Turning It Around: How to Excel in Pre-Med

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
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<p><em>ALERT</em>: This is a bit long, and is basically me asking questions about how to proceed from this point in my life, about to enter college for the first time. If you’ve got some time, read on:</p>

<p>Hi, my name is Kenan, and I’m an incoming student to Austin College, a small liberal arts school in Sherman, Texas, well-known for its 90%+ med-school acceptance rate. Anyway, this school is not the absolute best out there, but it does give good personal attention and, as mentioned before, is renowned for its pre-med program.</p>

<p>Now, I have always enjoyed science and math, but I was never 100% on what I wanted to do with my life. I truly enjoy learning biology, and I would probably choose to focus on research or teaching if not med school. However, I think that med school would, in the long run, be more rewarding than these other paths because of the less financially stressful life it provides.</p>

<p>I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder in 2005 and believe I was dealing with a persistent depression from late 2003 until late 2005. My entire life I had been praised as intelligent and my grades were all high As, but during my first semester of high school I watched my grades drop from high As (first six weeks) to mid-to-low Bs (end of semester). I fought the disease for those two years, and by the end of high school I was averaging a high A again. Unfortunately, I was discouraged from mentioning my depression on any college applications because of colleges’ concerns about suicides. My ECs weren’t amazing: I had four years of Teen Court (volunteer program in which teens convicted of Class C misdemeanors come before a court made up entirely of teens), and in my senior year I became a Teen Attorney. I wrote fanfiction, fiction, and poetry during my high school years (to the point of having over 200,000 words saved on my computer at graduation), but I never really pursued getting published or even entering contests.</p>

<p>My GPA didn’t look all that great: 3.73 or so weighted at time of college apps, 3.88 by the time school ended. But that came up from a 3.53 in sophomore year. My greatest hook was probably my standardized testing: I am a National Merit Scholar, with a 2270 SAT, 222 PSAT, and 33 ACT, and I received 7 5s and 1 4 on all my AP tests.</p>

<p>I applied to Cornell and Rice (reaches); Purdue (match); and Baylor, Austin College, SMU, OU, and UT-Dallas (safeties; yeah my college selection wasn’t so great). I got into all but the reaches, and AC gave me a half-ride SS. At this point, I got to thinking: should I have mentioned my depression in the reach essays? Would that have made a difference? Both interviewed me, and I get the impression now that they were looking for explanations of my subpar 9th-10th grade years.</p>

<p>One school I didn’t consider and wished I did was WashU. Their pre-med program is better than AC’s (Austin College’s). So at this point I’m already considering a possible transfer after my freshman year. I truly think I can maintain a high-A average at AC.</p>

<p>I just began a forum in which unpublished (but excellent) authors could post their work to be read by the world, provided the world pays $1 as a donation to the charity of their choice. Is this a good idea as something to focus my time on (it IS something I care about), or should I be trying to get research done or something (ALSO something I care about)?</p>

<p>So my main questions are as follows:</p>

<li>Should I mention my depression in essays? It clearly affected my grades and EC participation, and I saw someone’s post about a school that considered “emotional disorders” as a limiting factor when admitting students.</li>
<li>Do any of you know how great AC’s reputation is among med schools? Would I be considered as someone with a subpar school, or is there a respect for the little college running through the med school circuit?</li>
<li>On a related note, what do you think about my transfer chances with schools like WashU, UC-Berkeley, Duke, or any of the non-Ivy Tier 1 schools? (This is assuming my grades are high As at AC and my extracurriculars take off).</li>
<li>How do you get research done in college? If there isn’t an opportunity for the kind of research you want to do, how do you make an opportunity? Will professors sponsor research you initiate?</li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for listening to all that, and I await your responses!</p>

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<p>Research: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=378349[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=378349&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>1.) You should certainly have mentioned it during undergraduate applications. If your disease is well-managed for the next four years, then I don’t see why you would want to mention it during medical school applications.</p>

<p>3A.) Do not transfer into an out-of-state public.
3B.) This is not the best forum for asking for undergraduate chances. We have no idea what’s going on.</p>

<p>4.) Depends heavily on your college.</p>

<p>Misc:
1.) <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192088[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=192088&lt;/a&gt;
2.) Transfer only if you don’t think the school has very many opportunities. Excelling is your panacea. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=202936[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=202936&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Thanks a lot, BDM. You are an extremely informative poster =)</p>

<p>1) That’s great to hear, as I think it really helps schools understand my somewhat poor performance in HS. Interestingly enough, I was discouraged from mentioning my depression not just by my parents, but by a well-known college counselor as well. Do you really think it wouldn’t have hurt me to mention the depression at all?
3A) Why not?</p>

<p>You make lots of good points about the money one would make in corporate finance. However, I have a true love of science - I’m not going into medicine 100% for the money, but nor am I ruling out money as a factor in my decision.</p>

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<p>I think, had it not had any effects on your performance, there would be no reason to mention it. But as an explanation? The alternative is that you were simply a bad student for half of your time in high school. (Actually not that bad, but not stellar.)</p>

