When To Ask For DEFERRED ENROLLMENT? Please Help!

[Confused 20]

Hello, I was recently granted admission to the May 2010 class on the stipulation that I earn a B or higher in Organic Chemistry II, which I will be taking this fall. I am excited about being granted acceptance, however, I feel ill prepared to attempt medical school and believe I will still be ill prepared when May arrives. I feel that it would be most appropriate to audit classes that will prepare me for medical school at my local community college after I complete Organic Chemistry II. As a result of this, I have decided it would be most appropriate to attempt to defer enrollment until January 2011. Can anyone give me some advice as to when I should attempt to defer enrollment? Should I do it immediately or should I wait until I complete Organic Chemistry II in middle December? Are most individuals who attempt to be defer enrollment successful in their attempts? Is the fact that I wish to defer enrollment so that I may take classes at my local community college to better prepare me for medical school an appropriate reason to defer enrollment?

Thanks to anybody who provides any input on the above questions. It is appreciated.

[tylerdurden]

Hey, first you should read this thread "how strong does your undergrad have to be to predict success in med school?". You don't need to have taken a class in everything before you see it in med school. Are you going to have earned a BSc. before you start at Saba? If that's the case you should be fine to start in May.

[Confused 20]

Thank you very much for your reply, tyler. I have read the thread you suggested and agree with you, however, the problem is that I have an extremely weak background in Biology. I am in the midst of earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and the only Biology courses that I have taken are as follows:
Intro Biology I - A
Intro Biology II - A
Intro Biology for non-majors - A
Intro Botany - A
Heredity and Society - A
Evolution and Human Diversity - A

Unfortunately, I have not taken any courses which are covered in medical school or are highly recommended for medical school. These courses include Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Biochemistry, Genetics, Pharmacology, and Cell Biology. I am frightened of entering medical school without the aforementioned courses. I feel that I am setting myself up for failure if I do not audit these above mentioned at a community college to increase my knowledge of the basic science one needs prior to entering medical school. Do you happen to know my chances of getting my enrollment deferred to January 2011 if I inform admissions that I wish to develop a greater science background by taking the aforementioned courses at a community college? Do you believe this is an adequate reason to be granted a deferred enrollment? Thank you to anybody who is kind enough to provide any input whatsoever.

[EM_D]

I think it's a valid reason to defer enrollment. That being said, I do not agree with your strategy. Personally, i'd make sure you have all the pre-requisite courses since you need them to apply. Once thats done, either purchase supplementary books on the courses you've listed or get a used MCAT prep book and simply go over big picture details. Chances are you'd forget the minor details and need to re-learn them anyways.

[mario345]

Thank you very much for your reply, tyler. I have read the thread you suggested and agree with you, however, the problem is that I have an extremely weak background in Biology. I am in the midst of earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and the only Biology courses that I have taken are as follows:
Intro Biology I - A
Intro Biology II - A
Intro Biology for non-majors - A
Intro Botany - A
Heredity and Society - A
Evolution and Human Diversity - A

Unfortunately, I have not taken any courses which are covered in medical school or are highly recommended for medical school. These courses include Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Biochemistry, Genetics, Pharmacology, and Cell Biology. I am frightened of entering medical school without the aforementioned courses. I feel that I am setting myself up for failure if I do not audit these above mentioned at a community college to increase my knowledge of the basic science one needs prior to entering medical school. Do you happen to know my chances of getting my enrollment deferred to January 2011 if I inform admissions that I wish to develop a greater science background by taking the aforementioned courses at a community college? Do you believe this is an adequate reason to be granted a deferred enrollment? Thank you to anybody who is kind enough to provide any input whatsoever.

remember, if you start in january, you may have to waste a whole year between the conclusion of medical school and start of residency - are youy ready to do that? thats how the scehdule works out.

and remember, you really do not need to be a master in basic sciences BEFORE you enter medical school. thats the whole point of med school - you LEARN there. i dont think there is really a way to prepare PRE-SABA...the volume and breadth of courses in saba is not something you can prepare for, certainly not by auditing some course. i can guarantee you that.

go to saba, study you butt off and keep on top of things. thats all you need. and if you are weak in biochemistry and physiology, you can always supplement it with other material and professors AT THAT TIME. medical school is not rocket science, but it requires repitition, memorization, and hard work. its not as conceptually challenging as engineering where you need to master calculus and buildup on that and derive quations. if you can read, comprehend and retain information, you will get through without a problem.

[Confused 20]

Thank you two individuals for your replies. Actually I don't have a problem wasting a whole year between the conclusion of medical school and the start of residency as long as I attain a residency. Unfortunately I was recently informed that they changed the policy on how many semesters you may be able to defer enrollment from 2 to 1. Therefore I am only able to defer in to September 2010.

Thank you for your advice on how I may succeed at Saba. I view myself as a hard worker and I will very willing to spend all my time on my studies. However, I struggle with reading comprehension and memorization. Can you suggest any tips and/or methods that I can utilize to improve upon my reading comprehension and memorization skills? Do you know of any programs and/or classes that I can take that will assist me to improve these two types of learning?

Thank you to anyone who is willing to provide any input.

[rxprital]

"remember, if you start in january, you may have to waste a whole year between the conclusion of medical school and start of residency - are you ready to do that? thats how the scehdule works out."

Hi Mario,

Why do you say that you would have to waste a year if you start in Jan 2010? Which sem is the best to start with? I have a choice between starting in Jan 2010 and May 2010 - which one do you think is better in terms of not having to waste a lot of time...Look forward to your guidance - Thanks...P

[mario345]

"remember, if you start in january, you may have to waste a whole year between the conclusion of medical school and start of residency - are you ready to do that? thats how the scehdule works out."

