Making up for lost time

[kayticlare]

Hello, my name is Kayti and I have quite a complex situation and am in need of some advice. I went through a personal 8 year battle with bulimia and am now recovered and ready to make an impact in the treatment of eating disorders. I want to go into psychiatry and hence, must get admitted to med school. I want to go to UNMC in Omaha, NE, but I am starting from scratch as a freshman. I am now just starting to take bio, chem and physics and math classes that I need for prereq’s. I don’t have much in the way of good premed classes in high school, altho I did have a 3.95 GPA in easy classes. I am wondering if it is too late to try to “make up for lost time” or if 3 years (sophomore thru senior years) will be enough time to learn enough to get admitted. I am a hard worker and want to make this work. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks
Kayti

[y82benji]

The only thing that made it onto my AMCAS application from high school was the list of AP courses for which I received credit. What matters is what you do in your undergraduate education. For medical school, you need 6 credit hours (basically two courses) of English, an assortment of humanities (history, arts, etc, maybe 3-4 courses), 2 semesters of general biology, 2 semesters of general chemistry, 2 semesters of organic chemistry, 2 semesters of physics, and some college math (usually through Calc I, occasionally through Calc II). The only things you can’t take in the same year are general and organic chem (general chem is usually a prerequisite for organic chem). Three years is plenty of time.

What you may want to consider is trying to do it in two years (i.e. general bio and general chem in your sophomore year, physics and organic chem in your junior year) so that you will be prepared for the MCATs. The biological sciences section on the MCATs is largely general bio and organic chem, while the physical sciences section is largely general chem and physics.

Are you going to be a freshman this fall or have you just completed your freshman year? If you have already completed a year of college, what is your GPA? You should try to get a GPA of at least 3.5 to be competitive (higher is, of course, better), especially in the sciences.

Here’s a cut-and-paste two year program to complete prereqs that a friend of mine had:

Semester 1:
General Bio 1
General Chem 1
Calculus 1
English 101
French 1

Semester 2:
General Bio 2
General Chem 2
Calculus II
Psychology 101
French 2

Semester 3:
Physics 1
Organic Chem 1
Technical Writing for Health Professions
Seminar – Art History
Advanced French 1

Semester 4:
Physics 2
Organic Chem 2
Advanced French 2
History of Dance in Western Culture
Extra Arts Class or Time to Study for MCATs (Taken during semester)

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