RESEARCH PAPER FIRST DRAFT
Nicholas Cerbone
Mat Wenzel
ENC 2135.142
March 6, 2017
Research Paper: Admission into Medical School
Ever since I was a little kid, I had an urge to pursue a career in medical field. Maybe it was all the shows I use to watch with my mom such as ER, House, and Grey’s Anatomy or maybe it was the interesting stories told by my aunt who is a retired neurologist and my uncle who currently works as a gastroenterology. It might even be the strong desire that I have of helping people. With all of these influences I feel that the medical field is something that strongly appeals to me, which led me to pick a specific study of medicine that I want to focus on, anesthesiology. However, all of this is just a fantasy to me right now. There is a lot of hard work coming my way and I am not even half way there. So far I have completed a big accomplishment about a year ago and that was being accepted into Florida State University. That was the first of many steps that will eventually lead to my success in the medical field. But what I really want to focus on is the next big step and that is my acceptance into medical school, which depends on my performance as an undergraduate student. To achieve this next big step three short-term goals must be accomplished. The first objective is fully understanding and applying the knowledge I learn from undergraduate classes. This includes passing all classes and retaining the knowledge learned from these classes. It is imperative that if I am struggling in classes especially those related to my major that I get a tutor or find help because it will be beneficial later on. The second objective is to be involved in extracurricular activities. Anyone can put all there time into studying and getting decent grades, but what makes a person unique and stand out on the medical school application is their involvement with organizations outside the classroom. In the future when your working you won’t have the books, yet you will be using skills such as communication, leadership, and management. The third objective is the preparation for the MCAT itself. This is why objective one is so important, because it will help tremendously with the concepts and topics on the exam. Many students do find it difficult to recall all information learned from there past four years as an undergraduate. That’s why there are study tools that can help refresh the memory of past classes. These study books contain sample questions, instructions for the problems, and practice tests that simulate a section of the MCAT.
On October 3, 2015, I applied to Florida State University. The application asked for a personal essay, grades for all high school classes taken, and some additional questions. Among these questions, there was one question that stood out to me the most and it was the selection of my major. “No school [medical school] requires that a student major in a particular subject” (Toyos). Although medical schools do not care too much about the major, I looked at my major as motivation and as a reminder of my commitment to the career of medicine. And before I knew it I was at orientation with my academic advisor setting up my classes. I was given a four-year plan sheet with all the classes that I needed to take in order to graduate as biochemistry major. The plan sheet was organized in an easy to read manner, where I could see the layout of courses that need to be taken over the next four years. I was also given a link to a website, http://liberalstudiescourses.fsu.edu, where I could view every single class. The course search on the liberal studies was very helpful in choosing classes because it included a brief description of each and it allowed be to filter out classes that I did not need to see. While looking at the plan sheet I noticed that, I will be taking biology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, general chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology, which are all topics on the MCAT. “Two of the 4 sections test competencies in the natural sciences: Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, and Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems. The third section, Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills, also tests applicants’ reasoning and analytical skills with a variety of passages from the humanities and social sciences disciplines. The fourth section tests the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior” (Ast). Although admissions at medical schools do not care too much about the major, I feel like this major was a good move because it includes the topics that will be tested in the MCAT. Even if some of these topics weren’t included in the MCAT I would still be pleased with my major because I am passionate about the sciences and I enjoy what I study. “Traditionally, medical schools have sought such qualities through an application process in which selections were made on the basis of such criteria as grades, MCAT scores, extracurricular activities and work experience. Students were also required to complete a slew of prerequisite courses…” (Chami). Picking a major like this is also important because medical schools require some prerequisite classes before they even consider admittance to their school. However, none of this means anything if you cannot do well in each class. It is important to do well in each class because it affects three main factors. The first being the effect on GPA, which is highly looked at my medical school admissions. “Another part of the application asks you to calculate your grade point averages (GPA). This section is straightforward, but check your calculations carefully” (Toyos). The second is the requirement of some classes to be passed with a certain grade in order to be considered for admission. And the third is to help with the process of studying for the MCAT much easier. To prevent myself from struggling in any class I can find help through the many resources that FSU offers. After doing some research on the resources that FSU provides, I found a tutoring center that can find an instructor for any subject that you need help in. The tutoring center is called “The Academic Center for Excellence”. On the site you have to log into your FSU account and then you can schedule an appointment with a tutor. This is extremely helpful because it provides the students with an opportunity to better understand with whatever materiel they need help with. The purpose of succeeding in classes is to increase GPA, to prepare for MCAT, and to complete prerequisite classes that medical schools expect.
