Any Pre-med students, med students or residents on Niketalk that got useful advice for your NT breth

[tizzle]

Anybody else pre-med on here?

help a brother out w/ some useful advice for the med school application process

 

[younglorious973]

i'm dental but the best piece of advice i can give you is apply EARLY. i'm assuming youre trying for next cycle since its very late for this cycle now.
applying early makes all the difference in the world, esp if your starts are not the best.
since spots are limited as spots get taken during the cycle, when you apply late, you have to be more or less a stellar applicant.

if youre in undergrad and don't already have research experience, now would be the time to start so you can include it in your app.
prepare well for the MCATS. don't take a blind exam, if you can take it once and score well... that looks really good.
finally, if MD doesn't work out for you, consider DO before even thinking about Caribbean options.

Good luck brotha. learn as much as you can about the process before applying... it makes a world of difference. talk to advisors etc.

 

[Grine]

What is your GPA? And, have you done any patient care hours?

 

[tizzle]

GPA = 3.6ish

SciGPA = 3.4ish 

lol I'm a biochem major so ****'s kinda rough

no patient care hours, but hospital volunteering and clinical and lab research

Thank you vinod, All those things are in the plan homie. I wouldn't mind a DO in a good location. 

 

[Grine]

 
GPA = 3.6ish

SciGPA = 3.4ish 

lol I'm a biochem major so ****'s kinda rough

That's great. I am actually applying for a Master of P.A. Studies program next year.

What schools are you applying for?

Vindo gave some good pointers.

 

[sn souljah]

Vinod869, what extracurriculars are good for Dental School. Is it the same as medical school? I know med-school looks for a whole variety like volunteering in hospitals, shadowing, research, Scribing, EMT courses, etc..

 

[younglorious973]

in terms of extracurriculars, the most important thing is to have shadowing hours. atleast 100, and have a dentist cosign you saying that you can make a good dentist.
next, research helps.. publications are very impressive..
if you are a hygienist or dental assistant, that doesn't hurt either.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I used to be a "pre-med" student when I was in college. I was a biomedical engineering major. Took all my reqs and was ready to take the MCATs. Ended up not going into medicine and got into finance instead. (Graduated Summa. Sci GPA 4.0. Took several practice MCAT exams and scored around 36-37)

I know a lot of people who are currently in medical school, residency, and or physicians.

My best advice for you would be to focus on your personal statement and try to find the school that best suits you. Not every program will be for you. Having some medical lab/research experience is also looked at very well on applications. I also know tons of people who were EMT's or voluntary firefighters that eventually got into top medical school ie. Johns Hopkins, NYU,, Einstein, Columbia, Duke, Harvard etc etc

A buddy of mine got into several medical schools. It basically got to a point where they were throwing scholarship money at him just to go to their medical school. He has a 3.8 GPA with a 3.9 Sci GPA and scored a 35 on his MCATs. Had some medical research experience and dedicated a lot of time into his application. He kept stressing how important the personal statement is.

 

[younglorious973]

/\ just curious, but if you did the a whole BME major (props for doing it with such a great GPA) and invested that much time, and had really good pMCAT scores... WHY ON EARTH would you do finance?

you could have even opted to use your engineering degree and do something in biotechnology and health... really curious as to why you changed your mind..

 

[fontaine]

I used to be a "pre-med" student when I was in college. I was a biomedical engineering major. Took all my reqs and was ready to take the MCATs. Ended up not going into medicine and got into finance instead. (Graduated Summa. Sci GPA 4.0. Took several practice MCAT exams and scored around 36-37)

I know a lot of people who are currently in medical school, residency, and or physicians.

My best advice for you would be to focus on your personal statement and try to find the school that best suits you. Not every program will be for you. Having some medical lab/research experience is also looked at very well on applications. I also know tons of people who were EMT's or voluntary firefighters that eventually got into top medical school ie. Johns Hopkins, NYU,, Einstein, Columbia, Duke, Harvard etc etc

A buddy of mine got into several medical schools. It basically got to a point where they were throwing scholarship money at him just to go to their medical school. He has a 3.8 GPA with a 3.9 Sci GPA and scored a 35 on his MCATs. Had some medical research experience and dedicated a lot of time into his application. He kept stressing how important the personal statement is.

Hank is a frickin genius...

