Yeah I learned my lesson junior year, and will consider office hours. ty
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My daughter got A’s and 5’s in AP calc AB/BC, struggled like crazy her first semester at UDel in chemistry 103 like most (second B in her lifetime). Those weed out classes are no joke (my other kids were business majors at other universities but based on parent pages it was the same at their universities).
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- Yeah I know pre-med isn’t a major I was planning in majoring in biology or biomedical engineering (still don’t know.
major in something you love, and take the extra required courses for medical school applicants as electives.
- Yeah I know my GPA has a downwards trend, but that’s because I had a lot harder classes.
The courses you take in college will definitely be harder and especially those that are considered weed out courses for prospective premeds. As an example…I don’t know anyone who found an easy OChem course.
- Budget not really, but I’m middle class (160 k with both parents), so I’ll prob go for a cheaper option. Also I do take math but its not AP its Calc-H (this senior year). Also I do take sciences like I took AP Physics 1 in junior year. Also had chemistry but couldn’t choose it since I’m taking bio.
will you have taken biology, chemistry and physics in high school
- Yeah I’m struggling to find something I “love” though
- Classes are definitely harder, and I’m hearing this from everyone on the thread, but I’m not sure what people want me to do at this point. Choose a different field, or pivot to something else?
- Yes, I’ve taken all of them in hs (the only one without AP is chemistry). Not sure what’s your point though.
Damn, I’m definitely not smarter than your daughter, but I’m going to give it a try. At this point I don’t think I have much of a choice.
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You do not need to figure out a career right now.
Right now your job is to research schools that are affordable and where you would be happy. Once you are in college you will take classes, get involved in activities…and see what interests you.
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My point about sciences…you are best to have taken bio chem and physics…and you did so.
I would suggest you look through this website. It has a lot of health careers on it. There might be something there that piques your interest…and takes less time (and money) in terms of schooling.
Alright thanks, but even if I apply I still have to pick a major, but I guess that’s decides the point. Thank you though.
First question: How many total hours of experience do you have volunteering or otherwise involved in a medical environment?
The large majority of students who start university thinking “premed” end up doing something else. Some cannot keep up a medical-school-worthy GPA in the tough premed classes. However, a lot of students just decide that they want to do something else. This includes some students (one of whom I know very well) who get stellar grades in the tough premed classes, but who decide that their interest is something else. Something else might be biomedical related (such as research on a cellular level) or might be very different indeed (CS, law, …).
For the students I know or have known who went into any biomedical-related graduate program, then all had a LOT of relevant experience. The specifically had enough experience in some sort of medical or biomedical-research experience that someone could be very confident that they were going to stick with it.
Probably my biggest concern here is the downward trend. Premed classes are tough. Medical school I have heard is even tougher. You need to find a way to keep up good grades in these tough classes. You should strive to do as well as you can for your senior year of high school. You also should be cautious about the rate at which you jump ahead into more difficult classes. There really are some classes that you are not ready for, yet. You will most likely be a stronger student in a year or two or three or four (unless you take on too much and get burned out at some point).
I do not like to say “no chance” because of the risk that I might turn out to be wrong. However, I do agree that all of these are very unlikely. One other thing to note is that at least for us BU was tied with NEU for the most expensive university that either daughter got accepted to. For a premed student, “expensive” is not what you are looking for in an undergraduate university.
Which brings up the elephant in the room for premed students: University is expensive. 8 years of university is very expensive. Medical school is expensive. Your budget for a full 8 years needs to be very close to the top of your list of concerns if you want to keep open the option of ever attending medical school.
I do not expect you to get into Brown or Rice or Boston University or Boston College. However, before you even apply I think that you or your parents should run the NPC for each school. If the NPC shows them as being significantly more expensive than Rutgers and NJIT and TCNJ, then you shouldn’t want to pay for them even in the unlikely event that you get in.
And I think that this is exactly right. There are a huge number of universities that are very good for premed students. You should be looking for one that is affordable and a good fit for you.
I think that your in-state public universities are relatively likely to be your best options. Fortunately you have several very good ones in New Jersey. Seton Hall might also be a good option. I think that Rutgers is likely for admissions (for regular undergraduate admissions). I am not completely sure that it is a safety.
