Medicine & Personal 18 Apr 2007 12:32 pm
I've decided to go to med school
Last night while waiting to board my flight in Charlotte, NC, I signed up for Harvard's intensive 8-week Organic Chemistry I and II classes (+ labs). Ironically it's cheaper than taking them at MCP (and nearly as inexpensive as taking them at UMass), and they'll be over more quickly. I tend to do much better in classes when I completely immerse myself in the material. E.g. Calc II, biology 1, college writing II.
$4600 including student health insurance, and it includes the labs — which are usually more expensive than the actual class. I have free parking a 10-minute walk from campus at Paul's place, which is completely awesome. I intend to get A's, which won't be a problem if I actually study.
However I am getting ahead of myself, so I'll back up a bit.
After turning in an undergrad performance that more closely resembles this cat than a decent education, I have decided to forgo pharmacy school entirely. Instead, I've made up my mind to attend med school. Where, I don't know. Nor do I particularly care, to be honest. Any med school I attend will give me the tools I need to pass all three steps of the USMLE, and then it'll be up to me to learn during residency.
I feel like I've been fighting this decision for a long time. Probably two or three years. I've been resisting it because of the way healthcare policy in the country is set up. I have issues with things like EMTALA being an unfunded mandate, inclinations toward socialized medicine, medical malpractice insurance premiums, residency, and personal shortcomings. In a bizarre way, I feel like I'm better equipped than most who desire to go to med school who have their idealism ripped right out from under them when they hit the Real World because I don't have any in the first place.
I'm not worried about the MCAT. I rock at standardized testing, and I actually plan to prepare for this one. I never prepared for the SAT, and I did extremely well, and MCATs apparently correlate fairly well with SAT scores. How much better could I do on the MCAT if I prepared rather than going in blind, tired, and unprepared like I did with the SAT? I'm hoping to score at least a 33, which is easily within the realm of possibility.
My personal statement will be excellent because I'm a good writer, and I've thought about med school from a real world perspective more than I've thought about anything in a long time. I'll have recommendations in spades; I have a list of 16(!) different people, all of them in the medical field, who have agreed to write me a recommendation if I ask them. Many of them in unique positions of influence. This is a comfort to me because of:
My main trouble will by my GPA. I've got to rip up and repave my undergrad career in a few key places: organic chemistry, microbiology, and (perhaps) general biology. This will take some money, and probably six months to a year. If I decide to apply to a foreign medical school — which holds a great deal of appeal to me — I could probably forget retaking basic biology. Oh, and I'll probably have to take Physics II (+ lab). Not a huge deal there.
Looking back at my old transcripts and thinking about how I used to (not) study makes me cringe. It's like looking someone else's life and saying "And did you want to set yourself up for failure later?"
Anyway, regarding personal shortcomings. Two main things stand out to me: I tend to follow the path of least resistance. It is, for example, easier to watch TV than it is to study. I'll have to watch myself carefully. The other is sleep. I worry that residency will be a disaster because I'm one of those unlucky fools who needs 7-8 hours per night, otherwise I'm useless.
But I'll have to get there first.
on 19 Apr 2007 at 5:02 pm 1.Peter "Yaz" said …
I'm speaking with complete sincerity here, dude. Medicine is not a field where one can have variable degrees of dedication and do well. Even at my school, where it's virtually impossible to flunk out, one person in my year and one person the year below quit because they realized that they made the wrong choice.
If you want, drop me a line and I'll try to project your app chances. One of my brother's close friends from Harvard spent almost 10 years trying to get an acceptance because of his low undergrad GPA. Peripherals help, but almost every place screens based on GPA and MCAT.
on 22 Apr 2007 at 7:54 am 2.Rian said …
Hey Yaz,
Thanks for the reply. I do know that my undergrad GPA will hold me back, which is why I'm retaking some classes. Organic I & II, which I mentioned, and I'll probably retake biology I & II, and microbiology as well. I need to take Physics II also.