You're officially on younghollywood's level... You live in a different world so your advice is taken with a grain of salt.

These ridiculous stats you give.. You're not normal man.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

/\ just curious, but if you did the a whole BME major (props for doing it with such a great GPA) and invested that much time, and had really good pMCAT scores... WHY ON EARTH would you do finance?

you could have even opted to use your engineering degree and do something in biotechnology and health... really curious as to why you changed your mind..

I've always had a deep rooted interest for numbers and finance when I was younger. Reading how money circulated and valued was incredibly interesting and logical to me. At the same time, I was very inquisitive and curious as to why things worked the way it did. My mother would tell me when I was a young boy--I would break things apart just to see how they were made and try to put it back together. I would build "forts" and play with lego's until I had to go to bed.

When I entered undergrad, I had intense pressure to become a doctor from my entire family. Coming from an immigrated family rooted into south-Asia, someone isn't considered a "success" unless they become a doctor. I've always been a good student during my adolescence and that led towards my parents and family having incredibly high expectations for me. They knew for sure I would able to become a doctor.

At first I was going to study Biology but then I decided that I wanted to feed the "engineer" in me and decided to take the double-edged sword route. I decided biomedical engineering was the best route for me. It enabled me to take all the science courses I needed in order to get into medical school and it also stimulated my mind and served my interest towards building/designing things.

Going back to high school--I took a financial literacy course during my junior year and fell in love with economics and finance. I loved how everything worked mathematically and what intrigued me more was how money circulated and grew through models and methods. When I was in undergrad, I took several economic courses as well as some finance courses. They served as all my electives and more. I ended up graduating with a little over 130 credits, because of all the extra courses I took in econ and finance.

What made me realize medicine wasn't for me was when my grandfather was admitted into the hospital for a heart attack he suffered. Being int he hospital with him and seeing all those sick people and seeing hims struggle made me realize that this isn't the kind of environment I want to be apart of. Being there made me feel weak, mentally incapacitated and debilitated. I knew in my heart of hearts that I would never be able to succeed in a place like that. It wasn't a place that I could see making me happy.

I got into finance because one of my engineering professors introduced me to one of his close personal friends who happened to work for an investment bank. What led to the meeting was my professor inquiring what I had planned to do with my life after graduating. I told him about medicine and how it wasn't the route for me and mentioned how I fell in love with Econ and finance. He told me he knew someone who would help me out and guide in the right direction. We got to talking and he asked me if I ever considered going into investment banking. I told him that the thought came across my mind a few times, but I was so focused on being a doctor--the idea of doing something else didn't seem like a possibility.

Long story short, I ended up getting an interview at the investment bank he worked for and got an offer to be a summer analyst. After that summer, i was offered a full-time position and stayed in finance ever since.

Hank is a frickin genius...

You're officially on younghollywood's level... You live in a different world so your advice is taken with a grain of salt.

These ridiculous stats you give.. You're not normal man.

I'm very normal, Ricky. You would'nt believe some of the people I've met. I'm talking MENSA level people

 

[derrtay]

Currently at USF (Morsani COM) for medical school.

Honestly this thread has all been summed up within the first 10 or so responses.

What I found most helpful was the personal statement and my extracurriculars. 

Obviously, have the stats to get you past the cut offs for applications, but what puts you over the top is the personal statement and what you do outside of school. What's going to make you a good well rounded physician as opposed to someone that is just a bookworm that can read a textbook front to back.

They want to see well rounded applicants that have real life experience and can apply what they know.

I really feel like extracurriculars gave me the edge over everything because when it came down to interview at my schools, they asked about my application and what I put on it.

It also kind of helps to know where you want to go(it's not necessary) in the field as well. I knew going in I wanted to go into pediatrics(and it showed with everything I put into my app) and it showed to the school that you have a plan and you took initiative to get there.

If you have any specific questions definitely let me know, I'd love to help out a fellow NTer, I know how difficult it is to go through the entire process, and it's definitley daunting, but the ends definitely justify the means.

I love school(for once), and I've grown so much even after my first year of school. Good luck with everything!

 

[newmoanyuh]

I'm pre-med, but I'm not a traditional applicant so I'm not sure if I have some good advice for you...

 

[younglorious973]

very cool story Hank!

 

[utvol23]

What you wanna know?

