Health Professions Myths

As a first-year Johns Hopkins student, you will hear many opinions about what it means to be a premed and what medical school admission committees expect to see in an applicant. Do not believe all that you hear (or that you read on the web).  Misconceptions and misinformation can provoke unnecessary anxiety. Here are some of the more common premed myths:

MYTH: If I want to be a doctor, I need to start preparing during my first year at Johns Hopkins, or I’ll be behind schedule.

FACT: There is no need to rush and overload with science courses freshman year. Many students have the mistaken idea that they should get their premedical course requirements "out of the way" during their first two years in college. In fact, the majority of applicants to medical school in recent years have waited until their senior year rather than their junior year to apply to medical school. This allows students four years to fulfill the premed requirements. Students can also take some or even all of their premedical requirements after they graduate from college. Furthermore, the decision to become a doctor cannot be made in the classroom. As a first-year student, you can begin to test your interest in medicine by volunteering several hours a week in a health care setting. There are countless opportunities in the community to explore the health care field: for example, interning in a pediatric hospital, working with a hospice program, or helping with an AIDS prevention program.

MYTH: If I do really well as a freshman, it will impress medical schools.

FACT: Not really. Medical schools pay much more attention to the trends of your grades. Your freshman grades are not a great indicator of your medical school performance. Your grades will, however, become increasingly more important until you actually apply to medical school. Naturally, it would be better to do well than to do poorly as a freshman, but your overall and science GPAs are more important than freshman performance. Grade trend through college is even more significant.

MYTH: If I really want to go to medical school, I should concentrate in one of the sciences.

FACT: You must demonstrate competency in science and an ability to handle the science-intensive curriculum of medical school. However, medical schools do not require that you major in a science. The area of study that interests you the most and that you wish to explore extensively is the one you can and should choose for your concentration. There is no “premedical program” at Johns Hopkins. While it is important to know and fulfill the necessary requirements for admission to medical school, it is neither necessary nor preferable to commit yourself at this time to a tightly focused curriculum directed at pursuing this particular profession. Non-science concentrators who apply to medical school are as successful as science concentrators if they have comparable grades in science courses. However, choosing a non-science concentration just for the sake of “looking different” offers no advantage in the application process. In general, medical schools are more concerned with the quality and scope of your undergraduate work than with your specific area of concentration. Taking advanced courses, choosing an honors concentration, and pursuing independent research are all ways to explore an academic area of interest in-depth.

MYTH: I just received a C in a science course; I should give up any dream of becoming a physician.  Given the grade, I should repeat the course.

FACT: Your grades are only one factor in the admissions process. While it is true that your science grade point average is important, admissions committees look at a single grade within the context of the whole picture. Do not be disheartened or discouraged from pursuing medicine if your first grades do not meet your expectations. Your first year at Johns Hopkins is a time of getting used to a new setting, new friends, and new ways of teaching and studying. Medical school admissions committees understand this and look with favor on an upward trend in your record of academic performance.  Generally speaking, it is rarely recommended that premedical and related coursework should be repeated. Although the grade in the repeated course will impact the students Hopkins GPA (by replacing the old grade), it will not impact to

the same extent the calculation of the overall and math/science GPA by the application service, as the two grades will be averaged.  Furthermore, any repeated grade below an "A" would not be looked upon favorably.  If you do not perform well in their early science course, but still wish to pursue a medical degree, you can take additional science courses to strengthen your academic records and become a competitive candidate.  An average grade in a prerequisite course can be redeemed partially by a good performance in another course which demonstrates competence within the same area.  A single low grade is not going to keep you out of medical school but multiple ones may.  If you have received a C in a science course, however, it is a good idea to make an appointment with an advisor in the Pre-Professional Advising Office, your academic advisor, and/or a trusted faculty member to review your course load, your extracurricular activities, and study strategies for the new semester.

MYTH: Medical school admissions decisions are based on GPA and MCAT scores.

FACT: You do want to achieve an overall strong performance in the biological and physical sciences. However, no specific grade point average or Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) score guarantees acceptance into medical school. Students with a science grade point average of B+ or better have the best chance of being accepted, but students with some grades below B do get into medical school. Your personal qualities, experiences, and motivation are critical factors in determining whether you are admitted to a medical school. Medical school admissions committees look favorably on students who have tested their interest in medicine through community service, health-related internships, extracurricular activities, or significant research. Each medical school develops its own criteria and priorities for admission, reflecting the goals of the respective school. For some medical schools, potential for service to an underserved community is very important; for other medical schools, a determining factor may be leadership qualities. To assess these qualities, medical school admissions committees will use the statements and essays in your application, letters of evaluation, your coursework (including trends in academic performance and level of course difficulty), and personal interviews.

MYTH: If I don’t go into medical school following college it will appear weak to medical schools.

FACT:  Very false. If you take time off you are likely to appear even more well-rounded to medical schools. Students with some life experience often work better with patients. Medical schools know this and very often prefer mature students with more interesting life experience. The average age for medical students entering most medical schools is at least 24 years old.

MYTH: Medical schools won’t look at me if I don’t do lab research.

FACT: False. Statistically speaking, you are very unlikely to end up doing lab research as a doctor. If you like research, pursue it with passion. If you don’t, there are many other extracurricular activities that are equally as strong; you don’t need to do research. If your passion lies in other areas, it is likely to benefit you more as a person and as a medical school applicant to pursue those interests.  There are a few research-oriented medical schools that especially like a research background. However, even at these schools the research can be in almost any field and need not be bench work.  Take home point: If you don’t really like the lab, don’t spend your undergraduate years working with test tubes.

MYTH: If I take a lot of classes per term and don’t do as well, then medical schools will take into account that I took a heavy load.

FACT: False. There is no doubt that it is better to have a higher GPA with an average course load than an average or low GPA with a heavy class load.  On the AMCAS (universal medical school application) form it is difficult to tease out what classes were taken together. Few medical school admissions officers will have the time to tally how many units you took during individual terms. Take home point: Torturing yourself academically as a freshman won’t win any points with medical schools, won’t impress your classmates, and can easily backfire (and backfires more often than not).

Adapted from Premedical Information for Harvard Students, Office of Career Services, Harvard University, 2006-2007 ;and “Premed Myths: Getting Into Medical School,” Stanford Youth Environmental Science Program, 2000.