Non-traditional Pre-med Students

Non-traditional pre-med student (considering applying to medical school after taking at least one year off after graduation)

• Make sure that you fit the pre-requisites for medical school into your four years of undergraduate education. This allows you to finish the pre-requisites at your own pace throughout the four years, so try to pace yourself and spread out the difficult course load. See your major advisor or pre-med advisor for more advice on scheduling https://career.berkeley.edu/Info/MakeAppt.stm
• Take the MCAT before graduating, so you can apply the summer after you graduate. See the MCAT section of this blog or this link at from the Career Center: https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/AppMCAT.stm
• Take time to explore other major and career options to make sure that medicine is the right path for you. This will help you learn why you do or do not want to be a doctor and can make you a stronger applicant.
• Career Center advice: https://career.berkeley.edu/Info/FreshSoph.stm
• Advice: you don't need to take all these courses at berkeley, even if it is part of your major or if it is just for med school (NOTE: you can't take all your prereq classes (or most) for MCB/IB major at a community college).
• ADVICE: If Bio is not your major, you don't have to take all these prereqs while in undergrad, you can take them after you graduate if you don't plan on going to med school right away
• Advice: some classes may be better to take over the summer.
• Organizational Tools
• For more advice in different topics such as academic support, career counseling, community involvement, etc, visit http://berkeley.edu/academics/advise.shtml.