Hi Mario,

Why do you say that you would have to waste a year if you start in Jan 2010? Which sem is the best to start with? I have a choice between starting in Jan 2010 and May 2010 - which one do you think is better in terms of not having to waste a lot of time...Look forward to your guidance - Thanks...P

scenario # 1: typical case of a sept. student starting saba in sept of '09 and going for the 2013 match...regular 4 years...
so you start in sept '09, everything goes well...you finish SABA on april 2011. take a couple of months off to write usmle step 1..write step 1 by july 2011...start your clinicals...finish your cores of 40 weeks, so lets say by june of 2012 (give or take a few week breaks in between)...study for step 2 ck...take that by august...get CS done in between somehwere...you have ALL the ingredients to apply for a residency at this time...from sept to before residency starts...you can finish your electives...attend interviews...and do everything as scheduled.
if everything goes well, you start residency on july 1. most residency programs will actually ask you to come to the hospital weeks before to get oriented.

scenario # 2:
lets say if you start in jan '10 ...everything goes well...you do well in your SABA exams and dont stay behind or fail...take 2 months off, write step 1...start your clinicals by november of '11 [UNLIKELY that this will happen because the clinical department needs to see that you actually passed your step 1 and there is a 3 week period]...there is very little chance that you will be able to do ALL the cores back to back and move around, study for CK, AND CS...before november of 2012...that means you have effectively reduced your chances of getting a spot for 2013. because remember, even if you apply, you have to attend interviews, go places, set your electives.
WITHOUT any interruption, you will have basically 4-5 weeks to spare for these 32 weeks of electives IN CASE you want to match for 2013. So most people who start in January, will match 4 years and 6 months later, i.e. on July 1 of 2014 [so if you count the months, for a january semester student, it is actually 12+12+12+12+6 = 54 months vs a sept student = 4+12+12+12+6 = 46 months]. A january student will either spread out their clinicals and take it easy, or do something else to buy time, etc.

and trust me, you dont wanna be in between being a student and resident for too long, because:
1) it looks bad - what were you doing in that time?
2) your bank starts asking for loan repayment as you have actually graduated (yet you are not earning!)
3) you are out of touch with medicine in general and risk losing information every day when you dont apply it - you snooze, you lose is pretty accurate in medicine actually.

this doesnt apply to canadians because from what i know, most residency programs will require a cdn to write step 3 before starting a residency as you need it for H1B visa...and that also requires time...

[mario345]

Thank you two individuals for your replies. Actually I don't have a problem wasting a whole year between the conclusion of medical school and the start of residency as long as I attain a residency. Unfortunately I was recently informed that they changed the policy on how many semesters you may be able to defer enrollment from 2 to 1. Therefore I am only able to defer in to September 2010.

Thank you for your advice on how I may succeed at Saba. I view myself as a hard worker and I will very willing to spend all my time on my studies. However, I struggle with reading comprehension and memorization. Can you suggest any tips and/or methods that I can utilize to improve upon my reading comprehension and memorization skills? Do you know of any programs and/or classes that I can take that will assist me to improve these two types of learning?

Thank you to anyone who is willing to provide any input.

me telling you how to study is quite useless because if you take 100 students, i bet all 100 of them will have their own lil method that works for them.

i am personally very bad at comprehension, reading and despise memorization. infact, i am a very analytical person and would do math and calculus than read (barring the odd arithmetic errors here and there). i learn by patterns, graphics, and pictures - not by re-reading material. the only book i have read cover to cover in my life is first aid for step 1, and only because i HAD to...and even that was a pce of art when i had my notes in it ;) that tells you something.

so what worked for me was mnemonics, diagrams, concept maps and flowcharts. anything that is NOT written in an essay form is good enough for me.

most of my friends dont use any of that and would just read and take the exams. we all did well in saba and on step 1...so there isnt really one way to study...and dont listen to your classmates about 'how to study' - do whats best for you, and stick to it regardless of how long it takes.

it also depends on your background...for example, if you have taken some courses in biochem and physio...it is easier to grasp concepts and you will not need to work that hard, but otherwise its a lot of effort regardless of what study technique you use.

also, you have to learn how to be efficient and prioritize...for example, in anatomy...dont spend countless hours learning ligaments and lymph nodes and muscle insertions when you have no idea about innervation and arterial supply...these things you will pick up yourself and as you progress you will get used to it and it will be just routine...

[rxprital]

"scenario # 1: typical case of a sept. student starting saba in sept of '09 and going for the 2013 match...regular 4 years...

scenario # 2:
lets say if you start in jan '10 ...everything goes well...you do well in your SABA exams and dont stay behind or fail...take 2 months off, write step 1...start your clinicals by november of '11 [UNLIKELY that this will happen because the clinical department needs to see that you actually passed your step 1 and there is a 3 week period]...there is very little chance that you will be able to do ALL the cores back to back and move around, study for CK, AND CS...before november of 2012...that means you have effectively reduced your chances of getting a spot for 2013. because remember, even if you apply, you have to attend interviews, go places, set your electives."

- Does this mean that if I start in May 2010 vs. Jan 2010 - I would cut down the wait time from about a year to ~5 to 6 months?
- In which year would I be starting for residency if I were to start in May 2010 vs. Sept 2010 (although I wouldn't like to defer all the way until sep 2010). If its the same, I might as well wait until sep 2010 and make some money for med school.

Thanks much for providing the brief..P

[mario345]

^yes...you will be applying for the same year if you start in may or sept...may will give you the perfect amount of time to get your exams done comfortably...