RESEARCH PAPER FINAL DRAFT
Nicholas Cerbone
Mat Wenzel
ENC 2135.142
March 26, 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 gastroenterologist. It might even be the strong desire that I have of helping people. With all of these influences in my life 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 to fully understand and apply 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 taking advantage of scholarly resources such as interactive learning and 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. These additional learning sources can help students succeed in class if it they are used appropriately. 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 worry too much about the student’s 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. Next to each class there is a set of words in bold that say “(term 1 milestone)”, “(term two milestone)”, “(term three milestone)”, etc. This means that whatever term number is listed next to the class is the term that the class must be taken by. For example, General Chemistry I (Term 2 Milestone) means that I must have taken General Chemistry I either before or during my second term at FSU. This layout is important because it keeps me on track. I was also given a link to a website, http://liberalstudiescourses.fsu.edu, where I could view every single class for liberal studies courses that involve general education requirements and graduation requirments. The course search on the liberal studies was very helpful in choosing classes because it included a brief description of each class and it allowed me to filter out classes that I did not need to see. While looking at the plan sheet I noticed that, I would 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. Chami says, “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 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 negative effect on GPA, in which is highly looked at by 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 class 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. “… these extracurricular activities provide contexts that promote positive development … 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 talk a lot about yourself. The next skill is leadership and it is probably the most important one. Leadership shows that you consist of many positive traits such as honesty, commitment, encouragement, and intelligence. I have been a leader in the past by being the captain of my football team and leading many group projects. I am now currently practicing leadership in my biology lab by stepping forward and making sure everything is running smoothly in the four-person group. 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. I have been heavily involved in management in high school because I was a multi sport athlete that had to balance school work and commitment to my team. This allowed me to become very organized and time committed. Playing an important position on defense where I had to control ten other teammates has given the strong skill of management.
Another major part of my success as a pre-med student is the ability to be able to use scholarly resources to my advantage. While reading the syllabus for Biology 1, I looked at the required materials section and I found that I needed a book called “Biology” plus an online portion called “Mastering Biology” that cost about three hundred dollars. Although the book was pretty expensive, I decided it would be in my best interest to purchase it. After three weeks into my biology class I found myself using the book about four times a week to look up a definitions and search for keywords. The book includes explicit pictures, numerous examples, and samples questions at the end of each section. This book is extremely useful for the success in my biology class, but the online portion was something that I have never experienced before. The online page includes an online book with interactive assignments that help me better learn the material. The online book is efficient because it allows me to only carry around a laptop instead of a five-pound textbook. I can also access the book online from any computer just by using my username and password. The interactive activities include short video clips with follow up questions. For each question I get a hint and five possible try’s to get the correct answer. If I get the answer correct I get an explanation of how and why I am correct and if I am wrong I get an explanation of why I am wrong. This process of questions and answers is useful because the program wants us to actually work the problem out and learn the reasons behind the answers. “Your MCAT score is the most important score (besides your GPA) medical colleges will consider in your application” (Toyos). Some of the books used to study for the MCAT include: The MCAT Chemistry Book, The MCAT Physics Book, and The MCAT Biology Book. These chapter books include the fundamentals of each topic, example problems, and explanations for each problem. Every book includes a table of contents where each chapter labeled with a main topic. 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. I find the step-by-step instructions very interesting because I can see it being very helpful.
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.
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