When someone says “I am pre-med,” we tend to just assume that means a specific path to medical school in undergraduate universities, perhaps even a specific major. However, this idea is rather limiting and does not encompass how diverse studies in the “premedical” category can be. The reality is that yes, pre-med is intended to prepare future doctors for medical school. With that being said, pre-med is not a specific major, and so much more is included in pre-med than just academics. While it is true that the classes taken in undergraduate school are incredibly important for admittance into a medical school, there are so many other factors that play an essential role in this process. In fact, pre-med includes academics, extracurriculars, and test preparation.
Let’s begin with the most often thought about part of pre-med: academics. In order to do well and succeed in medical school later on, it is essential that undergraduate students take challenging coursework to prepare themselves for the content they will need to know. So, when students are pre-med, it is a must that they take coursework in areas including but not limited to biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, English, psychology, and sociology. This is an extensive list of courses, but their difficulty can be even more extensive. Many of these so-called “pre-med” courses are intended to show students just how hard the coursework for undergrad and for medical school will be.
Additionally, academically, it is important to point out the rigorous coursework required for pre-med and the importance of maintaining a good GPA when the time comes to apply to medical school. The recommended GPA for acceptance into medical school (and, in general, the average GPA for admitted students) sits at around 3.7. With the difficulty of required courses for pre-med, this is not an easy task, and maintaining a GPA of this strength is incredibly challenging.
Not only does pre-med require specific coursework, but it also requires participating in extracurriculars around the medical field to confirm that medicine is genuinely something you want to spend your time on. Common (and recommended) extracurricular activities for pre-med students include clinical experience such as volunteering at hospitals, doing undergraduate research and gaining lab experience, leadership roles in student organizations on college campuses, and service hours to show that you care about your community and what happens to it. Essentially, medical schools would like to see that during your pre-med years, you were not only a good student but also an involved one.
One final but equally crucial aspect to pre-med is test preparation. This test preparation is (in most, if not all, cases) for the MCAT or the Medical College Admission Test. This test is required for consideration of admission to all medical schools in the United States and most in Canada. The exam aims to test pre-med students on the content they should be learning and preparing for medical school and their futures as physicians. The test is split into four scoring sections: Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems; Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems; Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior; and Finally, Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills. These topics should be covered in your undergraduate education and premedical program to prepare you for the exam and your medical future.
Overall, it is important to understand that pre-med is simply the track meant to prepare students for a career in medicine and all the steps required to achieve this. Pre-med is daunting, as it is often very difficult, but the rewards, career-wise and fulfillment-wise, are vast.
