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Freshman Guide
Content Provided By StudentDoctor.net

It's different than high school!

Nothing in life exemplifies changing times like moving away from home. When I went to college, even though it was just two and a half hours away from home, I felt I was stepping into a new universe. And I was. College was the biggest change I had ever experienced. Though not Ivy League, (I went to Illinois State my freshman year and Truman State the following 3), the air was anew with ivy growing on brick buildings, squirrels darting underneath wide eyed freshmen with backpacks slung over one shoulder, heading toward their first class of the year, heading for a turning point in their lives. My first class was General Chemistry with Dr. Bunting. A soft spoken type, he cordially welcomed us to this stage of our lives and in the same sentence started in on Lewis structures. As I sat through classes that first day, furiously trying to write verbatim every word uttered by any Ph.D. within earshot, I realized "Hey, something's different. This is exciting. This is scary." Then, another voice in my head said "Oh my God! Eight more years!"

The first semester

My first semester of college was rather atypical. Rather atypical. Well, really rather atypical! As I walked up to Wilkins Tower, which was to be my dorm and drudgery of existence for the next semester, a song from Depeche Mode was echoing off the surrounding architecture, inviting me to what I perceived at the time to be a really "cool" place. This was gonna be all right! But oh, how quickly we learn. My roommate, Doug for anonymity, was, in all fairness, no, forget fairness, a dork. The first time I met Doug, he whipped out a cigarette and a can of beer and proceeded to puff and gulp, while all the time making passes at my fiancée! We got along well enough, though I had a hard time getting used to his clientele in the Marijuana selling business. That is, we got along OK until he came home from getting hazed by a fraternity and vomited and defecated in my closet, in crates containing my good shirts and sweaters. True story. I could go into a lot more grimy, (literally), details, but I don't want to bore nor disgust you! The point I am trying to very graphically drive home is that college is not going to be what you expect. I've never met anyone who's anticipated vision of college matched reality. While I hope your first experience with college is not as traumatic as mine, it will be an adjustment for you. Follow the advice in the following chapters and you'll be just fine!

Get the edge!

One of the worst things to do in life, whether it be a ball-game, a race, or college, is to play catch-up. Hey, the Chicago Cubs do it all the time (and you know the outcome... they loose!). And while we all adore the cubs, we can learn from their faults.

Many college freshmen are the same way... they screw off the first semester or two in college and get a 2.0 gpa. Subsequently, then work their tails off the next two years by getting 3.5 gpa's. Then, much to their dismay, they find that they've raised their average up to a whopping 3.0. The "pre-meds" among this unfortunate group often end up being forced to re-evaluate their goals.

Believe me, medical school will be stressful enough... I know! So don't play catch-up in college. Get a 3.5 to 4.0 your first year! Then the rest of college will be smooth sailing.

What did I do? I got a 3.75 my first semester, a 4.0 the next 4 semesters, a 3.6 the second semester of my junior year, a 3.7 the first semester of my senior year, and a 4.0 my last semester... for a grand total of around 3.88. If you can hack out a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, you'll be in the running for a med school spot, providing your MCAT doesn't equal the runs the Chicago Cubs score in a typical game! (I'm a die hard Cubs fan... I have the RIGHT to rip on them!)

Classes

Freshmen Classes You already need to start planning your classes to allow you to achieve a maximum score on the MCAT. Don't take art appreciation for all of your classes your freshman year. Moreover, don't take all science classes either; you'll drown. Basically, you will be in good shape if you get 2 semesters of general chemistry, 2 semesters of general biology, 1 semester of English, 1 semester of calculus, and 1 semester of statistics out of the way. These classes provide a foundation for your future science classes and will be reinforced throughout your college career. Don't take physics now, you'll overload yourself with science and math. Besides, you want to save physics until next year so it will be fresh in your mind for the MCAT. Finally, throw in some basic liberal arts classes to provide a good contrast to your science classes; you'll grow to appreciate these "diversion classes."

Freshman agenda--letters:

You probably won't get letters of recommendation for medical school from your instructors your freshman year. Why? Because by the time you're a senior, you will have had closer interaction with professors in more advanced courses and your freshman year will seem like ancient history. However, you do need to secure letters of recommendation for the summer job you are going to apply for.

It is often difficult to get great letters from your freshman year instructors. Generally, your classes will be basic and large. Because of the size of the classes, you won't have much chance to interact as closely with your professors as you will in your future, more advanced, smaller classes. However, you still can get decent letters. The best way to get your professor to notice you is to go get extra help during his/her office hours at least once a week. This will show your professor that you are mature and have a genuine desire to learn. Don't be afraid of looking stupid; inquiry is never stupid to a Ph.D.

