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The Pre-Med Journey
“There are a million paths to medical school,” according to Robert Eder ’15, who has traveled a very interesting one of his own to become a doctor. He shared his experience with students at FA's 2025 Alumni Networking Day.
Pre-Requirements
If you’re really interested in pre-Med, you need to figure out your timeline and the path to getting all the prereqs done. During my orientation week at Vassar, I met with a pre-Med advisor who told me the path I should take freshman year and then how to map out the rest of my time there. To apply to med school, you need a year each of inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and biology – all with labs. You also need a semester each of BioChem with lab, sociology and psychology. You must work hard and be organized, which FA definitely teaches you. Your reading and writing are very strong coming out of FA and that will help you. Once you get to medical school, the pace really picks up, so building really strong study habits as an undergrad is important. Also having a robust GPA is very important for your MCAT.
My Path to Medical School
I took a gap period of three years and went to Boston for three years after college and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital doing research. A big part of the medical school application process is experience. Clinical experience, like volunteering and shadowing are mandatory, and it can’t hurt to get involved in research. Other favorable options are being an EMT or a community volunteer and holding leadership positions.
Working in a hospital is the best, best experience and something I would recommend doing early on. Try to volunteer at whatever hospital is closest to you because you need a lot of hours to show that you’re really interested. This also gives you the opportunity to work with different physicians and see what their lifestyle is like.
If you have family or friends in the medical field, ask if you can shadow them and talk to people who’ve gone through this process. I started shadowing my freshman year and chose different specialties to gauge my interest.
A Long and Winding Road
In my fourth year at New York Institute of Technology, I’m now applying for an internal medicine residency which will last for three years. Then you can apply for fellowships. I’m going to apply for a cardiology fellowship during my third year as a resident, and that’ll take me another three years. If you want to specialize further, it’ll be another two years. So that’s eight years after medical school! There are many specialties that can take you up to five to seven more years. Once you graduate from med school, you’re working so you don’t really feel like a student anymore.
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Pre-Requirements
If you’re really interested in pre-Med, you need to figure out your timeline and the path to getting all the prereqs done. During my orientation week at Vassar, I met with a pre-Med advisor who told me the path I should take freshman year and then how to map out the rest of my time there. To apply to med school, you need a year each of inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and biology – all with labs. You also need a semester each of BioChem with lab, sociology and psychology. You must work hard and be organized, which FA definitely teaches you. Your reading and writing are very strong coming out of FA and that will help you. Once you get to medical school, the pace really picks up, so building really strong study habits as an undergrad is important. Also having a robust GPA is very important for your MCAT.
My Path to Medical School
I took a gap period of three years and went to Boston for three years after college and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital doing research. A big part of the medical school application process is experience. Clinical experience, like volunteering and shadowing are mandatory, and it can’t hurt to get involved in research. Other favorable options are being an EMT or a community volunteer and holding leadership positions.
Working in a hospital is the best, best experience and something I would recommend doing early on. Try to volunteer at whatever hospital is closest to you because you need a lot of hours to show that you’re really interested. This also gives you the opportunity to work with different physicians and see what their lifestyle is like.
If you have family or friends in the medical field, ask if you can shadow them and talk to people who’ve gone through this process. I started shadowing my freshman year and chose different specialties to gauge my interest.
A Long and Winding Road
In my fourth year at New York Institute of Technology, I’m now applying for an internal medicine residency which will last for three years. Then you can apply for fellowships. I’m going to apply for a cardiology fellowship during my third year as a resident, and that’ll take me another three years. If you want to specialize further, it’ll be another two years. So that’s eight years after medical school! There are many specialties that can take you up to five to seven more years. Once you graduate from med school, you’re working so you don’t really feel like a student anymore.
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