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December, 2024

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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
Let's start off by introducing ourselves since this is a new cult.

Name, school, year, major, desired health profession, classes enrolled in, mcat/dat/oat/gre scores/planned dates, gpa's, general concerns, whatever you can think of really.
Jan 30 2013 10:47AM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
My name is Eddie. I'm a junior studying human biology at SUNY Albany and I'm from Wayne, NJ. I plan on going to med school sometime after finishing college. I've yet to take the MCAT so I will be applying either next year or the year after. I think one of my biggest concerns is being a bit behind on track. I wasn't exactly sure until recently that medicine was something I'd wanted to pursue. So I will end up taking a year off (maybe two) just waiting to hear back from schools that I applied to. When I'm not doing school work I'm either skiing (obviously), filming/editing, or reading. Also, my home mountain is mountain creek! (I'll occasionally ski at big boulder when I'm home too) When I'm at school I go up to Mount Snow on the weekends which is awesome despite the 1.5-2 hour drive there.
Jan 30 2013 10:56AM
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HWW
Posts: 3084 - Karma: 3,436
hi,

i'm harry, i go to the university of vienna, started my course in 2012, studying biology, don't want a profession in health, just studying out of interest and because possibilities are vast, bachelor degree!

europe represent!
Jan 31 2013 1:01PM
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Wompuscat
Posts: 818 - Karma: 380
Whattup, names Tyler. I'm a junior at the University of Iowa, studying Human Physiology, minoring in chemistry and of course taking pre-med courses. I plan on attending either an MD program or DO program then progressing from there. Ideally, I would love to get into surgery. I work at a veterinary hospital that my dad owns, and I get to assist in about 10-15 surgeries a day as well as go in on the appointments as well as do tech appointments. The surgical aspect by far and away blows me away, and I never get bored. I love it to death. But there are a ton of if's before I get that far. I'm applying to schools this summer so wish me the best!
Jan 31 2013 1:09PM
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ataraxia
Posts: 903 - Karma: 117
Hey I'm Aleks and I study LifeSci (pre-med) at Queen's University in Ontario. I'm in third year and looking to apply to both Canadian and American Dental schools soon. My American DAT score is 23 and I'll be writing my Canadian DAT at the end of February.

I'm super stoked to see interest from people on NS regarding professional schools! If you have any questions about applying to dental schools or the DAT please don't hesitate to ask :D
Jan 31 2013 4:00PM
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reBlocke
Posts: 762 - Karma: 1,502
I'm an MS1 at the University of Colo School of Medicine. Feel free to ask me anything - I'm on NS way more than I should be...
Jan 31 2013 4:23PM
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proZach
Posts: 7163 - Karma: 919
well hello tharr. my name is Zach. I went to uvm for a year undergrad, then transfered to uconn for the remaining 3. majored in psychology minor in neuroscience. then worked for about 18 months as a PCA (nursing assistant) at a local hospital. appled to PA school, both yale and quinnipiac. got interviews both places, rejected from yale, wait-listed at quinnipiac. a few months later I was accepted and here I am, 9 months into PA school starting up my last didactic semester. clinical year starts in june.
Jan 31 2013 5:05PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
What was your major/gpa/mcat (if you dont mind me asking)? Did you take any time off between or did you just go straight into med school?
Jan 31 2013 5:21PM
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reBlocke
Posts: 762 - Karma: 1,502
I did Comp Sci (3.7), took a year off and ski patrolled, then went back for a postbacc (4.0) and worked in home healthcare during my application year. I got a 41R on the MCAT.

Numbers that high (for the MCAT anyway) aren't really necessary. I was pretty set on going to CU because of a girlfriend (at the time...) and I really didn't want to move away from the mountains/skiing - so I studied harder than I probably needed to.

Lots of people get by with much lower numbers, especially if you aren't picky on where you want to go or if you're willing to apply multiple times.
Jan 31 2013 6:39PM
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Piste.Off
Posts: 11586 - Karma: 1,860
Did you apply for PA school during your undergrad? Or did you need the 18 months of clinical hours before you applied?

Anyways, my name's Casey. I'm a sophomore majoring in Health and Exercise Science and taking pre PA classes at Colorado State University. I will be taking CNA training classes this spring and working as a CNA for the next few summers and part time during school. If all goes to plan I will hopefully get into a PA school by the end of my 5th year and go from there.
Jan 31 2013 8:08PM
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Piste.Off
Posts: 11586 - Karma: 1,860
^that was to you
Jan 31 2013 8:09PM
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proZach
Posts: 7163 - Karma: 919
nah, I didn't even know what it was until half way through my junior year. when I found the pre-reqs I just loaded up for my senior year. I had to take a course each summer to get them all.

after I graduated, I got a job as a pca/cna (did training for a month while I was in school). I did that for the hours, I didn't want to do that shit while I was in school. I had around 1500 hours or so when I applied. I started working in october and applied the following august.

honestly I would recommend, to everyone, to take some time off before starting school back up. some of the kids in my class graduated on a sunday, and started school on monday. I don't know how they did it. I definitely had some good times in my two years off
Jan 31 2013 8:20PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
reBlocke, that MCAT score of yours is fucking INSANE! How the hell did you study for it?

And for you guys who are/will be PCA's, what's the job training/certification like for it and whats the type of work you do? Is it mostly in a hospital setting?
Jan 31 2013 9:39PM
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proZach
Posts: 7163 - Karma: 919
the hospital I worked at didn't require anything aside from a high school education. however, I had no prior experience so I figured I'd get certified (through the red cross, I think it was like $800 or something ridiculous- 4 classes 4 hours each)

generally they wouldn't hire someone like me without experience, but my parents both worked at the hospital so I had some pull. I was lucky in this sense. I only worked in the hospital, but you can also work at long term care centers, probably old folks homes too.

the work was sorta miserable. everything from bringing people juice, to cleaning up vomit/shit, bathing all types of people, helping to restrain psychotic patients, doing cpr, and watching many people pass from this life. I can't imagine how people have it as their career, they're stronger people than I am, no doubt in my mind. I had to deal with a lot of really arrogant, moronic, and completely retarded people. but there were some brighter moments
Jan 31 2013 9:56PM
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reBlocke
Posts: 762 - Karma: 1,502
I went through Examkrackers + EK Practice problems according to the schedule that's in the front of their book series (and somewhere on their website I'm pretty sure). I made notecards w/ Anki for all the things concepts I didn't remember. Then I took all the AAMC practice tests under as realistic conditions as possible. It was about ~2-3 hours per day (longer when taking tests) studying for 3 months.

I'd recommend the EK stuff - but especially make sure you take the AAMC practice tests (particularly the later ones.. 9, 10, 11) if you're going to take it before the test switches.
Jan 31 2013 11:25PM
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volvotom
Posts: 2045 - Karma: 712
I'm Tom, I did my undergrad at UC Riverside. I took several years off where I worked 9-1-1 ambulance response in parts of LA and Orange Counties. Had shooting/stabbing calls in East LA and Compton. Started with a major in Microbiology, 3 classes from finishing I realized it was not for me. I then switched to Public Policy, and enjoyed that. I am currently in a Masters in Public Health program specializing in policy, hoping to get a job in government or with a think tank administering the new healthcare law or doing research.

Never ended up taking the MCAT since I decided to go the policy route, but my core science GPA was 3.8 I think more people interested in medicine should consider working EMS.
Feb 2 2013 3:25PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
Awesome to hear. Public health and medicine certainly do go hand in hand, I don't understand why they aren't more closely intertwined. Something like revamping the U.S healthcare system would definitely be cool to do
Feb 2 2013 9:13PM
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