On the path to going to pre-med then med....?

Question

I want to become a doctor. I have a 3.74 unweighted GPA and a 4.12 weighted GPA. I have 1600 on SAT new one. I have taken 7 AP test passing only three of them :World History, U.s. History, and French Language ( my native language). I am almost trilingual with Spanish. Do you think i am on a good path. what can i do better to achieve my goal?

Answer 1

Start studying for the MCAT now! Not kidding. Your GPA is pretty good, but your SAT scores don't match it. Which means your bright but not so great at standardized tests. Don't worry about it, standardized test taking is a pretty useless skill. Except that you gotta have good MCAT scores when you're applying to med schools (you've got to have good grades, too, but you should be fine on that front). Since they're primarily knowledge based, you can improve your scores dramatically. So start studying now, and you'll be right up at the top where you belong come senior year of college.

Besides that, study hard and keep your grades up in college. Coming from most undergrad schools, you'll basically need straight A's to get into most med schools. I'm not trying to scare you or anything, that's just how it is. Make sure you take all the required pre-med classes (generally that's intro bio, intro chem, organic chem, intro physics, and calculus), but you don't have to major in biology. Major in underwater basket weaving if you want just so long as you also take all the courses that are required for admission to the schools you want to apply to. You won't be penalized for not being a bio major, and the courses that all the other pre-med kids are taking will tend to be burtally competitive since they all need an A and since it's graded on a curve there just aren't enough A's to go around, so avoiding those might be a good thing.

The trilingual thing will help you when you're applying to colleges. Most med schools won't care at all, though. But multiligual doctors are a hot comodity for many hospitals, so keep praticing your Spanish through school (and French, but since that's your native language I think that's a given) - it'll serve you well when you're looking for a job. Spanish especially since there are parts of the US that are basically bilingual (English-Spanish), and hospitals (and especially small clinics) like their doctors to be able to talk to their patients - saves them having to pay a translator. Or if you want to live in Canada when you finish school then the French is more useful.

Also, when you're applying to colleges, keep in mind that they don't need to know about all those AP's that you didn't do well on :)

Finally, remember, "What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class from med school? Doctor." The point is that where you go to med school will matter for a few years right after you finish, but ultimately, as you as you graduate from med school somewhere, if you're good at what you do then in a few years no one will care where you went to school or what your grades where.

Answer 2

Start with biology. You're on the road, but you're just starting. You need to try new things. What kind of doctor? Internship, shadow, volunteer with local doctors. Try to go overseas and do something in a foreign country (as you progress). Basically, get involved if this is REALLY what you want to do. The more experience the better you are prepared.