What to Read as a Pre Med

What'southward Covered:

What Does Pre-Med Mean and How Long Is It?
What Are the Pre-Med Course Requirements?
Popular Majors for Pre-Med Students
What Are the Other Med School Requirements?
Important Resources for Pre-Meds

Dreaming of becoming a physician? It's a very popular career option, as well as a highly competitive one. In addition to contending with rigorous course requirements as an undergraduate, to become a physician you must attend medical schoolhouse and consummate a residency, which usually takes at least xi years in total.

While the process to become a doc is backbreaking, it's as well highly lucrative and rewarding. If you're only starting on the road to medicine, you might not know exactly where to begin. Keep reading to discover out how you can prepare for the challenges that accompany medical school.

What Does Pre-Med Mean and How Long Is It?

There's a lot of confusion surrounding the concept of pre-med , with many people thinking that they can declare it as a major. Pre-med is not a major merely a track. You tin major in anything y'all wish, equally long as your medical schoolhouse requirements and your major requirements are completed by graduation.

The pre-med rail typically lasts four years, as you'll demand a bachelor'southward degree to apply to medical school. That being said, some students choose to enroll in accelerated BS/Md combined degree programs that let them to finish their pre-med courses in iii years. CollegeVine has a whole web log department devoted to BS/Md programs for any interested students. For detailed information on navigating the pre-med track, you lot tin also check out this CollegeVine resources .

What Are the Pre-Med Course Requirements?

Undergraduate course requirements vary from one medical school to the next, just generally include the following:

Biology – 2 semesters with lab
Physics – 2 semesters with lab
General chemistry – 2 semesters with lab
Organic chemistry – 2 semesters with lab
Biochemistry – 1 semester
English – 2 semesters
Math – 2 semesters

Many schools also require statistics, psychology, and writing.

Your undergraduate university will probable have advisors who will help make certain that you consummate your pre-med requirements on time. Yous may too want to review the requirements at various medical schools then that you know what yous are upwards against. For case, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine M.D. Programme requires the following:

Higher biology with laboratory, one twelvemonth (8 semester hours)
General college chemical science with laboratory, ane year (8 semester hours)
Organic chemistry with laboratory, 1 semester (4 semester hours)
Biochemistry, three or iv semester hours (Lab is not required.)
24 semester hours in areas of humanities (English, History, Classics, Foreign Linguistic communication, Philosophy, Arts, etc.), social science (Sociology, Economic science, Political Science, Anthropology, etc.), and behavioral scientific discipline (Psychology, etc.). Must include 2 writing-intensive courses.
Calculus and/or statistics, one year (half dozen-8 semester hours)
General college physics with laboratory, one year (8 semester hours)

Recommended Pre-Med Courses

Many courses are not requirements for applying to medical school but are valuable for pre-med students to take. Students who take these recommended pre-med courses will be more than appealing to medical schoolhouse admissions and will likely have an easier time in medical school (in the long term, these courses as well make for more than well-rounded physicians).

For example, in addition to the requirements above, Hopkins recommends taking iv semester hours in the principles of genetics and at least i semester of statistics or epidemiology. Mostly, recommended courses for pre-med students include:

Genetics
Statistics
Calculus
Ethics
Public Health
Human being Anatomy and Physiology
Psychology
Sociology

Popular Majors for Pre-Med Students

Like we said earlier, pre-med is non a major . So and then, you might be wondering, what majors do pre-med students typically declare? Here is the rundown of popular majors for pre-meds:

Biological Sciences and Man Biological science: More than half of med-school applicants report biological sciences during their undergraduate years. Majoring in biology ways that your major requirements and pre-med requirements volition overlap significantly. That existence said, studying scientific discipline exclusively tin can be intense and exhausting. If you major in biology on the pre-med track, you may want to carefully select a unique minor or interesting constituent courses to avert burnout.

Physics, Chemical science, and Other Physical Sciences: Just like the natural sciences, the concrete science major courses typically overlap with the pre-med requirements. Though the coursework volition differ slightly, the risks and benefits of physics and chemistry are almost the same as those of biological science.

Psychology, Economics, and Social Sciences: Social science applicants make up about 10% of medical school admissions. The requirements for these majors have some overlap with the pre-med requirements, but students volition need to spend most of their elective units completing pre-med courses.

