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So you want to be a doctor? Search barnesandnoble.com for books about getting into medical school
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Bad chemistry
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When your lab partner is an obsessive compulsive, not even the data is safe
(01/13/99)

Camille on Campus
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As academics allow our state education to languish, private parochial schools may lead to more cultural divides
(01/13/99)

Is history dead?
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Cultural studies scholars are ravaging the facts to suit their bassackward theories
(01/11/99)

Advice from a J-school drop-out
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When it comes to breaking into print, getting a graduate degree in journalism may be an exercise in exalted futility
(01/08/99)

Bartering brains for bread
By Mark Luce
Can the institutions of higher learning escape the long arms of their corporate sponsors?
(01/06/99)

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While students like Chronowski prove that grades and MCAT scores are not the only determinants of an applicant's ability to become a competent M.D., it's unlikely that medical schools will change their application process any time soon. With more than 40,000 applicants generating a half-million applications in 1997, the number of applications forces admissions officers to use rigid standards to eliminate most candidates.

"A more subjective interpersonal admissions process would be extraordinarily time consuming with the number of applications schools receive," says Chronowski, attributing his own admission to his high standing as post-baccalaureate at Columbia University, "Jefferson at its peak was receiving 12,000 applications for 200 spots."

Perhaps even more disconcerting than the discouraging odds is the exorbitant cost of applying. Justin Young spent more than $5,000 this year on primary and secondary applications for 39 schools, MCAT registration fees and an MCAT preparation course. If he is lucky enough to get an interview or two, travel costs will drive up that total.

"I'm pretty discouraged because I sent in early applications and I feel like they've shelved me for later consideration," complains Young, 26, already rejected from four schools. "But as the year rolls on, they're just going to be swamped with more and more."

If Young doesn't make the cut this year, he can reapply, as do more than a third of all applicants each year. Though his MCAT score is high at 37, and his science GPA is almost 4.0, his cumulative GPA is low for medical schools, at approximately 3.0.

With all the stress, time and money involved in applying to medical school, many former pre-meds decide to forgo the hassle and heartache of re-applying and scan the horizons for acceptable alternatives. After spending their college careers preparing for medical school -- often taking prerequisite courses for which they have little interest -- only to discover they're not up to snuff, what are would-be doctors to do?

"I considered optometry, podiatry and dental school. But I always thought the people who applied to those programs didn't get into medical school," says Adam Wallace, 25. "I didn't want to be in the industry knowing that I wasn't at the top." After being rejected by every medical school he applied to, he abandoned medicine and enrolled in a master's program in accounting at the University of Southern California.

Not all pre-meds, however, are as disillusioned with health sciences as Wallace. Gutierrez combined her love of science and her desire to help people into the study of public health. "I love it," she says. "I'm actually glad I didn't get into medical school."

While many students like Wallace and Gutierrez happily pursue other professions, some pre-meds are unwilling to change course. Having determined that they will become doctors by any means necessary, these students opt for nontraditional routes. They attend osteopathic medical school, obtain an M.D. from a foreign medical school or even become what has been labeled a "virtual" -- that is, a physician assistant.

N E X T_ P A G E .|. Equal but separate: The bias against osteopathy