Pre-Med Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, the lower grade will affect your application GPA.  This application GPA is often different than your Cal GPA.  All letter grades displayed on any transcript for college credit are factored into your AMCAS application GPA's. So the D/F grade and the A/B grade would both be counted. If you take a course at Cal and get a "C" you are not allowed to take it over without special permission. See your academic advisor for details. 

You didn't indicate if the class is a prerequisite for medical school, but if it is you may need to know this material to do well on the MCAT or other required classes. Medical schools don't like to see you repeating courses IF you understood the material the first time around. With that in mind, repeating the class only makes sense if you feel that it would improve your understanding of the material and if that material is part of your foundation knowledge for medical school courses. Bottom line: only take the course again if you did not understand the material the first time around, if you are taking the course merely to display your intellect, remember that medical schools would actually be more impressed if you took an upper division course on the subject matter (assuming it is a prerequisite for medical school).

Your first year in college is the best time to get a C or two, from a medical school admissions perspective. If you understood the material, so that you can do well in the next chemistry class in the sequence and your other courses won't suffer, you might want to complete the course this semester. You will make a good decision that works for you.

NOTE: If you get a D or F so that you can re-take the course, the lower grade will affect your application GPA.  This application GPA is often different than your Cal GPA.  All letter grades displayed on any transcript for college credit are factored into your AMCAS application GPA's. So the D/F grade and the A/B grade would both be counted. If you take a course at Cal and get a "C" you are not allowed to take it over without special permission.

You get to "self report" your coursework completed since you earned your high school diploma. You classify all of your coursework into one of the following categories:
B=biology
C=chemistry
P=physics
M=math
or
AO=all other

The AMCAS people show your "BCPM" GPA and your "AO" GPA and your "cumulative" GPA for every year and for your entire record so far. How each medical school uses this information is up to them. You will need to order an official transcript to be sent to AMCAS from all schools you have attended since you got the high school diploma. Please note that all letter grades displayed on any transcript for college credit are factored into your AMCAS GPA's.

It is best that you take the pre requisite courses for a letter grade. If you got a couple of Bs and you have lots of other evidence of your learning ability (like independent writing projects. research, good MCAT scores and/or other As), your one or two Bs will not kick you out of consideration.

Yes, the community college course work will be included; all college work goes into the AMCAS GPA.

Yes, they likely will. When you apply to medical or health professional school, you must report all college level courses you have taken for a grade. One way to estimate what your overall Grade Point Average (GPA) might be is to use the academic center calculator. Remember that a credit unit at UCB is a semester unit, because we operate on a semester basis. A "typical" four unit science course equals four semester credit hours. If you attended another college that did not use semester hours you will need to do a conversion before joining all of your credit hours to compute your overall GPA. Health professional and medical schools look at your GPA in every possible way.

It is fine to take Math over the summer at other than Berkeley. You should take the vast majority of your pre-med science work at Cal as the med schools are aware of the level of the course work here, and good grades will mean more that way. How much is enough is hard to pin down exactly. But, taking a semester of math somewhere else when you have a good record at Cal should not be any sort of a problem.

My advice is to take almost all or all of your science classes at Cal. For instance, I recommend that you take the entire chem. sequence at Cal. Where you complete the coursework will be examined, and the medical schools know the level of work at Cal better than at Community Colleges as most of the med students have taken their science courses at a 4-year school. Again, onecourse should not matter. You certainly can take some non-science classes at home, but take the bulk of your work at Cal so as to establish your track record.

If you take all the rest of your pre requisites courses here at Cal AND you are a science major here you will have ample opportunity to show your stuff in the sciences at our academically elite institution. You need to take two semester of physics (most cal students take 8a and 8b here at Cal). The rumors you have heard are true - academic elitism drives much of this medical school application process and you should "use" your status as a Cal student to your advantage. If you told me you planned to take more than half your pre requisites at a community college I would advise you otherwise. It is fine if you take two or three classes that are pre requisites at a community college.

I would look for an internship that will allow me to obtain a clear sense of the ROLE of the physician to allow yourself to determine if you like that role for yourself. The medical schools do not expect you to learn how to do surgery; they will teach you that. They want people who give firm and clear evidence that they are motivated to help others through medicine and that they know what they are getting into.

See our web page for resources. As long as you can show that you are a helping and caring person who knows what she is getting into from real experiences, the schools do not require that all your experiences be in health and/or research. Frankly, I would like a candidate who had other interests and was not all "pre-med." In a nutshell, the schools seek bright, motivated, caring and interesting people. There are lots of ways to show those things; do it in your own way.