Philosophy and the Humanities: Humanities majors are less popular for pre-med students because they leave all pre-med requirements to be completed with electives. This will accept planning on your role and will crave clear communication with your advisors. That being said, humanities graduates who pursue medicine may be more personable and well-rounded than students who exclusively focus on the sciences. Philosophy is a popular major for pre-med students in the humanities.

Math, Statistics, and Related Majors: While math majors are not actually a popular major for pre-med students, they have the highest MCAT scores and GPAs of all applicants and thus, typically have favorable positioning in medical school admissions.

What Are the Other Med School Requirements?

When you're applying to medical school, you'll complete a principal application, usually administered by the American Medical College Awarding Service (AMCAS). After submitting the master application, the school volition send you a secondary awarding (or turn down you, in some cases). For one or both of these applications, in addition to your transcript, yous'll need to submit:

Your MCAT Score

Some schools have a minimum MCAT score and GPA requirements and will filter out applicants who don't meet them.

Personal Statements

Commonly, you'll demand to respond to prompts on both the main and secondary applications. The topics vary, merely typically you lot'll be asked to explore the reasons yous want to pursue medicine, the events that have shaped you lot, and your passions, experiences, achievements, and interests.

Messages of Recommendation

Most medical schools require three letters of recommendation, usually two messages from scientific discipline kinesthesia members and 1 from a non-science discipline, although this varies from school to school. If your undergraduate college has a formal pre-med commission, a commission letter is usually required to present an overview and evaluation of your undergraduate performance and candidacy.

Extracurriculars

Well-nigh medical schools will desire to see relevant extracurricular activities, including enquiry, clinical feel, and volunteering and customs service. You can gain exposure to the profession past shadowing physicians, working equally a scribe, or contributing to the medical community by profitable practicing professionals with research.

Medical schools also want to know what kind of person y'all are, so your application will also ask for non-medical extracurriculars. It'south kind of like the Common App all over again, though the activities section for medical schoolhouse is more than all-encompassing, and you'll be asked to write approximately 500 words virtually each of your three most important extracurriculars.

Proceed in heed that individual medical schools may take additional requirements or recommendations. Most schools also conduct interviews, extending invitations to a small percentage of candidates after reviewing their applications.

Important Resources for Pre-Meds

What Is the Best Pre-Med School For You?

Choosing the right college can modify your pre-med path for better or worse. It's not simply of import to look for schools with potent pre-med advising; y'all as well want to be sure that your college is a practiced fit in other means, including size, location, extracurriculars, and other factors.

Using our free schoolhouse search tool , you can search for colleges based on preferences like majors, finances, your personal chances of credence, and more.

It's important to remember that outstanding pre-med programs come in all shapes and sizes. There are nifty pre-med programs at technical schools and 'political party' schools, large schools and small schools, and research universities and liberal arts schools. Consider all of the relevant factors when picking the correct pre-med program for you .

Best Schools for Pre-Meds

Here are CollegeVine'southward picks for overall best schools for pre-meds:

School	Location	Acceptance Rate
Harvard Higher	Cambridge, MA	four.5%
Knuckles University	Durham, NC	7.viii%
University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, PA	7.seven%
Washington Academy in St. Louis	St. Louis, MO	14%
Rice University	Houston, TX	8.seven%
Stanford University	Stanford, CA	4.4%
Northwestern University	Evanston, IL	9.1%
Brownish University	Providence, RI	seven.1%
Amherst College	Amherst, MA	11.iii%
Example Western Reserve University	Cleveland, OH	29%

Encounter the full list of best pre-med schools for more rankings.

While each of these colleges has a unlike average credence rate, they are all very competitive and are 'reach' schools for everyone. You may besides want to look into CollegeVine'due south lists for the Best Not-Ivy League Schools for Pre-Med and the Most Underrated Pre-Med Colleges .

It is great to be interested in selective schools, only it is also important to remember to create a balanced higher listing. If possible, a pupil should apply to 8-10 schools, with virtually 25% being safety schools, 40% target schools, and 35% reach schools. These categories—safety, target, and reach—are adamant by your chances of acceptance at the schools you are applying to.

Because your personal chances of acceptance at these schools may differ from the boilerplate acceptance rate, due west e've fabricated it easy to figure out which schools fall into which categories with our complimentary Admissions Chances Reckoner . Past taking into account your grades, test scores, and extracurriculars, nosotros'll estimate your odds of credence at different schools and requite you tips on improving your profile.

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Source: https://blog.collegevine.com/pre-med-requirements/