bubabuggy

[bubabuggy]

I think that if the rest of your semesters/quarters were full-time or more than full-time i.e. 19 units and you did well, then that should prove that you can handle the course load and the current 8 unit schedule you have shouldn’t harm you. If the maximum units you have ever taken in a semester is 12 then it may look like that is the max. you can handle and you are making the 3rd class the MCAT review.

[bubabuggy]

Personally, your tatoo and its design sound pretty cool so if I was a med student or a person that knew you I would think of that as a plus. I like individuality, so I wouldn’t have a problem with it. If I was a patient and saw angels on your arms I would think that you were passionate about medicine and caring about people. That would be my opinion []My advice is like the old saying goes: you have to be true to yourself– there must have been something that motivated you to needle the symbol into your arm– so keep it there. Otherwise, the constraints of other people and their opinions will always interfere with things that are important to you! Also, I have seen doctors with tatoos and they were obviously walking around short-sleeved. I guess as long as what is drawn on the tatoo is not offensive then there shouldn’t be a problem.

[bubabuggy]

I took a year of general chemistry, 1 year of calculus, and 1 semester of biology at a community college. Afterwards I transferred to UCSD and was a biology major and took O-chem and Physics. However, the calculus at the community college was definitely more demanding than at UCSD, and the general chemistry exams looked similar in difficulty to the ones given at the commuity college. The cc I went to required lots of hard work and students that came from that school ended up being the top 5% of graduating seniors at UCSD. I was wondering if taking the the g-chem and calculus at a jc will hurt my chances of admission to medical school.

[bubabuggy]

No–they definitely DO NOT look back as far as high school.

[bubabuggy]

How many schools did your husband apply to?

[bubabuggy]

quote:

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Originally posted by bubabuggy

Yes, I agree with the above advice. Also, if you look at the statistics for who gets into med schools– the students tended to have come from ivy league schools. Then, as a way to maintain “diversity,” Harvard will accept maybe only 1 or 2 students from schools that are non-ivy league. For example, I went to UCSD and every year 400 UCSD pre-med students apply to med school. At least 200 apply to Harvard and only 2 get in. However, students from schools like Stanford, Duke, Yale, etc. get accepted in greater numbers to Harvard med school. Also, you shouldn’t worry that much about getting into HARVARD. Harvard med is #1 in research, but if you want to be a primary care physician then that’s not the place to go– It doesn’t make the top ten list for that.

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[bubabuggy]

Hello again,
I think you should look at some MCAT review books. The physics you have to know will be discussed in the book and although having all prerequisites completed prior to the MCAT is preferable ( since it gives you a stronger foundation/understanding), you can still learn what is necessary for the MCAT from the review book. Also, 40% of MCAT physics questions are about mechanics and you’ve already had that. Also, the MCAT is a test that is based more on concepts vs memorizing lots of obscure details– make sure you understand the concepts from the physics that you did not have when reading the MCAT review book and you should be fine!

[bubabuggy]

From what I was told by college counselors, the physics needs to be calculus based so I don’t know if astronomy will do. I think you need to do the physics sequence which has 3 main parts to it: Newtonian physics, electromagnetism, and optics/light. That’s what is tested o the MCAT.

[bubabuggy]

I think taking the MCAT in the summer when the courses you’ve taken are still fresh in your memory is a good idea. Remember that MCAT scores are only good for 2-3 years so make sure to apply before the scores expire!

[bubabuggy]

Thanks– that’s really good advice!! []

[bubabuggy]

