Pre-Med

[worldpremiere]

As a student graduating with a ** in Economics this Spring, I have not completed any of the pre-med requirements. After volunteering at a local hospital for the past few months, I believe medicine to be my calling and am looking to enroll in the SGU pre-med program. I have found a lot of information and statistics on this site but I have yet to see the average gpa, etc. for pre-med applicants. If anyone could provide me with some information I'd appreciate it.

Just in case, I have a 3.22 cumulative GPA. 1300 Sat's. Volunteer and Internship experience.

Thanks

[ZnS3104ever]

As a student graduating with a ** in Economics this Spring, I have not completed any of the pre-med requirements. After volunteering at a local hospital for the past few months, I believe medicine to be my calling and am looking to enroll in the SGU pre-med program. I have found a lot of information and statistics on this site but I have yet to see the average gpa, etc. for pre-med applicants. If anyone could provide me with some information I'd appreciate it.

Just in case, I have a 3.22 cumulative GPA. 1300 Sat's. Volunteer and Internship experience.

Thanks

Hey, I came into the Premed program at SGU in premed year 2. I am now in premed year 3 term 2...in Jan I go into med term 1. I know that for premed ...that students with 2.8's and 2.9's were accepted. I wouldn't worry too much about the GPA if your going into the premed program. Once your in the premed program...to get into the med program you have to have an overall GPA of 3.2 and a GPA of 3.0 for premed year 3. If you have any other ques lemme know...hope I answered your question.

[drwanna]

Slightly different topic, but I wondered if you could tell me which books I will need to purchase for pre med year 3 since your already doing the course. I believe you are allowed to get your own books rather than buying them through the school. I wondered if I could find them cheaper or whether it was worth just paying more for having to travel with less. :D

[orthonut]

well, you'll need the tortora "anatomy and physiology", a biochem book, a micro text, etc etc.

I'd bring the tortora with you (you can get it from amazon.com) but just get the other stuff down here.

A barron's or Schaum's is helpful for the physio, biochem, and micro type courses. Or you can get the XXXXX made ridiculously simple ones too.

Seriously though, if you haven't taken ANY of the premed prereqs, why not just take them in the us/canada/uk rather than down here? it's cheaper. Especially if you have to take more than just the 3-1 and 3-2 terms.

the program down here is good and all but it won't really count for anything except getting you in to this school's program-credits aren't transferrable that easily(if at all) to say a US school.

[ZnS3104ever]

Slightly different topic, but I wondered if you could tell me which books I will need to purchase for pre med year 3 since your already doing the course. I believe you are allowed to get your own books rather than buying them through the school. I wondered if I could find them cheaper or whether it was worth just paying more for having to travel with less. :D

Hey, I don't buy any books...besides that I already had the Tortora Anatomy and Physiology book. I rented the other books from the library...it was hectic doing it that way...but I couldn't afford them...you can actually go to half.ebay.com...thats where I use to buy my books when I was back in the states...

And for the other comment...I believe that if I knew about this premed program I would have came here since year 1...but then again its up to you...if you can afford it since there are no loans of financial aid for premed...I like the program here...its not just whatever in year 3...its actually pretty tough...so that makes it good in a way...hope I helped!

[drwanna]

Thanks everyone, I'm going to be doing the foundation to medicine course since I've not done chemistry before, but I think its basically the same as the pre med third term. Just trying to raise the money for it now. I already have a BSc Psychology and MSc neuroscience but the school wanted me to do the extra term to get my chemistry which is fair enough. Going to miss working with patients whilst studying though, have been working in hospitals for about 15 years, first time I won't be on a wage too....thats scary! Be worth it to be a doctor.

Is it possible to do shadowing/voluntary work at the local hospital or to do the Prague selective before starting the medicine course in August? I learn best through doing so it would be nice to combine theory and work experience. Whats the workload/timetable like???

Off to find cheap books now....thanks for your help, let me know if you think of anything else:D

[mledesma]

do a post bacc if you have the money and the time. if not, study HARD for mcats. SATs don't mean anything. shadow a physician if you can, get motivated, inspired, and try to do research on something that you TRULY like. talk to professors, collaborate, make connections.

[Saora1]

I already have a BSc Psychology and MSc neuroscience but the school wanted me to do the extra term to get my chemistry which is fair enough.
My personal opinion is I don't know why it's "fair enough".

I'm in 6th term in St. Vincent now doing Pharmacology which I'd think arguably is the class that you'd need Org Chem the most for and you know what, you don't need to know crap about it. Didn't find it useful for Biochem either.

The only chemistry I've ever had to apply in medical school so far is to understand acids and bases, hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity, etc. and the Henderson Hasselbalch eqn. That's it!!

Nothing to do with esters, ketones (other than they are formed in diabetic ketoacidosis and states of starvation), alcohols, and so forth. I have no idea why Org Chem is a requirement for medical school.

By the way, it should be an absolute joke to do said class in Grenada. I'm Grenadian but did my undergrad in Canada. I was taking a year off after graduating and had a C in Organic so, on my own before applying to SGU, I decided to repeat the class here in Grenada in order to get a better grade in it. What I did in the first 2-3 weeks in Canada was what Organic Chem was here in Grenada. It was a total joke. But since you don't use it anyway, maybe that's a good thing as it will be way easier and there's no need to waste time learning "useless" material.

After doing that class, I thought the whole pre-med thing at SGU was a total joke but my friends here who have been through the program said that the last year 3-1 and 3-2 is actually pretty difficult. Oh and that it prepares you well for the medical program at SGU cause you get a basic intro to a lot of the classes you will be doing later on e.g. Micro, Anat. These are taught by the same professors who will be lecturing to you in medical school.

[orthonut]

unless you are from a Caribbean nation, I would HIGHLY advise against coming down here in year one and doing your entire premed/prevet here, it's just...senseless. And expensive. And non-transferable. And there's no real guarantee you'll get in either (sure, they'll hold your spot IF you keep your grades up....but that's a big if...) the education is OK but does not compare to the quality of a US/UK/Canadian one. Those degrees count. If you're planning to return to the US/UK/Canada after graduation, you'd do best to do your undergrad there too. If not, then come on over to SGU.

[caldje]

Does SGU's premed run during summers too?

[jaywalk81]

no it doesnt. i believe it actually ends before the med semester ends

[orthonut]

Does SGU's premed run during summers too?
not really-you can take some of the classes over the summer, but in the official 'contract' or enrollment form you sign, you actually agree that you WILL NOT 'move ahead' or 'skip terms' in other words, if you take some classes over the summer ( you can take some here, or you can take the non-core classes like public speaking and first responder in the US at a community college) you must fill those credit hours with another class here at SGU.

Jaywalk's kind of right in that the premeds do end before the meds-but not by much, usually by 1/2-1 1/2 weeks, depending on exams and what term of the premed program you are in-the programs start at the same time *except the later term meds, some of those guys start insanely early*