Grades and scores are important for admission to medical school, but they do not show the many other talents and abilities that a student may have. “The need to diversify, improve positive reception by students to meet their needs is accompanied by the concern that these extracurricular activities provide contexts that promote positive development. For this reason, decision makers in matters of education and educational policy makers have resorted to normative approaches to identify those activities and contexts that permit a beneficial development of the students” (Mantaluta). Like Mantaluta said, it is important to expand your talents by participating in a variety of activities. And these activities will help you become more adaptable to different situations, which is a trait the employers admire in applicants. By having an “extracurricular activities” section on the application, it allows the student to express their involvement outside the classroom. “The context offers opportunities to learn skills and build physical, intellectual, psychological, emotional and social welfare facilitating and preparing students for a healthy and active future” (Mantaluta). For me I noticed three main skills that are practiced and improved through extracurricular activities. The first is communication and it is practiced all the time when talking to other people. It helps build your ability to start and keep a conversation with someone. This is a skill that will be continually used throughout life especially when you’re in an interview and you need to keep a conversation and be able to a lot talk about yourself. The next skill is leaderships and it is probably the most important one. Leadership shows that you consist of many positive traits. It shows that you are honest, committed, encouraging, and intellectual. The third skill is management, which shows how well a person can manage their time while involved with multiple things. It can also present how a person can manage themselves with different people.
“Your MCAT score is the most important score (besides your GPA) medical colleges will consider in your application” (Toyos). Finally the last objective is studying for the MCAT itself. Some of the books used include: The MCAT Chemistry Book: A Comprehensive Review of General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry for the Medical College Admission Test, The MCAT Physics Book, and The MCAT Biology Book. The MCAT Chemistry book is thirty-two-chapter book that includes the fundamentals of chemistry, MCAT example problems, and explanations for each problem. In the beginning of the book there is a table of contents where each chapter labeled with a main topic of chemistry. Each chapter begins with an introduction, which then leads into more specific topics. But between the table of contents and the first chapter there is a brief introduction on how to go about studying this book. This resource relates to my research topic because it is one of many MCAT prep books used to study for the exam. It has MCAT sample questions and has a similar setup as the rest of the prep books. On the other hand, this prep book is different from others because it focuses on chemistry on the MCAT. This source provides new information, because it includes the solutions and step-by-step directions to solve problems. I did find the step-by-step instructions very interesting because I can see it being very helpful. The physics book is sixteen-chapter book includes the basics of physics, example problems, and explanations for each problem. In the beginning of the book there is a table of contents, where all sixteen chapters are labeled with a main topic of physics. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction, and then leads into the more specific topics. The first chapter is an extensive introduction of the overall book it self. The introduction talks about: the philosophy of the book, how to go about reading the book, the units of measurement, and the beginning process of solving equations. This book is different from others because it includes an extensive introduction with imperative information. It includes new information such as the different units of measurements. I found the introduction the most interesting because it included helpful information that wasn’t in other books. The biology book is a six-chapter book includes the basics of biology, example problems, and explanations for each problem. In the beginning of the book there is a table of contents, where all six chapters are labeled with a main topic of biology. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction, and then leads into the more specific topics. The first chapter is an extensive introduction of the overall book it self. The introduction talks about: the philosophy of the book, biology in general, the scientific method, characteristics of life, structure and function, and how to use the book. It includes new information such as the scientific method, structure and function, and characteristics of life.
Learning about the preparation for admission into medical school is intimidating but interesting at the same time. I realized how important it is to do well in every class to increase my GPA because medical schools are getting harder and harder to get into every year. I see that I should also prepare myself for some rigorous courses coming up. I am now aware of a tutoring service the FSU organizes which can be helpful for some of the difficult classes I will be taking next year. Although I have always been apart of extracurricular activities, I was reminded the importance of being involved and taking leadership positions. If I follow through with my first objective then I should be well prepared for the MCAT. I personally do have trouble remembering all the material from previous classes so I will definitely need MCAT prep books for when that time comes.
Works Cited
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