(some of this is a repeat of what others have said) -No school is going to be impressed by your major. They honestly don't care. They care about GPA, science GPA, MCAT, and prerequisites. -Take a major that you are actively interested in. If you don't, the B's (maybe C's) will start piling up and bring down your GPA. Get below 3.5 and you're digging yourself into a hole. And med schools don't care what happened. They have 5-10 applicants per seat and are looking for reasons to throw applications away. -Building on the above, check off the other boxes: you HAVE to shadow a couple physicians. You HAVE to do some volunteer work. You HAVE to have 3+ physicians (and/or 1- 2 professors) that want to see you in med school and will write A+++ letters for you. You also need to be able to demonstrate, sincerely, that you have hobbies in your life that go beyond hanging out with friends, hitting the gym, or watching the Rockets. You may want to go to aamc.org and look through the AMCAS application. In 3-4 years, you need something to put in every section. When your application hits the desk of the reviewers, the first thing they will do is look at GPA, science GPA, and MCAT. They will then either throw it out, put in the early interview pile, or put it in the low priority pile. Once again, all they care about in July is turning the massive pile into a small pile. Don't think that majoring in Biology is something that makes your application glow in the pile. Get your numbers (3.7+ GPA, 32+ MCAT) and then make sure your application doesn't have holes. And have a good time in college. If it isn't fun, you're doing it wrong.
The related research shows this to be overwhelmingly true. It's one of many reasons that "cramming" doesn't really work. Your brain and particularly your memory work much better, studies show, with at least six hours of sleep.
LOL, take what this kid says with grain of salt. From the blog, in the midst of a poor people are stupid/lazy argument: Right, that never happens.
Biology degrees are difficult, and you can tell this by seeing that the majority of students are female.
That would imply that it is easy. Why do you think girls need lower Mcat and GPA scores to get in than guys?
Perhaps I should have used a smiley like this one or perhaps this one . And, I don't if girls can get into med school on lower scores. If true, bull****, make them earn it like everyone else.
I'm not trying you to fault you for being optimistic, I just get the sense that you think that doctors are the way they are because of who they are as people and that you will magically be the one who rises above it. It sounded mighty presumptuous to me. Odds are if you go into medicine (as in md degree) you'll do everything I mentioned dozens if not hundreds of times over. Every student graduating from an LCME certified medical school has to deliver babies. Most of the population delivering at training hospitals aren't movie star attractive. And every doctor has stuck their hand up a mans ass. That's just an inescapable hardship. You'll be entering a system that is increasingly hostile to physicians. Doctors face higher malpractice claims than ever while facing strong cuts in reimbursement. America wants to insure 45m more people while not growing total healthcare expenditures. The average intern working the maximum 80hr per week makes about $12 bucks an hour. Many work in the neighborhood of 100-120hr a week. You say it will be hard. I'm telling you how it will be hard.
Just a heads up, you're still early on in your formative years. You'll see and experience a lot in the coming 6-10 years. Not just work related either. Those are crucial experiences that will shape your early adulthood and ultimately the rest of your life. Cynically I will say unfettered optimists are people who haven't life kick them in the nuts yet. Going into medicine you are inviting life to kick you in the nuts. Haven't seen some die? You'll see that in medicine. Haven't gone 30+ hours without sleep and gone to work the next day? You'll do that in medicine. In a way you have to become sensitized because its an incredibly demanding profession. Not because its difficult, but because you use take hits each and every day.
Thanks for the perspective and insights. For the record I do think you are right to say that medicine is demanding, and takes alot out of you. I do value the examples you've given me, and will keep them in mind going forward. Just having the fortitude to get through the things you've described speaks volumes on why a doctor should be respected. I'm young, and really optimism is all I have. I will say that I've experienced figurative kicks to my nuts, but then again all hardships are relative. It's just my present opinion that they are not something to hang excuses on, ever. Maybe I haven't met my match yet, maybe I haven't hit rock bottom. You're probably right, though. My spirit will probably fall down to earth one of these days. It's just that too many pessimists go around nowadays and call themselves realists, and convince other people that always looking at the ying is the way to live. But you're probably right. I won't be looking so good when I'm half jacked on yesterday's coffee and deprived of any semblance of a sleep schedule. Thanks for taking the time to educate me, though. I really appreciate it
