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Medicine
BCMB students may pursue health professional careers (physicians, veterinarians, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists, and chiropractors). Entrance into these programs requires a bachelor's degree which includes
One year of freshman Chemistry along with the appropriate laboratory courses
One year of Organic Chemistry along with laboratory courses
One year of Biology along with laboratory courses
One year of Physics along with laboratory courses
One year of English
One year of Calculus or other advanced Math, including Statistics
Since the BCMB degrees already include these courses, you can earn a valuable degree in BCMB at the same time you prepare to entrance into professional schools for medical careers.
In addition to your BCMB advisor, Drake has an experienced Pre-Medical Advisory Committee that will assist you in preparing for and applying to medical schools.
Medical School Application Process
Application to most medical schools is handled through a generic application - the AMCAS application. AMCAS then passes your materials to appropriate schools for a fee. You might reserve about 2 weeks to fill the AMCAS form, which includes a personal statement (1 page). Upon its completion, it is a good idea to have your advisor review it. You should also arrange to have your transcripts sent to AMCAS.
Another part of the application process is the MCAT. This exam takes about 7 hours and includes topics from reading comprehension, physics, biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry as well as two 30 min essays. The Verbal, Physical and Biological Sciences sections of the MCAT are all-multiple choice and each section is graded on a scale of 1-15. The maximum score you can get on all three sections therefore is 45. In general few people get above 34 combined, so theoretically 11.5 should get you into top schools. Anything 10 and above in each section (for a total of 30) is a very competitive score.
Drake's Biology department offers a course to help you prepare for the MCAT. Additionally, there are Kaplan courses to help you prepare to take this exam, costing about $2000. According to AAMC, the average 1999 MCAT scores of admitted students were 9.5, 10.0, P, 10.2 in Verbal Reasoning, Physical Sciences, Writing, and Biological Sciences, respectively. Others for comparison are here.
Links
American Medical College Application Service
Association of American Medical Colleges
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Health Diagnosing and Treating Occupations
Medical College Admissions Test
