Any Premeds Need any help?

[khalad]

Hey everyone

 

2nd year Med here. Wow. Haven't been on this forum for a long time.

 

Anyways, any premeds need any help/advice/just someone to talk to?

 

I remember when I was a premed I was so confused, anxious, and stressed and it would've been nice if I had known a med-student. But I knew nobody and life was really hard.

 

Anyways, you can leave me a message (I think that option exists here, I'm not entirely sure).

 

Good Luck everyone,

[kakhama]

Hi

im a first year honor's science student at waterloo and just trying to get my BS and get into med school, but unfortunately my 1A marks are very low Avg70%. im just looking around to see if anyone iin here had a similar situation and ended up okay.

my low marks are partially because i took 4 biologies(2 of which are 2A courses) and 1 chemistry.

can anyone tell me what i need to get from now on to have a shot at the big fish?

thankyou:(

[khalad]

Hi

im a first year honor's science student at waterloo and just trying to get my BS and get into med school, but unfortunately my 1A marks are very low Avg70%. im just looking around to see if anyone iin here had a similar situation and ended up okay.

my low marks are partially because i took 4 biologies(2 of which are 2A courses) and 1 chemistry.

can anyone tell me what i need to get from now on to have a shot at the big fish?

thankyou:(

 

You must improve your marks. No doubt about it.

 

Your average should be at least 80-85%.

 

Of course there are people who get into medical school with low marks, but that doesn't happen very often.

 

Try to get better marks. Its hard but hey its what you've gotta do. Do whatever it takes.

[cas1234]

Hey Khalad,

 

I could use some advice.

 

I am in my second year of a science degree (general) and so far, I have been getting good marks but I am worried about my extracurricular activities (I don't think I have enough). I am involved with a Student Club on campus and I volunteer at a nursing home and thats pretty much it. Should I be doing more? I am afraid if I do, I may have to sacrifice my marks.

 

Also, I plan to write the MCAT and do research over the summer, is that too much to handle at the same time?

 

Thanks

[khalad]

Hey Khalad,

 

I could use some advice.

 

I am in my second year of a science degree (general) and so far, I have been getting good marks but I am worried about my extracurricular activities (I don't think I have enough). I am involved with a Student Club on campus and I volunteer at a nursing home and thats pretty much it. Should I be doing more? I am afraid if I do, I may have to sacrifice my marks.

 

Also, I plan to write the MCAT and do research over the summer, is that too much to handle at the same time?

 

Thanks

 

Hey

 

For sure you need to do more extracurricular activities. If I were you I'd join 3 more things. Of course, don't join something that will take up hours and hours of your time. A lot of extra-curricular/volunteering is like 2-4 hrs a week or even less. It will not hurt your marks at all I don't think. Time management is key. The more things you join, the more things you'll have to talk about at your interview.

 

Yup you'll have to write the MCAT and do research. No its not too much to handle. I did that and I'm not too smart. I'm slow at reading things. If I can do it, you can do it. The more you do, the better your application will be.

 

Hope this helps,

Let me know if you have any more questions,

[juicyprunes]

No you don't have to do more volunteer work! Rather, you should do more QUALITY volunteer work - get involved in things that are interesting to you and that you can actually commit to, contribute to, and thus learn from - then you'll actually have things to talk about during your interview. It is definitely not about quantity. When I look at applications that just list 5 different activities and all of them say "Member" or "1 hr/wk" it's not too particularly impressive and you could be accused of just padding your resume.

 

Also, research is NOT manditory by any means. Plenty of people do not do research and it's really not something that comes up during the interview anyway. Research is only imperative if you have nothing else on your application - ie. you have no achievements from anything (e.g. extracurriculars, sports, etc.)

[Oldboy82]

Hey khalad

 

For admission in to U of A it indicated full year worth of english courses as a pre-req.. But can I take english during my admission period or Do I must finish and get a grade for english course before due date for medical school application

 

Thanks

[BrendanJ]

for my application cycle (just last year) I'm pretty sure you could do a prereq during the application process. You might want to double check the website to see if any changes have been made.

[aquaman]

Hey Khalad,

 

What are your views on doing a honours degree? Did you go with majors in undergrad or honors?

 

Thanks

[khalad]

Hey khalad

 

For admission in to U of A it indicated full year worth of english courses as a pre-req.. But can I take english during my admission period or Do I must finish and get a grade for english course before due date for medical school application

 

Thanks

 

Late reply, but hey I'm pretty sure you can take English during your admission period. That's what I did. Not sure if rules have changed. Why don't you call the admissions ?

[khalad]

Hey Khalad,

 

What are your views on doing a honours degree? Did you go with majors in undergrad or honors?

 

Thanks

 

Again, late reply, sorry about that. Been really busy lately.

 

This is my view on an honours degree. Depends what you want to do with your life. If you only want to be a doctor and you are not goin to consider anything else, what you take in your undergrad won't matter. If you are considering other things ie research, then honours degree is a good idea. Also if you have a honours degree there are more schools you can apply to, both Canada and US.

[khalad]

No you don't have to do more volunteer work! Rather, you should do more QUALITY volunteer work - get involved in things that are interesting to you and that you can actually commit to, contribute to, and thus learn from - then you'll actually have things to talk about during your interview. It is definitely not about quantity. When I look at applications that just list 5 different activities and all of them say "Member" or "1 hr/wk" it's not too particularly impressive and you could be accused of just padding your resume.

 

Also, research is NOT manditory by any means. Plenty of people do not do research and it's really not something that comes up during the interview anyway. Research is only imperative if you have nothing else on your application - ie. you have no achievements from anything (e.g. extracurriculars, sports, etc.)

 

Yeah for sure, when you volunteer, do something you enjoy and worthwhile, I think that's pretty obvious??

 

Of course research is not mandatory. Nothing is mandatory. This is a free country. You can do whatever you want with your life. Even the prereqs are not mandatory. I think I don't have all my prereqs.... How did I get in? lol, maybe they made a mistake.

 

But if you want to be a doctor, you should do some research. Our medical knowledge comes from scientific research therefore its a good idea to get some research experience.