The First Steps

You might wonder what is required to get into medical school. Well, there are really two questions: what is required to apply to medical school and what is required to get into medical school. The first one is quite objective, the second much more subjective. While some schools differ from the norm, most schools require the following:

• 1 year of biology
• 1 year of general chemistry
• 1 year of organic chemistry
• This is not “hippie” chemistry, as my dad called it; it’s more or less just carbon chemistry, which is the fundamental type of chemistry that takes place in the body
• 1 year of general physics
• the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test)

 Like I said, most schools differ in a few ways. For the most part, they differ in the additional courses they may require, usually a calculus, a social science like psychology or sociology, or biochemistry. More or less, however, this is it. Some medical schools don’t even require a degree! How do you feel about that? Your doctor might have his MD, but he or she may have never even received a BA! (It’s not really that big of a deal, so please don’t start freaking out.)

While the course load differs for everyone, most students take general chemistry (commonly known as “gen chem”) and biology (“bio”) their freshman year, organic chemistry (“o chem” or “orgo,” depending on what college you go to) their sophomore year, and physics (no fancy name for this one) their junior year. This is fairly easy (in terms of taking the courses within 3 years, not necessarily easy in terms of content) to accomplish if you are the more traditional science major such as biology, chemistry, or biochemistry because these courses are part of the major anyway. Since I switched into premed right before my junior year, and I wanted to apply to med school with my class, I didn’t have much time. I had to take bio, gen chem, and physics my junior year, and then o chem the following summer over 10 weeks—thankfully Calvin offers this unique program. (It went like this for me: school straight for a year; 3 days off; 10 weeks of ochem—which is normally a 32 week course—2 days off; 3 weeks of studying; and then the MCAT…fun!) Not everyone is a science major though. I, in fact, will be graduating as a Spanish major and a biochemistry minor.

The most dreaded “things” by premeds are organic chemistry and the MCAT. I enjoyed organic (I think most people think this class is so bad because, although it does require a lot of work, its reputation is perpetually passed on year to year—if you think something is going to be terrible, then of course it is!). But let me tell you, the MCAT really is a terrible, terrible thing. The test covers the basic sciences and is divided into four sections: critical thinking, writing, biological sciences (bio and o chem), and physical sciences (gen chem and physics). The test lasts about 5 hours, including a few short breaks, and you really have to operate like a machine just to answer all the questions within the allotted time per section. After taking the test twice, I’ve come to the conclusion that about 40% of doing well on the test is knowing the material, the other 60% is knowing how to take that specific test—the format, the question styles, the timing, etc. The test is computerized, which is stupid. We spend years taking test after test on paper with a pencil and then this thing comes along! It might sound like a minor concern, but it’s a big difference.

The test is out of 45 (each of the three sections is out of 15, except for writing, which goes J-T). From what I know, the writing section isn’t THAT important…as long as your score isn’t brutal. Now the scores range all over the place, but no one gets a 45. The highest score of someone I personally know was a 38…incredible. To help you navigate, here are some average scores at certain med schools

Wright State~28

Michigan State University ~31

University of Cincinnati ~34

Case Western Reserve University ~36

University of Michigan

Harvard University ~36

Mayo Clinic ~38

*(These are off the top of my head from back when I researched. Please don’t correct me if you know I’m wrong, unless you just can’t resist the urge.)

  

Average GPAs are all over too, I’d guess around 3.4-3.8. So this is what you need to apply and the how the “numbers” of your application work. However,getting into medical school cannot be reduced to a formula; it’s all relative to the person and what they possess beyond good numbers….