PGY-5 in Radiology checking in.

I will disagree in that unless you can talk about something extraordinary the personal statement doesnt count for much. Now if it has grammatical errors etc it can really really hurt you.

I was on my medical schools admissions board. One of two students that sat on the board.

 

[ozarkshark]

Hank can u describe some Mensa people? I always wondered how they act I see vids on this kid Jacob Barnett and it fascinates me how these young people are so bright and the way they think, as a undergrad engineering I can't provide much advice but work hard and stay focused.

 

[gregzzy23]

what are some good extra curricular for med students in general?

 

[dr damon]

Been in practice for a while. Def helps to be well rounded have interesting hobbies and speak another language along with the good grades Mcat score etc. if you don't get in on the first try you can try again or go to one of those carribean med schools like Ross as plan B. I have several collegues at work that went that route and an MD is an MD. I also have several collegues who went the DO route too. everyone and their mother wears all black on interviews so may want to add some color with tie /handkerchief My two cents. Good luck man

 

[Hank Scorpio]

very cool story Hank!

Thanks. You won't believe how often I've said that story during my first couple of years working in finance. It's a little uncommon to see many finance people who were once pre-med.

Hank can u describe some Mensa people? I always wondered how they act I see vids on this kid Jacob Barnett and it fascinates me how these young people are so bright and the way they think, as a undergrad engineering I can't provide much advice but work hard and stay focused.

The people I've met were actually very normal. They're regular people like anyone you'd meet on a regular basis. I have some extraordinary people who belong to MENSA and some of them are particularly strange. The way they think is def. different than most people. I actually work with a few guys in my office who belong to MENSA.

 

[al audi]

Hank is a frickin genius...

You're officially on younghollywood's level... You live in a different world so your advice is taken with a grain of salt.

These ridiculous stats you give.. You're not normal man.

dead *** Ricky i was thinking the same exact thing.......................then i seen your post

i actually know a kid who is pre med at Boston University, ive known this dude since 8th grade. He is like a Hank on the Deans LIst etc his lowest grade right now is a 90 something, dude has a few scholorships, o yea he taught himself how to play instruments also an he can sing. HIs parents are normal blue collar folk though its crazy.

even back in middle school early HS i was like this dude must have a photographic memory some ppl are are just smarter

the phrase everyone is equal is BS

some are smarter, some are faster, stronger, etc

 

[lucho]

Coming from an immigrated family rooted into south-Asia, someone isn't considered a "success" unless they become a doctor.

This right here is kind of crazy to me. I was at a wedding a few months ago. The bride is a close friend of my wife from grad school (they are physical therapists). The dad was giving this long speech in the beginning, and about 85% of it was about how his other daughter and nieces and nephews were all doctors, physicians, or had some kind of medical degree. I thought it was odd that he would bring all of them up one at a time instead of talking about his daughter getting married. The groom is a RN and he came up a few times. From what i know, he immigrated from Asia somewhere along with his siblings.

 

[agentarenas]

I was pre med in college, taking MCAT in January and applying this next cycle. Hopefully it goes well

 

[danikerhino]

Used to think about going into the medical field because people thought I was extremely smart. But, I'm just really perceptive (my ears are always open), I dissect dialogue really good and good at listening, and I'm good at counter-arguing. I realized none of those would be advantageous in the medical field. I just think it's how your raised coupled with your personality that makes you exceptional at certain things. However, people are born with different wired brain which can give them advantages over others in careers that happen to be important to us in our society.

 

[typerpinoy]

Personally I think it's best to go in with an open mind. Lots of people go in thinking they are going to specialize in a, b, or c and end up changing their minds a million times before all is said and done.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

This right here is kind of crazy to me. I was at a wedding a few months ago. The bride is a close friend of my wife from grad school (they are physical therapists). The dad was giving this long speech in the beginning, and about 85% of it was about how his other daughter and nieces and nephews were all doctors, physicians, or had some kind of medical degree. I thought it was odd that he would bring all of them up one at a time instead of talking about his daughter getting married. The groom is a RN and he came up a few times. From what i know, he immigrated from Asia somewhere along with his siblings.

Yeah, man. It's really rough coming from an Indian family. The father was probably talking about his other children and family being doctors, because it's a prestige thing.

Why do you think there's so many Indian doctors?