Yes– the problem was I had OCD and then it got worse combined with my huge desire to get into medical school, and if I even had a slight chance of getting a B in the class I would have overblown anxiety over something stupid like that plus I was depressed etc. I do not have that problem at all anymore– in fact I beat it by myself with no help from a psychologist or anything and I’m very strong because of that. However, I don’t know if I should include that in my peronal statement because I don’t want them probing me for the link of how OCD got intertwined with the rest of my life and was the cause of dropping classes for stupid reasons like getting a potential “B”. Plus I do not have that problem anymore and I just look at anything as just a challenge and I thrive under pressure. The problem was a thing of the past that I don’t even think about but my record is still going to show that glitch. Also, my junior year I had 60 quarter credit units. The senior year with the 63 units, I was working in the lab 20 hours a week, I served as a TA, and practiced violin and performed in concerts and never felt stressed. I guess my question is how I can address the course-load problem in my personal statement given the fact that the reason for it also weakens my application, since any anxiety or depression problems always bear a stigma with them. The horrible thing about OCD is that I had the problem since I was 10, but when I was 11 it developed into the “obsessive” portion but I never told anybody about it, because I didn’t know such a disorder existed and I felt really embarrassed talking about it when people noticed that I was kind of depressed. Finally, when I was 18 I looked up some of my symptoms to see if anybody had to go through the same hell everyday of their life and yes– that’s when I found out about it. That helped me a lot!!! I looked at what psychologists recommended to do to get rid of this disorder, but I also refused to turn to Xanax etc. because I believed in the power of the mind and after a year I beat it completely!

[bubabuggy]

I was a biology major and my 2nd year in school I was not full-time. However, as a senior I took 63.5 quarter units in 1 year along with lots of science courses and got a 3.8 gpa for that year ( school= UCSD). My undergrad cumulative gpa is also a 3.8. However, is that non-full-time student gap going to be a major factor that could deter my admission to med school? It always seems to be that med school admissions, because of the competition, are more interested in finding reasons to find negatives in a person, vs looking at all the positives. I’ve read on some pre-med site that if you weren’t always full-time ( ex– like a year’s time) then you’re chances are screwed. If that’s the case then they’re going to miss having a person that would have made a truly good doctor.

[bubabuggy]

I will be applying to medical school in June 2005. However, is it also possible for me to apply to a biology graduate school with the MCAT or would I have to take the GRE? Or– would having the MCAT instead of the GRE raise red flags and they will wonder why I’m applying to grad school in the first place? Getting into med school is hard so I want to start looking at my career alternatives instead of potentially wasting a year to see if I get accepted into med school.

[bubabuggy]

Non-California Public Schools (3.3-3.49)
Uniformed Services
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Kentucky
UMD – New Jersey
University of Central Caribe (PR)
Southern Illinois

Private Schools (3.2-3.49)
Drexel (formerly MCP Hahnemann)
Johnson Finch/Chicago Medical College
Southwestern Albany Medical College
Eastern Virginia Medical College

I couldn’t find the MCAT data– some of them didn’t list it– but MCATs seemed to be in the 8-9 average score per section. I think the fact you went to UCLA will help because it’s a tough school and so you could get GPA points for that. I went to UCSD– I’m working on a master’s degree right now– I wanted to see if I should go the MD/ PhD route or not. The schools I listed above had a high acceptance rate for UCSD students– seeing that UCLA is a sister school I think these stats relate to you as well. Good luck with your app [^] and apply early!

[bubabuggy]

Hi! You have a shot at Osteopathic schools. However, if you want to go to an allopathic med school, I recommend doing a post-bac program and getting a good GPA in that. Post-bac usually takes 1 year and I suggest taking the MCAT over. If you do well in post-bac and on the MCAT then you should be competitive for the allopathic med schools. If you’re going to apply right now, then it should be to the osteopathic schools, because the stats are against you for the allopathic med schools. I don’t want to sound discouraging– I mean if you have a lifelong dream of doing something then putting in an extra year to make yourself better qualified for the MD program is worth the wait. That is not to suggest that anything is wrong with the DO program. From the articles I’ve read DOs mainly have their own private practice and make up 5% of the employees in the hospital. So, the question boils down to whether or not you’re going to have your open business etc. or would you rather work in a hospital. Also, the DO program has a different philosophy towards medicine: i.e. it is more holistic– takes into account the mind and the body. It’s more complicated than that but there are great websites explaining the difference between the 2 medical schools of thought that you can look up. Hope this helped– best wishes!! []

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