Advice before starting my pre-med journey

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hey CC members!
I'll be going to Boston College this fall as a freshman, and I'll be majoring in Biology, minoring in music, and will be following the pre-med path.</p>

<p>Now I realize that this is a new start for myself and thousands of other students and I would just like some advice. (Have a few questions :P)</p>

<p>1.I already chose my classes for fall, and they're relatively easy. Intro Bio, Intro Chem, FroshWriting, Calc 1 and Music theory 2.
My cousins are both in their senior and junior years respectively following the same premed path, and they advised me to take easy classes. I got a 5 on AP Bio and 4 on BC calc so I could have skipped them, but they said it's better to just take easier classes for higher grades... was this good advice? </p>

<p>2.Also, I've been wondering...is minoring in music, taking a lot of music classes/extracurriculars worth it? I really have a passion and talent for music and all the classes i'm sure ill get an A. Would this look bad in the future? Since...music totally doesn't relate to medicine...should I have minored in chem instead? I really enjoy science as well but i figured music would help my GPA out a bit more...</p>

<ol>
<li><p>What is the reputation of BC like? (pre-med wise) I know it's a great university overall, but how about for pre-med?</p></li>
<li><p>In my high school our GPA was calculated by taking the average of 6 or 7 classes out of 100 for each class and converted into a 4.0 scale. ie: 90 average was a 3.6. Since colleges give out letter grades, how would GPA work? And how difficult would it be to get an A?</p></li>
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<p>A LOT OF QUESTIONS BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH :(</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Depending on your background, Chem & Bio may not be “easy.” There will be plenty of kids in your class who are repeating their AP course, or really strong honors course from HS. Ditto Calc 1. Unlike HS, college labs are sinkholes of time. You could easily spend as much time in Chem lab for a one unit course as you do for the three unit lecture. If you can AP out of Writing, do so and replace it with an English class.</p></li>
<li><p>Any minor (or no minor) is fine; if you enjoy it, take it. Med schools will see two gpa’s: a math-science gpa; and your composite. Music, or course, requires its own version of ‘labs’, which require time. And don’t forget that BC has a Core, so you need to choose your major accordingly. A major such as Neuroscience, for example, requires ~20 courses, so not much room for anything else beside Core requirements (unless you can fufill with APs).</p></li>
<li><p>BC has excellent premed advising and their Committee does a good job. Bio facilities were recently refurbished and are very nice. Boston has many opportunities for research & volunteering. The BC Core, which requires lotsa readin’ and writin’, may help to boost your mcat-VR score. </p></li>
<li><p>A=4.0, B=3.0… For BC transcripts, an A- is a 3.667 (but AMCAS counts it as a 3.7). At BC a B+ is a 3.333 (but AMCAS counts it as a 3.3). As in any college, course difficulty depends on your professor, your work ethic and the competition.</p></li>
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<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>^An admirably succinct answer.</p>