How To Get Into Medical School

How to Succeed in Premed Classes

Now that you have information on how to make the plan, it is a matter of taking the classes and succeeding. The way to do well in a class is to know the nature of the beast. As I suggested before, delay the classes you don’t feel comfortable with and enroll in classes you do. The point is to use this time to study the nature of your pre-med classes and develop the habits you need to succeed. Throughout this section I will offer some practical tips for doing well in specific classes. Fortunately, some of these principles for doing well can be applied to every class. The order of the classes covered below is my suggested sequence for taking these classes. This sequence can also be seen in the chapter “Your Polished Yet Adaptable Plan.” The classes can be spread over a four/five year period with you taking only one pre-med requirement class at a time. Taking just one pre-med class with other classes you need to graduate/want to take will help you focus completely on the pre-med class and increase your chances of doing well.

Consider Statistics Instead of Calculus: The Nuts and Bolts of Science

Although Calculus is recommended, you will never use it for the MCAT, Physics, or Medical School. I suggest for you to instead take a statistics class. Statistics is essential as a scientist and a physician because all of the scientific papers you will read will be conducted with statistical tests. With the power of knowing what a Z-test versus a T-test is, you will be able to discern the papers with actual statistical power. If you can understand algebra, you can understand statistics. An intro statistics class would also be a nice intro to college. It is the perfect class for you to develop your study habits. In statistics you will learn the practical details of how an experiment is set up. You will learn the mathematical tools that scientists use to analyze various types of data. Statistics teaches you the nuts and bolts of how numbers dictate the scientific principles. Also with the shift of the MCAT to incorporate experimental design and statistics, knowing basic principles should prove valuable.

Practical: I took a basic statistics class (at Stanford called Statistics 60). Although this class will be easier to get an A in (meaning that if you do the work and study you should be able to get an A) you should not underestimate this class. Use this class as a great opportunity to develop the correct study habits. Do the reading for the day before lecture occurs. Complete your homework with a knowledgeable study partner. Practice with the practice tests.

Physics: The Atomic Level (Smallest) & Newtonian Level (Biggest)

If you are coming off a strong math background in high school, I would suggest the first class you take is physics. Try to find a program that will condense a whole year in your first freshman summer. You will be comfortable with the equations (mostly abstract algebra) because you just had taken math from high school. Also, you will appreciate the fundamentals. Science is really about scale. In Physics, you will be able to appreciate scale because you will be learning about the extremes of scale. You will learn about the grand scale forces between heavenly bodies (gravity) and the extremely small atomic forces (electricity & magnetism, Quantum). If you start by learning about atomic energy and working your way to molecules in chemistry to cells in biology, you are covering science the way it should be covered, from small to big. If you master the physical principles, you will be amazed at how they can be applied to medicine. You will learn about resistance, voltage, hydrodynamics, all important principles that help keep you alive.

In addition, to the smaller world phenomena, you will be given the opportunity to understand real world physics. Physics that occurs on a larger scale such as Mechanics and Newtonian.

Practical: Review trigonometric principles before you start class. Allow yourself enough time to learn the physical principles and learn how to attack the test problems by studying old tests. If you only learn how to attack the test problems, you will be amazed at how little you remember by the time the MCAT comes around.

Physical Chemistry: The Molecular Level

The next step on the order of magnitude (aka scale) is the molecular level. In physical chemistry you will learn about kinetics vs. thermodynamics, acid-base chemistry, and some quantum theory among others. With two science/math classes behind you, you will be more comfortable with taking college level tests and should be mentally prepared for the type of demands that come with a college level science class. Remember what this class is known as, the weeder course, and you will know how serious you need to study for this.

Practical: I like to call this class math jeopardy, because you cannot predict the type of math problems you will encounter during the tests. That is why I recommend you know how to do the math problems inside and out. If you have limited to no chemistry experience I would suggest you pick up an AP chemistry book and read it ahead of your class. I also mentioned auditing this class before you undertake it, because repetition will help you internalize the concepts. Practice tests are especially important in chemistry, as your grade will be mostly determined by your performance on the tests. Get comfortable with the factor label method. It will help you especially with conversions. Get comfortable with conversions. Get a good calculator and periodic table that you can use easily. Doing practice tests will allow you to become more comfortable with the type of questions you will be asked. I can not emphasize this enough. Remember, know how to do all of the math problems from your practice tests. For more details, refer to the test section.