There is no easy central place for clinic based experiences. You need to hustle them on your own and you are on the right track. You might check in with Cal Corps in Eschelman, or stop by the HMAP (Health and Medical Apprenticeship Program) web site or the office in Eschelman and ask them for some contacts or advice.

If you present yourself as "I can provide free intelligent labor for the next three Thursdays and Fridays and help your clinic/research group/department get some projects done...in exchange I'd like to shadow a doc or NP" - you may be able to get a month long situation. I have talked with students who got three days at spring break - did boring supply stocking, faxing, copying, data entry for three mornings, then got to shadow a doc for three afternoons and learned SO much, and got invited back. Any sort of work you do in a place where patients are in touch with providers will get you closer to the action and give you a chance to establish yourself as a reliable person and a nice person that someone might want to have as a helper/mentee.

I would start with any health providers I use/my family uses/knows. I think a month could be fine - maybe try a clinic or hospital that is running a clinical trial and offer to recruit patients, do phone surveys, fax medical records, package labs, help with events the hospital is doing. You might put the word out for advice on the MCBor IB student listservs also.

As long as you can show that you are a helping and caring person who knows what she is getting into from real experiences, the schools do not require that all your experiences be in health and or research. Frankly, I would like a candidate who had other interests and was not all "pre-med." In a nutshell, the schools seek bright, motivated, caring and interesting people. There are lots of ways to show those things; do it in your own way.

You are on the right track, you DO need to demonstrate that you are a helping and caring person who knows what she is getting into from direct experience. Further, the schools like interesting people who have accomplished something. So yes, you want to explore and be active. While it is good to have some breath of experience, the schools would prefer someone who has gone into depth in something rather than have done a lot of things superficially.

I suggest going slow the first semester as you "get your feet wet" in a new environment. Do something you enjoy to make your week fun. Take it easy and expand as you can. College courses can creep up on you with few exams and the expectation that you know what you are doing and what you need to do to handle the courses. Students vary in how much they can do and how fast. Take it a step at a time. I would not plan to spend too much time volunteering my first semester, and you likely will find the weekends as times to catch up on your studies. Again, it varies, and you may be able to do it all right a way. The pace is just too fast for many of us.

Medical schools have a variety of policies regarding deferment - the general wisdom is "only apply 15 months before you are really ready to attend medical school". Organized people with letters sitting in a file ready to go and a good reliable person in the US and a good Internet or fax or phone connection to the US have had success applying while abroad. These people who apply from abroad usually budget to spend some money on an extra plane ticket so that they can come back for interviews.

Some students who have tried to apply from abroad would say "never again, what a hassle". You need to keep in mind that you must keep up with secondary applications and interview offers and medical schools only want to use the main address you designate on your AMCAS central application.

There is no "better" thing to do - what is most interesting for you? What are the internship options? What is your interest? Follow it as much as you can and you will have a chance to really get engaged in your learning and "shine" and it will show in your medical school application. Shiny individuals tend to get into medical school. It is GREAT that you are learning outside of the classroom and setting up such situations for yourself.

My reaction is that you can't go wrong with your statement "even if I was not applying to medical school, I would want to go". Medical school admissions people tell me that they want people who are engaged learners and have demonstrated / documented their interest in learning in some way. They want interesting well-rounded people who act on their interests. This program abroad would do all of these things. However, you know your resources (like time and money).

I don't think the hospital medical certificate and this Costa Rica experience can exactly be compared - as you know medical schools want it all, well rounded people who have had experiences in health care settings and know what they are getting into. There is no "right" answer; you have a great decision to make - between two good options. Nevertheless, if I were you I'd contact the professor of the biochem course regarding your possible absence.

It is best if you have completed Physics 8a and 8b (or the "7" series) before you take the MCAT - the Physical Sciences section contains concepts from both 8a and 8b. Physics 7a, 7b, 7c at Cal covers the concepts you may be tested on in the MCAT Physical Sciences section.

Most medical schools will accept a MCAT scores that is up to two years "old" at the time of application. So, you should apply June 2003 if you plan to start Medical school fall 2004. You could submit MCAT scores from 2001, 2002 or April 2003. Look at the MSAR (official Medical School Admission Requirements reference book), it is on the shelf here in the Career Center Info Lab. It is not officially too late to take MCAT August 2003 and then apply, but it is not a wise strategy in the world of rolling admissions. One thing you can control in this application process is the timing of your application - if you submit your AMCAS (central application), then take the MCAT in August 2003, the medical schools don't really consider you or "meet" you until just before Halloween. By that time they have met, reviewed, maybe even interviewed some of the other applicants.

