Please give me some advice about ROTC and Medical route...

[kinnem]

^^^ Yes Clarkson is an excellent school. I speak from experience as I attended the state college across town from Clarkson. It can get a little nippy in the winter though. Unless global warming has radically changed things since I graduated in 1974.

 

[Aglahad]

If I were you I would continue on the path you have set for yourself, however don't think you HAVE to major in biology. Med schools like to see well rounded students and as long as you fulfill pre-med requirements you can major in whatever you want. If you think biology will give you a leg up in med-school it probably won't. I have taken quite a few bio courses and very few pertain to actual human physiology and biological processes. Much of the biology course catalog stems from general mammalian anatomy, ecology, plant physiology and host of other subjects (albeit interesting) have little to do with the human and medical application. There are some exceptions such as genetics, basic biochem and metabolism/synthesis.

I am always a little leery of high schoolers preaching about being an MD (go to any college it seems like 20-30% of every freshman class is pre-med) I suggest you job-shadow, volunteer or pick up a summer job at a hospital if you have a chance in order to get some exposure to the health care system. The reason behind my madness comes from many many students look into pre-med before knowing what being a doctor actually entails. I thought I was 100% pre-med prior to entering college before I decided on a RN to CRNA route through the army. I just didn't know much about health care besides my routine doctor appointments.

Just my 2 cents, drive through those cut courses and study the MCAT throughout your 4 years. Good Luck (Oh and if you're afraid of being branched combat arms, why did you specifically state Army ROTC?)

 

[paradoxer]

Good Advice

If I were you I would continue on the path you have set for yourself, however don't think you HAVE to major in biology. Med schools like to see well rounded students and as long as you fulfill pre-med requirements you can major in whatever you want. If you think biology will give you a leg up in med-school it probably won't.

Totally agree, if you have the course prerequisites and have studied ballet you would actually have a leg up on the thousands of premed majors. Schools also don't just want applicants with only strong academics, you want to show continued involvement helping others since ultimately this is what most doctors spend their time doing.

 

[Pima]

Going back to the OP.

You have decided that you will be going UCF AROTC, scholarship or not.

I would suggest you talk to the AROTC unit about how many cadets have been offered ED for med. school and what the avg gpa was.

There are 2 reasons to do this:
1. You are informing them this is my goal. They can assist in plotting out what you need to do from historical experience at the unit to obtain this desire.
2. You will have a plan of action from somebody who understands the system for your college.

Our opinions are opinions. To the best of my knowledge, no poster here attends or is affiliated to UCF. The responses are generalizations from a whole aspect.

UCF may be seen as having the #1 pre-med program in the nation especially for ROTC. It also can be seen as a lower tier education. I do not know.

All I am stating is Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst. If you are willing to accept the worst, Infantry in your eyes, you will be happy when it isn't Infantry. If you walk in and expect ED for Med school, you will be upset when it isn't assigned.

 

[Listem]

If you walk in and expect ED for Med school, you will be upset when it isn't assigned.

I think this is the best piece of advise I can take. To be honest with you, being both in the military and getting into med school would be my preferred method; but I guess I'll have to accept and learn that if the time comes when I'm not assigned for ED, I have to be glad that I at least fulfilled half my goal, to be an officer and serve the U.S. It would just feel that all o the research/volunteering I would have done in undergrad would have gone to waste, but I believe in the end education isn't about getting a job but about learning and gaining experience.

 

[Pima]

Listem,

I say this with true kindness.

The reality is you're in HS, and what occurs for the majority of freshman students in college is they don't realize how demanding college is this is why the drop out rate is statistically higher for freshman than upper classman. They think of it like HS and how easy HS is to them, especially if they already do a lot of volunteering or have part time jobs.

They don't realize that college as a freshman is a time warp that they have never experienced in their life. The 1st semester is about finding your footing, especially as a ROTC cadet.

You live with people you never have met, you may be taking classes with 200 other kids where the Prof won't slow down unless you go to them during their office hours. Their office hours may not jive with your class schedule. Now add on top of that ROTC and being up at O'Dark thirty.

Rule of thumb is for a 15 credit load expect it to equate to a 40 hour work week due to assignments. Add in ROTC and jobs with in the unit, and you may be burning your candle at both ends, that is before attending football games or having a social life.

By spring semester you will have a handle on what is doable for you and I am 1000% positive from your posts you will adjust and do great.

I only state this so you don't walk in thinking I volunteered 20 hrs a week on top of my HS course load with all APs, so it should not be an issue for me in college come Sept.

JROTC is not ROTC and even there the expectations will be different. More will be demanded from you.

My best wishes, my best advice is to have that as your goal to strive for, but be realistic on what the future may be like.

Our DS interned for a Sen on the Hill his soph yr. He was required to do 20 hrs. It was the hardest yr in college for him because at the same time he carried 18/19 credits, had a job in ROTC, required to volunteer with ROTC, pledged AAS and had a GF. When he came home for the holidays he slept because while he was at school he was getting only about 4 hours of sleep a day. His profs didn't care about excuses that he was at the det at 5:30 a.m.(2X a week), went to class until noon, went to his internship at 1 until 5 (5 days a week), came home and had to be back at 7 for AAS as a pledge (2x a week). All they cared about was the 9 page paper that was due.

Start planning how you will do all of this research/volunteering on top of carrying a high enough gpa for ED, and ROTC throughout college.

You will get that dream, you will make it. Just accept you don't have to do everything all the time. Quality matters more than quantity.

Good luck