A few q's about premed

<ol>
<li>How do the large intro. classes affect a premed at UT (are they problems)?</li>
<li>Do the professors just focus on weeding kids out or are they approachable/have office hours that are very helpful, etc.?</li>
<li>After researching, I realize that there seem to be many places to volunteer and get involved in medically-related things in Austin. Is this correct?</li>
<li>If possible, should one test out of the intro. classes (bio, chem, calculus) and skip to the next ones in the series because these are major weed-out classes or are the upper level/next ones in the series just as difficult to obtain As? </li>
<li>What classes can I/should test out of (I have no AP, CLEP, etc. credits. I just have a 750 on the chem SAT II and 790 on Math II)</li>
<li><p>Why is the average GPA for an accepted student to medical school 3.68 for 2009? That seems high to me. I would've thought that a ~3.5-3.55 would've been high enough from UT, considering that most go to Texas state meds.
source: <a href="http://cns.utexas.edu/images/stories/health_professions/MedStats2009.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://cns.utexas.edu/images/stories/health_professions/MedStats2009.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><p>How hard is premed at UT? I love everything about the school, but I'm just a little worried about doing well which I guess is natural.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>EDIT:
8. Do all dorms come with AC? :D The summer heat is a little intimidating for someone from way up north.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How do the large intro. classes affect a premed at UT (are they problems)?
A. Forget the USNWR measures that correlate class size with class quality. One of the reasons that some classes are large (e.g. Dr. Laude has ~500 students in his general chemistry classes) is because the professor is outstanding and students would kill to get in them.</p></li>
<li><p>Do the professors just focus on weeding kids out or are they approachable/have office hours that are very helpful, etc.?
A. Undergraduate professors go into teaching to because they want to help students succeed, not because they want to “weed” students out. If you make an effort, professors will help you. If you don’t make an effort and fail to meet class standards for studying, you are weeding yourself out. </p></li>
<li><p>After researching, I realize that there seem to be many places to volunteer and get involved in medically-related things in Austin. Is this correct?
A. See the following URL: [url=&lt;a href=“http://cns.utexas.edu/careers/health-professions/programs/pre-medical]Pre-Medical[/url”&gt;http://cns.utexas.edu/careers/health-professions/programs/pre-medical]Pre-Medical[/url</a>]</p></li>
<li><p>If possible, should one test out of the intro. classes (bio, chem, calculus) and skip to the next ones in the series because these are major weed-out classes or are the upper level/next ones in the series just as difficult to obtain As?
A. Depends on whether you want to challenge yourself and learn new material or to repeat material you already know to get good grades.</p></li>
<li><p>What classes can I/should test out of (I have no AP, CLEP, etc. credits. I just have a 750 on the chem SAT II and 790 on Math II)
A. See answer to #4</p></li>
<li><p>Why is the average GPA for an accepted student to medical school 3.68 for 2009? That seems high to me. I would’ve thought that a ~3.5-3.55 would’ve been high enough from UT, considering that most go to Texas state meds.
A. Maybe because Texas medical school have higher standards than you thought or pre-med students are UT are more competitve than you thought.</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is premed at UT?
A. Depends on your time management skills and how passionate you are about your studies.</p></li>
<li><p>Do all dorms come with AC?<br>
A. Practically everything at UT has AC.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks for the great response. I have a few more q’s though. How can I find out who the best professors are for classes? Would something like pickaprof or the like provide that information? I would want to take classes with the best professors at UT.</p>

<p>Also, I don’t even know if I can test out of the intro. classes. That is why I was asking if SAT IIs can be used because I have no other sort of testing on my record (other than SAT I).</p>

<p>I also know that Texas meds are great (hence, why I’m coming all the way down to UT and taking a huge leap of faith), but the average GPA at these schools (other than UTSW and Baylor) is ~3.7. That’s why I was thinking that UT students would get ‘more slack’ and that a 3.6 would be the average. But, now that I think about it, I realize that many UT premeds so to Baylor, UT-SW, UT-MB or to OOS private meds, so that is the cause for the higher GPA (I believe over a third went to either Baylor, UT-SW or UT-MB on that link).</p>

<p>I have another question though. Is it easy to get research opportunities at UT and as a marine biology major, do you know if I would be able to ‘go in the field’ and conduct research and experiments in the environment (if I work on research with a marine biology prof)? That would be really incredible and something that I would really want to do. And in general, is it relatively easy to get more than just ‘cleaning out test tubes, etc.’ out of research? I really want to play a key role and maybe even get published. That would be awesome.</p>

<p>Thanks! (And how is the marine bio major at UT? It seems to be very unique and I’m very interested.)</p>

<p>ViggyRam, I can’t answer all your questions, but here are a few thoughts:</p>

<p>I agree with m1817 about class size. My favorite class at UT was American History with George Forgie (he’s still teaching!). There were over 300 students in the class, and I couldn’t wait to hear each one of his lectures. He is such a gifted storyteller! He’s tough, though, so if you want an easy class, don’t take him. He made us read a bunch of very long books, but they were all excellent.</p>

<p>My son is a freshman in biomedical engineering. He did very well in HS science. He could have placed out of biology, but decided to take it. He took honors chemistry instead of AP, so he didn’t place out of it. Anyway, he found both classes really hard at UT, but he’s glad he took them, so he’ll have a good foundation for future classes. I think he got a B in Chem and an A- in Bio. He placed out of first semester calculus and made an A in second semester calc at UT. He’s one of those “disgusting” people who learns the concepts so easily he doesn’t have to do many problems to “get it.”</p>

<p>He started doing some research in the BME lab last month! He’s not getting paid at this point, but he’s really enjoying working with a post-doc student and a professor. I don’t think he’s just doing grunt work. It has something to do with proteins and inhibitors (about the only two words I understood when he was describing it to me!).</p>

<p>My son is from Maine, and he LOVES LOVES LOVES the weather in Austin. He especially enjoys telling us it’s 70 there when it’s 5 degrees here! He also got a kick out of school being canceled for an inch of snow! I have the feeling he won’t move back north when he’s done with school.</p>

<p>He’s not sure at this point if he wants to get an MS in BME, or attend medical school.</p>

<p>UT has a course/instructor survey that you will be able to access once you are assigned a UT EID: [Course</a> Instructor Survey Home Page](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/academic/mec/cis/]Course”>http://www.utexas.edu/academic/mec/cis/)</p>

<p>You can also use Pickaprof.</p>

<p>As for for placing out of classes, see the following UT website:<br>
[Information</a> for Current Students](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/academic/mec/current.html]Information”>http://www.utexas.edu/academic/mec/current.html)</p>

<p>If you are interested in doing hands-on research marine biology, look into joint programs with Texas A&M Galveston. TAMUG is ultimate for marine biology in Texas.
[About</a> TAMUG](<a href=“http://www.tamug.edu/about/AboutUs.html]About”>http://www.tamug.edu/about/AboutUs.html)</p>