<p>Because you don’t save any money and public schools in general can be rough places to be a premed. For most students, not all.</p>

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<p>Okay, thanks again!</p>

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<p>I’m gonna bump this, as I don’t see a way of editing the original post…</p>

<p>My first semester at AC went great. I have 2 A’s for sure and two classes which I’m not sure about (one could range from an A- to an A, the other from a B+ to an A). I think I’m a good candidate for research this summer, and there’re two interesting research topics I think would be good for me. Is there anyone else out there who has had any experience in this area or knows about med school applications who has some advice?</p>

<p>Thanks =)</p>

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<p>Update: 4 A’s =)</p>

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<p>You are obviously a very good student.</p>

<p>Talk to the professors of what ever science courses you took. They can help you with research opportunities.</p>

<p>Talk with the premed advisor. You should have already met her/him, but if not, now is the time. You needs lots of information about how to plan you college career to get where you want to go.</p>

<p>A high rate of admission, for those students who actually apply, is promising from your current college. It says that students who do well academically, and hence go forward with their applications, are highly likely to get admitted. If you keep up your string of A’s you sound like you will be in good shape.</p>

<p>So… why transfer? Going to a college with a higher national reputation might be nice, but unlikely to have any effect on your med school chances. If you want to transfer contact some colleges and have at it. But I would point out that high grades from any college, along with good MCAT’s and good recommendations will get you into medical school. From the premed perspective if it isn’t broke why fix it?</p>

<p>Med schools don’t care much where you went to college, they care about how you do in the college you attend. You are doing very well.</p>

<p>They care about MCATs. Too soon to predict your MCAT scores, But the premed advisor can tell you what kind of scores the good students at your college tend to get. Your SAT and AP results suggest you will do well on the MCAT.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I doubt the colleges cared about your 9th and 10th grade scores. You more than made up for that with all your standardized tests and AP’s. </p>

<p>Your medical and psychological history are private. Nothing to be ashamed of, but I advise against bringing them up unless there is a strong reason to do so. Right now you would be trying to explain away a 4.0 GPA.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot…today has been a self-esteem boost =)</p>

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<p>do u have a link to Austin College?</p>

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<p>[Austin</a> College. Sherman, Texas](<a href=“http://www.austincollege.edu/]Austin”>http://www.austincollege.edu/)</p>

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<p>KaiserMonkey. I’m a Texan and Austin College is a great school. Top 100 LAC and rep as a pre-med factory. You have a shot at the Texas Tech guaranteed admission after sophomore year, right? And for those who don’t know about this school there are a zillion pre-meds and they get kids into Texas med schools by the bucket load. I read at one time (a few years ago) that 20% of the entire graduating class gets into med school. That’s higher than Hendrix in Arkansas which was in the teens - another pre-med factory.</p>

<p>If you want to be a practicing physician you are in a great place. </p>

<p>Take advantage of EVERYTHING. Excel. You’ll be fine.</p>

<p>I would have been more than happy for my D to choose Austin College (or Southwestern U or Trinity U, also in Texas). But D wouldn’t consider ANY instate school. :(</p>

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<p>so ok im a little curious here; i also attend a top 50 LAC, and um obviously there isnt a “big name” factor to my school; often times you have to explain what it is and stuff. but im totally wowed by your school “austin college.” so i guess my question is: “if you are excelling (high gpa, solid mcat, variety of EC), the name of your school doesnt matter too much?”</p>

<p>and also to my curiosity, why do you want to transfer to the other schools you listed above?</p>

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<p>Yes, excellence is a panacea.</p>

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<p>that makes a lot of sense; thanks mike.</p>

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<p>KaiserMonkey, do you know how many AC students get guaranteed admission at Texas Tech Medical school each year? Somebody told me it wae 40 students. Is it true? Please let me know.
Thanks</p>

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<p>@Navidad: I don’t remember offhand, and I left the sheet I have with that info in my dorm =( … sorry.</p>

<p>@curmudgeon: Thanks…my self-esteem is zooming =)</p>

<p>@madamebovary: Part of it is the feeling that most of the kids around me are kids that grew up in and around the Metroplex (and therefore I’m not really broadening my horizons); part of it is that I was worried about med schools thinking “Why didn’t he go to a better school?” when applying. Also, in every group project I’ve done this semester I’ve done 60+% of the work when we had groups of 3 or more. While I love my friends to death, many of them have the “socialize-first-cram-the-night-before” studying mentality, and I sometimes wish there were people I could socialize with that could provide me with motivation when I felt unmotivated, etc., and someone who I could provide that to as well.</p>

<p>However, many of you have helped me see that some of my worries are poorly founded, and reminded me of AC’s positive reputation. So I may quite possibly stay here.</p>

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<p>KaiserMonkey, Please let me know after you get back to your dorm in Januaary. One of my relatives wants to apply there. I need this information badly.
Thanks.</p>