The Pre-Med Journey

The pre-med journey is not for the faint of heart. During one’s undergraduate career, they must maintain high grade marks, volunteer, gain clinical experience, conduct research, and shadow physicians. While upfront this seems like a daunting task, one has 4+ years to spread all of these benchmarks out. The following to points will address the benchmarks one wants to hit during their freshman year of college.

Freshman Year

During your freshman year your focus will want to be on picking the right major, grades, volunteer experience, work experience, and shadowing experience.

Required Courses for Medical School & MCAT

Prior to applying to medical school and taking the MCAT you will want to take the following courses:

1 year of general biology + lab
1 year of general/inorganic chemistry + lab
1 year of physics (can be algebra or calculus-based) + lab
1 year of organic chemistry + lab
1 semester of biochemistry
1 semester of human physiology
1 semester of a general psychology course
1 semester of a general sociology course

The reason you will want to take 1 semester of the italicized courses is that many schools are requiring them OR they will greatly help you on the MCAT. Human physiology and biochemistry are the meat and potatoes of the science sections of the MCAT. You will want a strong foundations in these areas prior to sitting for the exam.

Grades

According to The Princeton Review, in 2018 the average cumulative GPA for an accepted/matriculated student at a MD granting institution was a 3.7, with a the average science GPA being a 3.64. Keep in mind these are averages, meaning people got in with lower GPAs, but this is the GPA you want to aim for year-over-year. You will want to ask yourself if this is a GPA you can obtain while in a hard science baccalaureate program. If it is, then great. If you feel that you will struggle doing so, then change your major. If you are steadfast on pursuing a hard science degree, another thing you can do to help keep your GPA up is only take 12 units a semester. While this may stretch your degree out over 5 years, you will have more time to study (better GPA), and improve your extracurriculars (i.e. work, research, volunteer, club involvement, shadow, etc.). No one cares how long it takes you to complete your undergraduate degree. All they care about is that you have a strong GPA and solid extracurriculars. In the long run, that extra year may be what makes you an excellent candidate for Harvard 😉

College Major

You can literally major in anything and go to medical school. However, keep in mind that the majority of science majors allows one to fulfill the requirements for medical school admission and prepares one for the MCAT. Nonetheless, you can major in psychology, stretch your degree out over 5 years, and use the 5th year to complete all of your medical school pre-requisite courses. Again, no one cares how long it takes you to complete your undergraduate degree. And please understand that changing your major does not equate to you changing your career goal of becoming a physician. Major in something that really interests you.

Volunteer Experience

You want to begin volunteering as early as possible. Yes, you will be taking lots of courses and at first the demand may be more than you can handle. But during your freshman year of college you want to make volunteering a top priority, right after grades. There is no magic number with regards to how many volunteer hours will make me a good candidate for medical school. However, it seems that 200–250 hours is sufficient. The key though is to be consistent! While clinical volunteer experience is favored over non-clinical volunteer experience, during your freshman year it is completely fine to pursue non-clinical volunteer opportunities. For example, during your freshman year you can volunteer at your local food bank, soup kitchen, Ronald McDonald House, animal rescue, etc. 250 volunteer hours may seem like a lot, but lets break this down.

250 hours / 4 years = 62.5hours/year = 12 months/year = 5.2 hours/month. This is comparable to spending 1 morning or afternoon volunteering per month. This is TOTALLY manageable if you practice good time management and have your priorities in order. Again, for your freshman year it is okay to start off your volunteer experience in a non-clinical setting. Beginning your sophomore year of college you will want to transition to more clinically-oriented volunteer experiences. Keep in mind 2 things, you will want to be consistent with this over the course of your 4 years and you will want to aim for something above the average. For example, if you volunteered 8 hours/month every month for 4 years, you will accumulate 384 hours of volunteering experience. This is comparable to volunteering 1 full day/month.

Work Experience

In college, most people work jobs in retail and service industries. This is normal and for many it is the only opportunity for employment they may have. However, as a premed student you may want to consider investing money into taking a EMT, CNA, or MA course. After completing the course you will be able to earn more money than a service or retail job, and you will be able to gain clinical experience. You can also look into scribing at your local emergency department. This requires no upfront costs and usually provides on the job (paid) training. Both of these opportunities requires initiative on your part. You have to be willing to call these training programs/clinics and get the ball rolling.

Shadowing Experience

Next to working a healthcare job or volunteering in a clinic/hospital, shadowing is a great way for you to learn whether or not being a physician is what you really want to do. There are not many formal shadowing programs set up between clinics/hospitals and universities, making this extracurricular a little more challenging to partake in. More often than not, you will have to take the initiative on this and send emails to hospitals and clinics inquiring about shadowing opportunities. Additionally, it is important to shadow doctors from various specialties/areas of medicine to help you gain a better understanding of the type of doctor you want to be. For example, you can spend time, over 4 years, shadowing doctors in surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, dermatology, etc. Shadowing may also help open doors for future research experiences!

Below are some links that will provide you with more knowledge on shadowing and help you get started on that front.
https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/shadowing-doctor/
https://www.princetonreview.com/med-school-advice/how-to-shadow-a-doctor-as-a-pre-med-student
https://www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/how-to-ask-to-shadow-a-doctor

If you are reading this and we are still in the COVID pandemic, shadowing may be hard to come by. Medical schools are cognizant of this so please put this extra time and effort into your coursework and volunteer hours. However, Dr. Ryan Gray from Med School HQ has created a platform for students to gain “shadowing” experience. The reason for the quotations is that medical schools may or may not accept this as true shadowing experience, nevertheless, you will be able to gain valuable insights by partaking in this resource. https://medicalschoolhq.net/eshadowing/

I really hope this was of help to you!