My math grades show HUGE improvement from calc I to calc II (C to an A), so I'm not planning to retake calc I. I've done my research on grades, and while I'll have to do a little work this coming semester, it's certainly not impossible. And I have no intention of applying to a top-tier med school, since I'm a firm believer that an education is what you make of it, not the name on your diploma.
My MCAT will probably be ivy league high, because my standardized test results usually are, even when I don't prepare. And I plan to prepare this time.
As far as my motivations go, I've written more extensively on that here and a bit more here. This might sound trite, but for the first time since I was probably a sophomore in high school, my life actually feels… congruent. You'll understand more if you read that first, longer entry I linked.
on 25 Apr 2007 at 12:06 pm 3.Angela said …
Well, I definitely know what you mean…I am dying to go to medical school but i have a low undergrad GPA and 2.7. I am good at standardized testing as well, so im not worried about the mcat…but I really dont know what to do about my GPA…can you retake classes after you've graduated. Ive heard of post bacc programs as well or doing a masters in a related field. Hmmm…any suggestions anyone?
on 26 Apr 2007 at 8:40 am 4.Rian said …
Angela
SMPs are always an option, as are post-bacc programs. There's also the D.O. option where you don't need insanely high GPAs. (If I read one more thread about someone freaking because they got a B when they've been holding down a 4.0, I'm going to vomit.) My GPA is, well, higher than yours, and constantly going up, but I intend to replace some of the low scores from my earlier classes be re-taking the essentials and doing well in them.
I don't know that re-taking=grade replacement, but it certainly doesn't hurt. I'm going to speak with an admissions person next week. I'll probably write again about what they said when I get back.
on 26 Apr 2007 at 10:34 pm 5.Peter "Yaz" said …
I read your linked posts. I'd say those were somewhere between your above post and something you said on Ars once along the lines of one being a sucker to go into medicine in its current state of affairs.
For Angela: 2.7 is quite low, although one always needs to consider the school and courseload. The main obstacle is that you'd have to be able to prove to someone you'd work much harder and do better if someone believes in you to offer admission. You'd need to have good reasons to explain your past grades in interviews. Medicine, like most things, generally isn't so much about how "smart" you are. It's how diligent and hard-working you are. I agree with Rian that DO school or even Caribbean should be a consideration if you're gung-ho about medicine. DOs especially can still do fine if they work hard.
Rian, I'm pressed for time, so I'll just address your points in that post:
1. Malpractice is a problem, but with some exceptions in certain specialties, it should not be a major deterrent. Most people get by just fine when all financial factors are considered. You could always just join a large group or hospital to avoid some of those headaches. Primary care has among the lowest malpractice rates since there are few procedures and patients don't sue often since they have such good relationships with their docs.
2. You can dictate what care you think is best for your patients as long as you still cover standard of care stuff, such as recommending colonoscopies once your patients turn 50, etc. Be part of the solution.
3. That's a problem for sure, since med school could cost another ~$200,000, with you making $40-50k for at least three years. There's certainly delayed fincancial gratification.
4. Depending on the field, residency isn't really that bad, especially with the 80-hour work week. Most doctors are accustomed to working hard. Sure, it can put a strain on personal relationships, but you have enough time for at least residency, just maybe not other stuff. Depending on specialty and program, you might not have overnight call. After residency, one can generally work as much or as little as one wants, with corresponding changes in pay.
5. As I wrote above, above all else, doctors need to be hard-working. Talk is cheap. You have to walk the walk. Force someone to believe in you.
1. There's some overlap, but plenty of new material to learn. Pharmacology, physio, and path is a good foundation that would allow you to focus on really learning other stuff. There's always more to learn.
2. One doesn't necessarily need to be a doctor to get that general feeling though.
3. Ok. You do have autonomy, at least once you're an attending.
4. Ok, but one's general humanity and interests outside of medicine often is what allows you to connect to patients and gain their trust, so don't discount the value of those other parts of your life. Doctors talk enough about medicine with each other.