BA student pursuing Medicine

[dct]

Hi,

 

I will be starting the first year of a BA degree at the UofT. I made this decision based on my great deal of interest in sociology, political science, and certain areas of anthropology. However, I have always had an interest in human anatomy and other science courses. In the end, my level of interest in the arts outweighed my interest in the sciences (albeit medical school is my ultimate goal).

Despite not being enrolled into a Bsc program, I am not completely ignorant of science-related material. Hence, attaining grade 12 credits in both bio and chemistry with fairly exceptional grades. I am also aware that Western, McMaster, and UofC do not require specific science courses, while Queens and UFT only require two - leaving me with five medical schools to apply to with only 2.0 science credits.

Now, the obvious problem would be preparing for the MCAT. I am confident that I can eventually do well on the verbal section and writing sample. But, how would I go about preparing for the physical science and biological portion of the test?

To be a little more precise, what courses at UofT, or types of courses in general, will help prepare me for the biological and physical sciences component of the admissions test? What is needed to do well or at least achieve a 10/11 on both sections?

 

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.

[atesme]

Take a prep course. The physics on the MCAT is pretty much grade 12. I know first year for me went way beyond the required stuff. As for bio, I think any prep book out there would more than cover it adequately. Most of what you 'need' for bio is memorization - and I doubt a prof can hammer it into your head any better than a book.

 

As for the other, non-fact-regurgitation skills, remember that on first try with no preparation, arts students almost always do much better than science students on the MCAT. It's more about reading and digestion than memorization and knowledge. So you'll come in with an advantage!

[ArchEnemy]

To be a little more precise, what courses at UofT, or types of courses in general, will help prepare me for the biological and physical sciences component of the admissions test? What is needed to do well or at least achieve a 10/11 on both sections?

 

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Since you have had fairly exceptional grades, PSL302. Around 30-50% of the MCAT BS section consists of PSL302 related stuff.

[ellorie]

That said, if you have time, why not take the prerequisites so that you can apply to more schools? Med school admissions is such a crapshoot that you want as wide a pool as possible.

[Rext]

I wouldn't recommend PSL302 to anyone who can avoid it, the course is terribly difficult and badly organized. The material is interesting but the killer MC exams and potential nukeage your GPA will take from the course is so not worth it (it covers stuff in FAR more detail than necessary for the MCAT).

 

I suggest you take organic chemistry 1 (CHM138) and 1st year bio (bio120/130). Orgo I is an extremely well organized course with great instructors and raving reviews (you can go to TLS for prep work if you fall behind, the guy who teaches orgo there is amazing). As for 1st year bio, its a pre-req for any upper year biology related courses and its quite easy to do well in so its better to cover your bases.

 

You should also consider the fact that certain schools outside of Ontario (e.g. UBC, American schools, etc.) have more stringent pre-reqs. If medicine is your final goal perhaps you should consider taking these courses (physical chem, physics, orgo II, calculus, biochem, etc.) in order to keep your options open

 

Best of luck! Enjoy your experience at UTSG and have a blast at Frosh week

[future_doc]

And take chem courses during summer to meet U/O requirements, also U/A I believe that also needs a stats course I believe.

[ellorie]

There are also various ways to do a degree that encompasses this stuff. I did a double major in physiology and english literature (graduated with a BSc), so the physiology soaked up almost all my prereqs and the english major was just for my own education. I've always loved arts, and knowing that once I got to medical school, I would be focusing on science made it important to me to have a last hoorah in university and study english. It was good because, while I liked English Lit and I took some classes that I ADORED, by the time I finished my degree, I knew that English wasn't what I wanted to do with my life, and I was ready to be done and move on to medicine. I think that doing this double major gave me a good balance and honestly, I think it was absolutely the optimal preparation for medical school that I could have done, especially since some med schools now require english courses.

 

The good thing about the BSc rather than BA was that while I did an English major, my freshman non-major credits were all in science not arts, and guess what courses they were? Yup, all the med prereqs. That was how I managed to do two majors AND all my prerequisites. I don't think I could have managed that as a BA.

 

Lots of BAs in medicine though. My current psychiatrist did a BA in English and Philosophy, did an MA in Philosophy, and then went to medical school and became a psychiatrist - and she is a very good one thus far ^^

[shikimate]

I wouldn't recommending taking any chem or physics or bio courses at UofT. The first year CHM and BIO courses are pretty difficult and may pull your GPA down, especially CHM138/139. If you wish you could take them as CR/NCR or as auditing courses. As for MCAT taking a prep courses is a good option, or some people prefer to do their own studying which is also okay.