Organic Chemistry: The Molecular Level Part 2

I like to call this class Lego trivia, because of the multiple chemical structures you will need to remember and how you can take them apart and/or put them together. Organic chemistry is a class of memorization. You need to memorize structures, reagents, solvents, mechanisms, syntheses, etc. The only concepts you learn are how to push electrons around, and on some mechanisms even that is memorization.

Practical: Realize what the class is, memorization. The only way to memorize structures is to constantly view them through multiple levels. I recommend making copious notes of all the structures, mechanisms, syntheses, etc that are written on the board during lecture and during sections. Remember that everything you see in lecture and all the required reading is fair game. However, you should gear the majority of your studying through the medium you are most likely to be tested on. I found during my organic chemistry experience at Stanford, that most profs would create tests based upon their lecture material, and upon the problem format of former practice tests. So study accordingly:

Review all lecture and section notes and know mechanisms, trends, reactions, reagents, etc.

Study the past tests (which can be obtained from the class website, prof, TA, or upperclassmen).

Do the problem sets.

If you have time left over, do some of the reading to reaffirm what you have memorized/learned.

Like Biology, this can also be extremely voluminous. Constantly review your notes, practice tests, and problem sets, as these are all fair game on the tests.

Biology: The Cellular, Tissue, and Systemic Levels

I cannot emphasize the importance of a sound biology background. It is not only important to the MCAT, but a strong biology foundation will serve you well as you try to understand the nature of health and disease. You will encounter various concepts from genetics, biochemistry, and physiology, all increasingly important to understanding medicine. Medical reasoning and treatment are increasingly incorporating basic science principles. You will need to know molecular and cell biology to understand the molecular mechanisms that drugs utilize. You will need to know the physiology to determine the downstream effects of a patient with increasing serum potassium levels. Although you might not see the practicality of understanding biological principles, it will be more evident as you are in medical school.

Practical: To succeed is this class, you will need to stay ahead of the reading. Biology is a subject of volume. You will need to know the vocabulary, all the names of the players, and how these players come together in concepts. Although a great portion of your studying will come from memorizing all new information, the fun doesn’t stop there. Studying from practice tests will also be extremely important. I have found that most of the tests I have gotten have no specific resemblance to former practice test questions (meaning that I rarely saw a question asked twice). However, you will find that most tests will judge your conceptual understanding of biology. Most notably, they will present you with a lab experiment and you will have to interpret the results or you have to predict the results based upon your conceptual understanding. You should also become comfortable with reading scientific papers.

Laboratory

If the lab components are separate from the regular classes (as they are at Stanford), delay the labs until your 4^th year. Unfortunately, the lab components will not help you as much as you would like to think during the MCAT, which is what you are preparing for. If you instead study the laboratory techniques (especially in biology for example molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, cell biology) during your biology classes, you will have more than you need to do well in the MCAT

Practical: Instead of taking a lab class, get yourself enrolled in an active lab doing original research. Some med schools will often allow you to substitute many years of original scientific work for biological laboratory classes. I will tell you that a long term relationship in a lab and/or a publication in a scientific journal looks a lot better than someone who got an A in a lab class.

Personally, I did not take biology labs. Instead I worked in a lab in the Pathology department of the School of Medicine for 3 and a half years. I learned more about the scientific practice of biology participating in a research lab than my classmates who were participating in a regular biology lab. I was motivated to do the work for many reasons.

1. The work I was doing no one else was doing.

2. I learned more applicable lab methodologies than my classmates.

3. I developed a relationship with a teacher/mentor who gave me more personal attention than any TA could.

4. There was a possibility of furthering scientific knowledge.

5. There was a possibility of publishing.

With all of these reasons, you are far ahead of your classmates who just take the elementary laboratory class. If the official policy is to take these classes, find out how flexible the department is in allowing you to substitute actual research.

I started to take a lab class called 44X at Stanford but found it very time consuming, considering I was putting in so much time outside of lab for a 4 unit class that was pass/fail. Also, I was spending a considerable amount of time writing pre-labs, doing problems, doing a final write-up. It was all very unnecessary, considering that none of the work was original, and most of my classmates were doing the same thing. How is that making any contribution to world knowledge in comparison with doing original research?