Bio 1A/1B; Chem 1A/3A/3B, Physics 8A/8B are the courses you should have completed before preparing for the exam. Start reading today to help you prepare for the verbal section of the test. The science portions of the MCAT are based on what is commonly taught in a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, a year of physics and general biology. Some of our students have felt that a course in physiology (MCB136, IB132) was helpful. Others recommend a course such as MCB 102 (most of our students take MCB 102 after Chemistry 3B to make their fourth semester of chemistry.) As a general rule, a few more upper division biology courses in areas such as cell biology, genetics, physiology etc. likely will give added background and or confidence. Again, opinion on this varies among those who have taken the test. Berkeley students as a group do very well on the science portions of the MCAT.

The MCAT rooms will vary with many being large lecture halls with small desktops. You might want to look at Cal State Hayward as I have heard they had nice large tables. The April MCAT date has fallen on the same day as CAL DAY in recent years. Lots of visitors and marching band noises have been distracting to some test takers.

I suggest you email mcat_reg@act.org and ask the MCAT folks directly. They have staff there to respond to questions.

As of 2003, the act of taking the MCAT releases your scores to AMCAS. AMCAS will send those scores to your designated medical schools. See the MCAT site for details.

Yes, you should open a letter account first. The Letter Service will send letters back if there is not a file. Opening one is easy and fast, go to the Letter Service section for instructions on how to open a file.

Major in what you are interested in. Going for upper division science classes is NOT a good enough reason to major in a science. To get a letter written by a science professor you may want to take a science course that is interesting to you - another option is if you do work with a lab, take the course that gets you pass/fail units - then you have a person who gave you a grade and may know you from your time with the lab group write you a letter. Medical admissions people I have talked to lately say that they prefer a GSI written letter to one from the title professor that says, "although I do not know this applicant well, I have observed...". Consider working with your GSI to have her draft the letter for the professor and GSI to sign - you may end up with a letter with greater personal insight.

Most Berkeley pre-meds use the Letter Service because it is a fast, convenient, and efficient way to handle letters of recommendation. Currently, it costs $20 to open a file and then $5 a school to which letters are sent. These charges to support the service will be a very, very minor part of the expense of applying to medical school.

I would include in the request to my letter writer a printout of the guidelines for letter writers from the Letter Service . Provide the grid form to your letter writers if you are applying to medical school. Be sure to help your letter writers write a good letter by providing them with the information they need to do a good job. Do not assume that they know all about you. Provide copies of exams and papers, your resume and at least a cover note that explains your readiness to be trained as a physician. Give them things in writing that they can use to prepare the letter. Do your part so they can do theirs.

We do not have a committee that writes a recommendation. Rather, you have your professors and others write letters that are kept on file at the Career Center's Letter Service and that are sent to the medical schools when you apply. The cover sheet on every packet of letters sent explains that we don't have a committee or internal ranking system.

See the list compiled by Syracuse University or the American Association of Medical Colleges to find the description of the Chicago Med program. There is also a binder of post baccalaureate programs in the Career Center Info Lab, as these programs vary from year to year. Put yourself on the CareerMail pre med list to receive updates about post baccalureate program options.

There is no rating system for these programs, which vary widely in objectives, cost and effectiveness. The key seems to be that you take the time to do research to find the best match. Ask a lot of questions, talk to current participants or faculty. Some questions you may want to ask before applying to/paying for a program:

*What was the acceptance rate to medical school for applicants from the Post Bacc program?

*How will I access the faculty teaching the courses in the Post Bacc program?

*Could you put me in touch with recent Post Bacc program participants or faculty who have taught in the program?

*What will my classification be, and will I be eligible to be considered for financial aid?

*What is the average length of stay for participants in the program?

*Does this Post Bacc program admit California residents?

*What sort of support services are provided by the program for me as an applicant; are any of the following included? MCAT preparation, Tutoring, Personal Statement review, Interview practice.

I recommend that you wait to get the benefit of your hard work. You want your post-bacc coursework to show on your AMCAS. While admissions are unpredictable to a certain extent, it often is a good idea to wait until the record is as strong as possible before applying. Some wait until the end of the senior year to apply; others do a post baccalaureate program to strengthen the record before applying. The application is a long and expensive process, and one wants to be as ready for it as possible. I do not advocate applying for practice.