One thing I might add. One daughter just got her DVM and is currently working as a veterinarian. There is something I noticed while she went through this tough 8 year path to get there (actually more than 8 years with a gap between undergrad and graduate school): Her academics were strong enough. What got her though was a determination to do it, and a love for veterinary medicine. I think that determination and a love for human medicine might similarly be just as important as academic strength for someone wanting to go into human medicine. Based on your results up to now to me it looks like if you do ever get to medical school you probably won’t be the number 1 academically strongest student in medical school. That is okay. There are other qualities that are needed, with determination and the ability to pace yourself along this tough 8 year marathon being very high on the list of important qualities.
best wishes.
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It is not uncommon to enter college as “undecided.” It is also not uncommon to change your major multiple times.
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- Regarding the first question I got about 20 hours of volunteering and shadowing under a doctor in internal medicine. I’m also going to work as a Pharmacy Tech next week,
- Yeah I agree that I do have a low chance for those schools and prob can’t afford it. I’ll prob look into those state schools and pray I can do bsmd or bsdo for one of them.
- Yeah I agree with your suggestion that the classes are going to be though based on my performance ( a combination of procrastination and laziness on my part), but Im going to give it a try.
- Extra note: Also going to research backups since I guess everyone believes that I might struggle for med school
(not throwing shade just being brutally realistic on myself). But yeah I guess with all the responses I got, I’ll rethink what I got. I’ll prob do more research and just pray I figure out what I want to do.
Yeah I’ll prob apply under a certain major (not sure what it will be), and might change if I find some other interest.
You needn’t know what you love now. College is to explore.
No one wants you to choose something else or pivot. We don’t know you.
What you should want is what you want.
If med school, great / happens from all schools, big name and not.
It’s your life - so do what you want, not what we want.
People are just sharing realities. It’s not our place to direct your desires.
No need to panic about not knowing which major - not this early.
It is true though - some like engineering and business, you need to know up front, depending on the school.
If thinking engineering, it’s best to start there and transfer out vs in at most schools.
But if it’s I might like Poli Sci or psych or anthropology, you can go in undecided and decide later.
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Yeah you’re right, and I think I’m going to stick with biology. Idk I feel like my gut’s telling me to do that.
I would be very surprised if this turned out to be enough to get accepted to a BS/MD or BS/DO program.
However, I do not think that this matters. I expect you to get accepted to good undergraduate universities. You can take the more traditional and common route of first getting a bachelor’s degree and appropriate experience, and then optionally applying to MD, DO, or some other appropriate graduate program. You also might find yourself with an undergraduate major that leads to a good job without graduate school. University is a chance to explore options and find what is right for you.
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lol you could be! I do think many bright students are unaware of the difficulty of these classes (some of which are unfortunately poorly taught, causing many freshmen to switch majors early on). The top make it through, but it can be very time consuming and a bit depressing. UDel was definitely a safety for my daughter (she was chasing merit), she didn’t expect to be so challenged so early on.
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Yeah Ik its not enough (I started late), I’m still continuing it, but I’m going to do as many as I can. But the undergraduate 4 year route is prob my option. Who knows maybe I don’t even do pre med, and try something else.
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Please understand. The vast majority of doctors do NOT go BSMD or BSDO. They go to regular undergrad school, and then apply to medical school. And many many take a glide year after undergrad.
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This is not what I am suggesting.
Your classes are only going to get harder and more intense, and you will be in class with different types of students…including those who get the A with greater ease than others.
Yes, premeds need a backup. This doesn’t mean that you will not succeed as a premed. It does mean that you need a plan to succeed. This is also true for any backup plan you may have (some are very competitive as well).
Take this one step at a time and it will all work out.
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So the good news is there are many, many more possible educational and career paths than any one person in your position can possibly imagine. Even trained education and career planning specialists usually just know a lot of general things, and would have to research all sorts of specifics.
So although this makes some people nervous, you can in fact go to college, learn more about what you are actually good at doing, learn more about what you can do with those aptitudes, and then start figuring out what educational and career steps you really want to do next. And it might well be something you know absolutely nothing about right now.
And choosing a good in-state college is a great start. They will have lots of academic options to consider, employers recruit at them, this all will hopefully not cost too much . . . just lots of happy customers by the end of such a college experience as graduates then launch into whatever ended up making sense for them.
So I truly would not stress about it. Just get started at a good, affordable college, and you will be able to figure it out as you get much more information.
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