 as a way of background I have degrees in psych, economics, premed and computer science. Of those it seems the premed was surprisingly the least useful - well surprising for me ha. 

[Butterfly_]

I came from a Commerce background and had no university science courses.
The toughest part about having no science is preparing for the MCAT.
I had to quit my job and full-time study for the MCAT with youtube videos, khan academy, and two sets of prep MCAT prep books. Also bought AAMC and Next Step practice tests. I did not do any prep courses with the big companies (it was too expensive).  Did okay on the MCAT and got into med school.  It's doable--just takes lots of self-discipline. 

Now in med school, I do find that I lack the basic science knowledge that my peers have and I have to spend more time studying than they do. But with that said, non-trad students bring a different perspective to the table. We enrich discussions by bringing in aspects that traditional students have never experienced.

In the long run, everything evens out! Best of luck  

[SomeGuyOverThere]

Frenchpress, rmorelan, Butterfly_ thanks for all that info! it's helpful! alleviates *some* of my anxiety about the prospect. as it stands, it looks like taking about a year off from full-time employment to take some science courses and prepare for the MCAT might be wise. and that would be a feat in itself, as my literary mind might struggle with the hard sciences that i havent studied in more than 20 years!