Have you checked out the Career Center website designed for new students and plan to attend the Freshman Pre-Med Sessions? Both of these resources can help you get the answer your question! You need to design a plan that works for you and you can get started at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/MedFresh.stm The sessions for First Year Pre Med students are: Tuesday (August 20) of Welcome Week, Tuesday (September 20) of the third week of school and early Spring semester. The details are at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Calendar/. Making an appointment will be discussed at the meeting on September 10th at 5:30pm in 2040 Valley Life Sciences. I emphatically suggest that you attend this meeting; it is an important first step.

You got some very good advice on your AP courses. FYI, medical schools have a strong preference for letter grades, especially on their pre-medical requirements. So repeating those courses is a very good plan. I also suggest you look at the Health Careers/Human Medicine section of the Career Center web site: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/Health.stm

The Counselor is pleased that you are planning to validate your experience in medicine. We have some ideas at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/MedSoph.stm#validate to help you get started. I recommend that you take time to complete a confident academic semester at Cal before you get very involved in out-of-classroom learning experiences. Checking out medicine while you are an undergraduate is very important for your application. During your winter break act on some of the ideas you see on our website and plan for the summer after your first year at Cal.

The Graduate School Fair is a great resource for you as a freshman or sophomore when you are exploring careers. Learn some general information about how the preparation and application process works for various professional schools by attending the second day of the fair (October 10) which is easy to stop by and check out as it happens in Pauley ballroom in the ASUC, right by Sproul plaza. See details at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Fairs/Fairs.stm You can see who attended last year. Usually 3 or 4 medical schools are present and a number of dental, optometry, pharmacy and other health professional programs send representatives.

Enough medical schools do not accept AP credit for pre-requisite coursework and do require math. You need to have excellent grades to be considered for medical school; consider beginning at Math 1A or 16A as the problem solving skills are essential for the rest of your pre-requisite coursework like physics and chemistry.

When we have directly asked medical schools and described independent study and other coursework as evidence of a student's readiness in biology, the response is most often "sounds like a talented student, she still needs to take Bio 1B before she enters our medical school."

To be ready for many medical schools take a semester of an English writing or composition course; this could be done during the year of application if all other pre-requisites are done.

You should follow your interests and get into your intellectual interests and you'll likely get good grades and do interesting things along the way. The applicants who get into med school from Cal seem be those who have done something intellectual beyond earning a degree; for some of us this activity is lab bench research, for you it might be history research. In doing this history research, try to get a unit of independent study, get published, or use it towards your senior project or thesis. It is important to document your independent learning activities. Don't worry about not doing lab research.

Students should have completed Chem 1A, 3A, 3B; Bio 1A/1B; Physics 8A/8B before taking the MCAT. Some students feel that completing biochemistry (MCB 100 or 102) helped them be ready for this test; national statistics show no significant difference in scores of those students who have taken biochemistry compared to those who have not taken a biochemistry course.

Medical schools don't care what you study as long as you earn your Bachelor's degree. Every year many wonderful historians, psychologists, scholars in development studies or engineering enter medical school from Cal. You have two goals; earning credits to earn a degree from Cal and taking pre-requisites so that you are ready to take the MCAT and apply to medical school.

When possible, the transcript should reflect that the student is acting on his/her intellectual curiosity and is a well-rounded, involved learner. Independent study credit for volunteer research work is generally a good idea and helps improve the letter file. Study abroad, honors thesis, self-designed majors are all positive markers of the independent scholar.

Your advisor is right; you need to take Chem 1A to be taken seriously as an applicant for medical school and perhaps to feel ready to prepare for the MCAT in a couple of years. Before you jump into Math 1B go to the library and find exams from Math 1A; if you understand everything on them at first glance maybe you are ready for Math 1B. Remember not all med schools will accept AP credit unless there is higher level coursework on your transcript. If you are not a math major why not just begin with Math 1A? I've seen too many students struggle because they started out with a difficult and poorly chosen schedule their first year at Cal.

Find your place at Cal. Be realistic about your course load and set yourself up for success your first semester here. Tap into resources from the start. The beginning of your pre-med preparation is mastering the concepts in the pre-med pre-requisite courses. Make that your focus.

Generally, yes. Most medical schools require two years of chemistry, to include organic and general chemistry, and labs. Some pre med students at Cal take Chem 1a-1b or 4a-4b and then Chemistry 112A and 112 B.

