[oFoShOuKnO]

Originally Posted by Budmano786

My brother had a foot long beard when he was interviewing at medical schools and still got accepted...and most importantly, in South Carolina! He kept that beard for most of his first year and apparently no one said anything at all. He did trim it later for some reason...I don't know if I can articulate it properly so I'll let explain why.

Yes I remember that

ISNA 2005: --->Iliketofish's beard

ISNA 2006: --->Iliketofish's beard

lol

[sally]

so you guys, do you think it would be okay to apply to med school after taking a few bio classes? i mean, i took environmental science and human bio and i havent really taken the human bio lab yet but i will be. so i guess i could just write that in my cover letter or something?

[Bruinrab]

Here are the basic, minimum requirements for applying to medical school. In general, you need a grade for each course before finishing the app, and AP credit is not acceptable. Most schools require a grade of C or higher in each of these:

1 year general biology, plus lab
1 year general chemistry, plus lab
1 year organic chemistry, plus lab
1 year English language/literature
1 year math, pre-calc or higher
1 year physics, plus lab

Many schools are also now requiring a semester of biochem.

On the application, they calculate your overall GPA and also your "BCPM" (bio/chem/physics/math). Many schools will discard your application if either is below 3.0, and many set much higher bars for interviews. Ecology or human biology will count towards BCPM but may not fulfill the bio requirement, esp if your school offers a course that it labels as gen bio - but talk to your pre-med advisor for more details.

Also, you need to take the MCAT before applying, since few schools give out interviews without it. Most schools are also looking for a strong set of extra-curricular activities, and research (+/- publication) is highly encouraged.

[Zeinab]

I'm starting uni/med school in October inshAllah. If i get the grades this summer.
Kinda terrified at the thought; I don't 'know' any doctors and don't have any in the family, so have no idea what it's really going to be like.

[sally]

Originally Posted by Bruinrab

Also, you need to take the MCAT before applying, since few schools give out interviews without it. Most schools are also looking for a strong set of extra-curricular activities, and research (+/- publication) is highly encouraged.

If I write a really good/impressive and lenghty essay (like 5 pages) do you think they'll waive the MCAT requirement?

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by sally

If I write a really good/impressive and lenghty essay (like 5 pages) do you think they'll waive the MCAT requirement?

Doctors don't have time to read essays that long.

[sally]

dang, i assume most of the people figured out i was kidding or they were unsure of how to react cuz nobody else responded. would've been funny if they'd taken me seriously

bruinrab phails cuz she fell for it. muahahaha.

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by sally

dang, i assume most of the people figured out i was kidding or they were unsure of how to react cuz nobody else responded. would've been funny if they'd taken me seriously

bruinrab phails cuz she fell for it. muahahaha.

Ahem. You'll notice the in my second post. Also, I don't think you would have appreciated my initial response. I had to censor myself.

[bravotwozero]

I knew it all along

[salmanjafri]

Hey everyone, I'm a premed, a fourth-year undergrad majoring in micro/immuno, and I have a lot of questions.

How much immunology is studied in med school?

If one wanted to specialize in allergy-immunology, are the only residencies through which that can be accomplished internal med and pediatrics?

Also, as a premed, does it depend on what kind of journal one is published in? For example, would the admissions committee value a publication in an undergraduate journal, or when people talk about "getting published," are they referring to big-time journals like nature, and science, etc.

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by salmanjafri

Hey everyone, I'm a premed and I have many questions. I'm a fourth-year undergrad majoring in micro/immuno at a four-year university.

How much immunology is studied in med school?

If one wanted to specialize in allergy-immunology, are the only residencies through which that can be accomplished internal med and pediatrics?

Also, as a premed, does it depend on what kind of journal one is published in? For example, would the admissions committee value a publication in an undergraduate journal, or when people talk about "getting published," are they referring to big-time journals like nature, and science, etc.

At my school, immuno was studied with micro as part of semester long course, so really, not that much. However, there's a LOT of pathology associated with immune dysregulation, so you will see it come up in pretty much everything.

Specifically looking at allergy-immuno, yes, you have to go through med or peds first. Rheumatology is another good alternative, but that also has training at the fellowship level rather than at the residency level.

As far as publications, I had one but it wasn't in a huge journal, it was in "Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research", and that still helped me. Getting into Nature or Science is huge... heck even JAMA and the New England Journal are huge deals for med students. As long as it's not in something like "Bolivian journal for research on mice with funny looking tails", you should be ok.

[sally]

Originally Posted by Bruinrab

As far as publications, I had one but it wasn't in a huge journal, it was in "Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research", and that still helped me. Getting into Nature or Science is huge... heck even JAMA and the New England Journal are huge deals for med students. As long as it's not in something like "Bolivian journal for research on mice with funny looking tails", you should be ok.

i love how you guys have it kind of ingrained within you to write journal article titles with all lower case letters (after the word of course)

[Bruinrab]

Originally Posted by sally

i love how you guys have it kind of ingrained within you to write journal article titles with all lower case letters (after the word of course)

I started out capitalizing everything, then had to go back and fix it because it didn't look right.

[the_only_one]

salaams,

can we get some advice/suggestions from canadian students studying abroad? especially the odds of getting an admission as in internatonal student and huge tutition difference and stuff?


wasalaams