Guest Arcados Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Hi everyone! This is my first post to the board, after reading quite a bit that interested me. You can tell this is a noobie post, because I'm about to ask (most probably) cliche'd questions, one's you probably don't feel like answering. If you could spare an opinion, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm a grade 11 student at an Ontario high-school, with a reasonably strong writing ability and a not-so-reasonably strong mathematic ability. I'm fairly sure I want to be a doctor, but I'm not sure what programs I should apply to that would a)prepare me for the MCAT and med-school and (most importantly) give me a fair shot of actually being accepted into med-school. I know you guys aren't psychic, but I've been reading "there is no optimal preparation for med-school" ad nauseum from various med-school admission sites, and I need a bit more than that to go on. I was thinking about majoring in Biology, which is one of my favourite subjects and contains little to no math (bonus). Also considering Psychology, which I find very interesting as well. The problem with both of these is that Psych and Bio majors (as I understand it) are a dime a dozen. SO - after this long, long post ( I apologize) what is a decent area to major in that will prepare my for med-school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 You like to write, why not try English? Or philosophy? Or a foreign language? A strong liberal arts background will prepare you well for the verbal MCAT, a section on which most premeds do poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 If you are interested in psych and bio and think you could do well in them, then go for it. Having majored in a more common area of study isn't going to hinder your chances of admission - it's how you do in that program that matters. Just keep up-to-date with admission requirements, and make sure you are able to fulfill the prerequisites for the med schools you're interested in. Often there is overlap between prereq courses and suggested courses to prepare for the MCAT (first year general chem, organic chem, physics, biology, and english are all that you need). You still have time to work on your math skills, as well as maintain and improve your writing skills. In upper year bio and psych courses, there can be a lot of papers (at least where I'm at), and you might consider looking into the arts side of psych. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Arcados Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 moo - the reason I haven't really considered them is that I was under the impression that med school would prefer someone who has majored in something relevent to the medical profession, but I guess as long as you have the pre-req's... Lactic Folly - Thanks for the advice. It has come to my attention that McMaster offers a Biology/Psychology major - I think I'll have a look at that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest codloghorn Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 psychology requires statistics. if you would like to major in biology, it is done in the faculty of science. usually, it is necessary to take a mathematics course. hence, it would be difficult to stay away from mathematics if you choose to major in biology or psychology. biology and psychology majors may be a dime a dozen, but you will notice that after first year, the number of both decrease substantially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Arcados Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Thanks codloghorn- I'm prepared to take some mathematics courses - what I meant is that I don't want to get into a program that is heavily laden with math, because my GPA would suffer. So if all I have to take in Bio or Psych is a bit of Calculus, or a bit of statistics, I should be fine (hopefully ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Generally intro calc and/or stats should be all that's required for these programs.. you might also want to look into biological psychology, esp. neuroscience.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lothya Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Again, major in whatever strikes your fancy... you'll do better. I'm a bit of a "non-traditional" applicant, but it didn't hurt my med application. I think two major advantages of studying drama therapy before applying to medical school were that the interviewers got to hear something different -- which made me stand out, and i had practicum placements that had given me a fair bit of experience working with patients. and my grades were good because i loved what i was studying. Good luck in your choice of university program! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest macmed04 Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Well, I just graduated from Mac and got into a good residency program from an Engineering Physics degree. I had also applied to two Biology programs out of high school, but decided to go with Engineering because I could explore other areas I was interested in and because it would get me a good job if I didn't get into med school or changed my mind about applying. It was a good thing I went that way because I was only waitlisted the first time around and went and found a job. Worked for 5 years, then reapplied, and I'm sure having worked made me a much better applicant the second time around. Plus my background managed to get me 18 of 18 CaRMS interviews I applied for (some very competitive ones too), so something must have been interesting there! I'm still so glad that I didn't get in the first time around and that I did something that really interested me before med school. Admittedly the program was tough, but I still got good grades. I was able to take arts courses (languages) as part of my engineering requirements, but with 33h a week of classes to meet the degree requirements, I had to take organic chemistry and biology at summer school after third year (when i also wrote the MCAT). Everything worked out great, and I wouldn't have done anything differently if I could do it all again. Pick an area that you find interesting, particularly since you don't seem 100% certain that you'll want to go into medicine. It should be something you think you can get decent grades in. You can get into med school from pretty much anything though. One person in my class started off as a farmer and then taught high school English before getting in. Another did English as an undergrad degree and was an acrobat with Cirque de Soleil before applying to Mac. There were a couple other engineers, a couple computer geeks, lawyers, physiotherapists... Sure the ones who hadn't done all the prereqs for the other med schools had to work harder to start out with, but we all turned out about the same in the end. And there's enough available study time at Mac to be able to catch up in any weak areas. Good luck with the decisions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lex Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Also keep in mind that the MCAT really does not demand anything greater than first year knowledge of any of its subjects. One caveat - the organic chem you will take will require a prerequisite of first year general chem but it really only demands knowledge of chem 12. I second the advise posted so far but would like to add just one more thing. Plan with med school in mind, but be aware that many people entering university will change career directions multiple times before they're done. This just underscores the importance of studying something for its own sake. What will prepare you for medicine is not any specific academic track. Each program will bring with it its own advantages but of paramount importance are the learning and problem solving skills you will develop during your undergraduate years. If you look in the academic literature studying medical education, pre-med major selection has very little effect on overall performance in med school. This is also true for the mcat. The mcat awards those that can rationally navigate their way through problems. The material required by the mcat is far less than that which is required for first year exams in biology or chemistry. While it's true that you should develop a solid foundation going into the mcat, higher scores are awarded to those that can make their way through the paragraph-style questions with speed and confidence. Skills most important to this are reading speed, the ability to quickly filter for the most salient points, logical reasoning, and intellectual flexibility (not coincidentally the very same skills that generally make a good med student and finally a good physician). If you look on the mcat website you can see stats on mcat performance by major. You will find that those who majored in physics tend to score better in the physical sciences, etc. but there are likely many reasons for this external to preparation. I know that it's easy to be skeptical when you hear that pre-med majors don't really matter. It sounds like a politically correct answer intended to avoid colouring the ambitions of those entering university. However, the material in a biology degree really is not that relevant to what is covered in the medical curriculum. Personally, I think that there is great value in bringing diverse skills to the table. Admissions committees also look for this when they select their class. For instance, knowledge of geography or sociology is likely just as relevant to medicine as undergraduate biology, maybe even more-so. Hope this help. Good luck. Judging from the quality of your posts, it seems that you've already got a good foundation from which to work from. I'm sure you'll be fine. The one conclusion that comes out of medical education literature is that strong students handle whatever is thrown at them irrespective of pre-med major, medical school curriculum, and med school teaching philosophy. I just had a conversation last night with a physician who's been my mentor for the past couple of years regarding choice of school to attend. He's taught at multiple med schools in Canada as both clinical faculty and a department head and has been a clinician for probably 35 years. I outlined the philosophy and structure of four very different med schools to him, trying to pick his brain about which program would best prepare me as a physician (essentially the same question as you're asking.) His answer was that it really didn't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Arcados Posted May 28, 2004 Report Share Posted May 28, 2004 Thank you very much for the input (and the compliment, lex - I guess I'll find out soon enough if you're right;) ). The info has helped to put me at ease, even if I am still unsure of the major I will select. But then again, such decisions cannot be made overnight, so I guess I'll have to deliberate a bit more - besides, I still have the summer and a semester before I have to start applying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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