On Traditional vs Non-Traditional

What are traditional and non-traditional med school applicants?

The only difference between the two applicants (as far as I can see) is that "traditional" med school applicants are applicants who enter medical school right after graduating from college. On the other hand, "non-traditional" applicants are applicants that wait for a year or more before starting medical school. In order to go to med school right after college, one would have to apply at the end of their 3rd year of college since the application process takes a year to complete (with secondaries, interviews, admissions, etc). The non-traditional students usually apply during their last year of college, so the year after graduating is spent doing secondaries and interviews.

The reason I bring this up is because I've always wanted to go to medical school right after college. But now that I look at it, I'm not sure that I'll be able to... I don't feel like I'll have enough on my application to qualify as a competitive applicant in my third year. But I also don't want to wait a whole year before starting- the process is long enough as it is without adding another year to it haha.

So which is better? Traditional or non-traditional?

-K 

Dear Reader 21

You mentioned AMSA before as a popular pre-med club. I'm wondering whether or not getting involved in something everyone's already a part of is really beneficial. I've looked at AMSA's site but I can't really see the point of the club itself... do you have any other recommendations? tips for joining clubs in general? how can I set myself apart more on a resume?


Dear Alex, 


I apologize for the extremely late reply! My response to your question is: it depends.. It depends on what you're looking to get out of AMSA. If you're not sure what direction to take as a premed (for instance, getting research, volunteering, med school applications, extra currics, letters of rec, etc.), then AMSA might be a great resource, since they can help you with..well.. pretty much anything medical-school related.. haha. However, you're right, it's a club that practically every pre-med student joins because it's the standard premed club to get involved with at every major institution. If you feel like it's not worth your time, then it probably isn't. I'm not a big club person myself, so unfortunately, I don't have any tips for joining clubs. As for setting yourself apart on a resume, well.. that's the age-old question that every premed asks and one that i'm trying to figure out myself haha. 


Good luck! :)


-K 

On A Start-of-Semester Evaluation

I got a comment asking if I could do a start-of-the-semester post, so here it is! Sorry for taking so long :)

I'm only in 3 classes this semester: Chem 3B/L with Pederson, Physics 8A with Heinemann, and English.. which is 13 units.
Along with these classes, i'm doing lab work at LBNL and I recently got a job with a consulting company in China. I didn't think it was possible, but I believe this semester is going to be worse than last semester. So due to my schedule, I won't be posting as frequently as before (I hope you can understand!). But I'll still post whenever I get comments/questions/requests :)

Chem 3B: I am so scared of this class. I heard great things about Pedersen but he's a lot more intimidating than I imagined and seems very picky with his exams- not good. From day one, he jumped into where he left off with chem 3A, which is good for the people who had him last semester but what about the rest of us? The material so far isn't super challenging, but then again, it's only been a few weeks. I can't imagine where the material is going to go after another month or two.. yikes..

Physics 8A: Like Chem 3B, i'm terrified of this class. Heinemann is an okay lecturer- not great but not terrible either. She's letting us use calculators for our tests which is normally unheard of.. The material so far is challenging but I think it'll be doable with some practice. Mastering Physics sucks big time, i'll give you that.

English: English is english.. hahaha

The problem this semester is that both chem 3b and physics 8a requires SLC study groups and study sessions that seem vital to succeeding in the class. And with having to devote around 15 hrs to lab a week, I don't know where i'm going to find the time to study and do homework, let alone eat and sleep haha.

Let's hope this works out.. Wish me luck!

-K