• Chemistry (two years) - Majors within the College of Chemistry (such as Chem Engin and Chem) take Chem 4A-4B and then Chemistry 112A and 112B. These satisfy the pre reqs at most medical schools.
• Physics with Lab (1 year) - All Chemistry majors take Physics 7a ,7b and 7c.
• Biology with Lab (1 year) - Nearly all take Biology 1A and 1B; do not rely on AP credit to satisfy this requirement; many med schools will not accepts AP credit at all; others will with completion (for a grade) of an upper division biology class with lab. Bio is not required for majors in the College of Chemistry.
• Math (requirements vary) - Need to have Calculus 1a-1b, Math 53 and 54 series to take physics 7 series at Cal, which is required for majors within the College of Chemistry. Only a few medical schools require Statistics.

As a pre med student, you should plan to begin with Chem 1A at Cal; most pre-meds take Chem 3A and Chem 3B and then a biochemistry course such as MCB 100 or 102. Your course likely will help you do well in the first part of Chem 1A, but you should not skip this important beginning of the chemistry pre-med sequence at Cal.

The basic answer is "it depends"... on the particular medical school (the requirements vary from school to school). See http://www.aamc.org/stuapps/admiss/start.htm for some perspective on this. The MSAR is in our info lab at 2111 Bancroft (Career Center) and is for sale in bookstores.

To keep in mind...Most students apply to about 20 medical schools - you must make a judgment call about the schools you may "match". This usually involves noting that many state university medical schools don't consider residents from other states; some schools have very specific requirements and if you don't fit them, you don't apply. You may want to look thru the MSAR before you decide on your course work.

For instance, if you MUST apply to Johns Hopkins to fulfill your dream of perhaps going to JH medical school because your uncle studied medicine at JH ...then be sure to match their requirements. Also see: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/faqHealthMedicine.stm#1 on our web site to help you out as other questions come to mind.

If you have fulfilled your L&S R&C requirement - those courses may be accepted at many medical schools. You would name your AP English credit (if you have it), and the R&C class(es).

If you have syllabi from R&C classes, save them - so you can demonstrate (if asked) that your primary grade in that (for example) Ethnic studies or American studies course was based on your ability to communicate your ideas in writing and to read and comprehend large amounts of material.

Some medical schools just say "competency in written and spoken English required". Some say nothing about English as a requirement. Since Medical school policy on AP credits differs, even among UC schools, the conservative approach would be to have one full year of English/Reading and Composition requirement, keeping in mind that the requirements will differ at each medical school.

You might be okay with some med schools, but you should make a plan to take at least one semester of calculus. One option is to take Math 16B, 1A or 1B sooner rather than later, while some of your calculus concepts from high school days are still with you. Many med schools want to see that you have taken a college course in calculus, not just earned the AP credit. Some will accept the AP math credit. Most all med schools will accept any college level statistics course to fulfill part of your year of math- the stats class you take for the psychology major at Cal is fine for part of the pre-med pre-requisite. Connect with the Student Learning Center to get yourself set up to do well and study confidently.

Have you checked out the Career Center website designed for new students and plan to attend the Freshman Pre-Med Sessions? Both of these resources can help you get the answer your question! You need to design a plan that works for you and you can get started at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/MedFresh.stm The sessions for First Year Pre Med students are: Tuesday (August 20) of Welcome Week, Tuesday (September 20) of the third week of school and early Spring semester. The details are at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Calendar/. Making an appointment will be discussed at the meeting on September 10th at 5:30pm in 2040 Valley Life Sciences. I emphatically suggest that you attend this meeting; it is an important first step.

You got some very good advice on your AP courses. FYI, medical schools have a strong preference for letter grades, especially on their pre-medical requirements. So repeating those courses is a very good plan. I also suggest you look at the Health Careers/Human Medicine section of the Career Center web site: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/Health.stm

The Counselor is pleased that you are planning to validate your experience in medicine. We have some ideas at: http://career.berkeley.edu/Health/MedSoph.stm#validate to help you get started. I recommend that you take time to complete a confident academic semester at Cal before you get very involved in out-of-classroom learning experiences. Checking out medicine while you are an undergraduate is very important for your application. During your winter break act on some of the ideas you see on our website and plan for the summer after your first year at Cal.

The Graduate School Fair is a great resource for you as a freshman or sophomore when you are exploring careers. Learn some general information about how the preparation and application process works for various professional schools by attending the second day of the fair (October 10) which is easy to stop by and check out as it happens in Pauley Ballroom in the ASUC, right by Sproul plaza. Usually 3 or 4 medical schools are present and a number of dental, optometry, pharmacy and other health professional programs send representatives.