Freshman agenda--summer job:

This summer is not as crucial as the summer after your sophomore year, but try to take advantage of it. While internship positions in research labs are difficult to get this year, they are possible. While many organized undergraduate research internships are shifted towards sophomores and juniors, freshmen do have some opportunities. The best way to explore these opportunities is to pick a pet project that interests you (maybe by looking through a journal like Scientific American or Nature) and research it on a computerized "Reader's Guide" or MEDLINE. Get all of the authors' addresses who do research on the topic you've selected and write them form letters letting them know you'd like to work in their lab for the summer. In this letter, promote yourself; you've worked hard and deserve a good summer experience.

Sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. I didn't get my first research job until the summer after my sophomore year. Therefore, I had a very hellish, greasy job the summer after my freshman year. These kind of jobs don't impress medical school admissions committees. However, besides slaving away at the unglamorous job that summer, I spent my spare time reading hundreds of journal articles on Alzheimer's disease and volunteered in the geriatric ward of my local hospital. This is the kind of stuff admissions committees eat up. Such experiences will also help you grow emotionally and intellectually. In summary, get some sort of medical experience before you are a sophomore: volunteer, research, or studying (preferably all three.)

To party or not to party

Editors note, 1998: As you read the following article (in green text), don't get me wrong... you should have a social life. I still went out with friends, managed to keep the same fiancée throughout college, and got married after my senior year. Maintaining balance is a constant struggle for all physicians. All too many doctors loose their souls in medical school and residency... It is so easy to do that. I did during my first and second year of medical school (largely as a result of being so darn intense as you can infer from the below text!) I still maintain that future physicians should not get drunk and stoned... but that's just me I guess.

First thing's first...

The freedom experienced once one leaves home has the potential to be heaven, hell, or both.

No strings attached.

You've broken free! Free from curfews! Free from high school! Free from rules! But not free from life.

Too many freshmen ruin their college grades their first semester, only to regret it later and play catch-up throughout the rest of their college career... and the rest of their lives! When you go to college, whether it be Ivy U. or Podunk Community, parties will abound. Every night, every weekend, sometimes days on end, there will be parties.

My first semester at ISU I was amazed that well over half the freshmen on my floor were walking around in a drunken stupor starting every Thursday night and ending on Monday morning... LATE morning. (My first roommate's drunkenness never ended!) These people were nuts. However, a pre-med doing this is even more nuts, especially if one does so during the first semester of college!

The first semester of college I avoided the party scene entirely. It really felt like a sacrifice too. I'm not too much of a nerd... I was invited, but I "just said no." This was certainly a change from high school. Saturday nights I'd shut myself up in the library while revelers were ranting and raving outside.

Eventually, studying Friday and Saturday nights got to me. My friends were out having a blast, while I was learning the Nernst equation. Yuck! I'm not sure I ever got completely over this feeling. But I was numb to it by my sophomore year. I got through those lonely nights by rebelling in my own pre-med way; I listened to The Cure with my Walkman at decibels that could make glass break while I studied! (I did go with friends occasionally... I wasn't a total introvert!)

One reader has an opposing point of view to my original article. That view is published here, edited for anonymity. That reader may have his or her name published if he or she chooses.

OK, get real. You might think that you know everything about getting into medical school and your information on GPA and transcripts is right. But you are asking for every pre med to be like the losers that sit with me in my classes. I attend (insert a good liberal arts college here), not bad, (we are in the top 25 liberal arts colleges for graduate placement) it's a hell of a lot better than (insert another liberal arts college here). I know, I live in (insert city here). I manage to party and live all of those "grimy" lifestyles that you try to make people avoid. Hell, I do better than all those study geeks in my classes. You have forgotten that medicine has more to it than whether you can hit the books and spit up all that you've crammed down your throat- medicine is about helping people: medicine is about letting people trust you because you understand, not because you just read a great JAMA expose on it. Foolish you are for painting premed in such a light. Its people like you that turn all of our hopeful physicians into ultra conservative money grubbing specialists. Its articles like this that make me wonder if I even want to be associated with people of your sort. Public Health and Sociology is looking a hell of a lot better. If you taught people to get that stick out from their ass, maybe we could get down to the business of doing things for the greater good and healing all people - not just the ones that can afford it.

(insert name here)
junior GPA 3.89 (FYI)

Editor's comments: Good points... a little bitter, but good points. Right, get the stick out!

Drinking

Ahhh yes. This is the demise of many a premed.

Listen, if you are a freshmen in college, chances are you drink. This may seem benign, but it can get out of control, and often does. So the easiest solution is not to drink. I didn't... here's how:

When you find yourself gulping a Pepsi at a party while everyone else is gulping a Bud, just picture yourself... a drunken doctor piercing a carotid artery during a thyroidectomy... blood spews everywhere! Your patient dies, you loose your licensure and end up a wino on the streets of Manhattan.

Hey, could happen... if you first, during your Freshmen year in college, don't drink yourself out of contention for medical school before you ever get there!

Don't drink. If you must, wait 'till your 21 then drink very moderately. End of story.