So you wanna be a doctor…

Trust me when I say that there are a lot of people out there who come to college thinking that they want to be doctors, and William and Mary is no exception!  I remember my freshman year when I started to panic because I didn’t know if I wanted to go to medical school…or any form of graduate school for that matter.  I just got here, I thought, can’t I just enjoy undergrad for a bit? The answer to that question is yes you can!  But this blog post isn’t for those of you who are in my shoes.  This post is for those of you who want to go to medical school and want to know if W&M can help you get there.  The short answer to this conundrum is yes, but if you want to know more than that read on.

While I, myself, am not planning on attending medical school, I have enough friends that have gone through the process that I feel I can speak on the subject with some authority.  At W&M “pre-med” is not a major, and there is a simple reason for this–you can major in literally anything and still go to medical school.  (If you want to go to med school, but don’t want to major in a science, however, I do recommend meeting with our pre-med advisor early on in your time at W&M to make sure you are including the right classes in your program)  So if “pre-med” isn’t a W&M major, how do you know what to do and what to take?  That is where our aforementioned pre-med advisor comes in!  Dr. Bev Sher is one of the most amazing people on this campus!  She knows everything about the medical school application process.  She knows what classes you need to take on top of the basic sciences, she knows when you need to start studying for the MCAT, she knows how much clinical experience you are going to need, she knows how many med-schools you need to apply to (between 10 & 14 if you were wondering), and most of all she keeps everything in perspective.  She is the person that gets W&M students into med-school.  But there is a lot more that goes into getting into medical school…what else does W&M have?

W&M’s classes, beyond anything else prepare you for medical school.  My boyfriend is in his first year of med school right now, and he has already covered a lot of this year’s material in W&M classes during undergrad which is really helping him get ahead of the game now.  W&M professors don’t just teach you the material, but they teach you how to think.  That is good preparation no matter what your goals are.

W&M also has a partnership with Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk, VA.  This partnership allows you to gain early admission to EVMS in your sophomore year (no MCAT scores required).  Not everyone who applies is accepted…it is medical school after all…but if your grades are in great shape and you do well in your interview with them, you have the potential of having a medical “safety school.”  If you are accepted by EVMS you are not required to go there, but it takes a lot of the pressure off of applying to medical schools later because you already know you are in somewhere!

One last thing and then I will stop rambling.  Can pre-med students at W&M still have a life?  Absolutely! Pre-med students might be a little busier than other students at W&M, but that is because they do have lives.  Sure, they study, do research, and volunteer at the local hospitals, but they are also in sororities and fraternities, they go on international service trips, they are presidents of clubs, they are tour guides, they are everywhere!  So if you are interested in pre-med, W&M is definitely a good option!  And, before you know it, you will be receiving your first white coat on your first official dayof medical school! (See picture)