<p>im trying to plan out a somewhat tentative schedule for the courses i'll be taking next year as a freshman in the fall and i'm wondering if there are any older pre-meds on the forum that can answer some of my questions and perhaps provide some guidance </p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>What would you like to know?</p>
<p>I was wondering what your freshman course load was like, and what are you majoring in? Did you choose to use AP credits and opt out of some of the intro pre-med requirements like gen chem/calc I/gen bio? Do you think its smart to just retake these classes despite the AP credit, as it would probably boost my gpa? Any help/reassurances would be appreciated as im kinda freaking out unnecessarily. </p>
<p>hmm while i have you here, more generally: how competitive are the science/premed req courses at tufts? and when did you initially plan on taking the MCATs – does tufts advise you to take it summer of soph yr or during junior yr – bc i was also thinking of going abroad summer of junior year.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>You shouldn’t be freaking out since freshmen year is the easiest year for most people in LA - relax! 
In terms of courses, I didn’t opt out of any science requirements because the college level expectations and material are usually different from high school. For chemistry, if you get a 5 (or 4?) you can take the general chemistry course that is a bit more advanced. I did this and I enjoyed the course because it was a lot smaller than the regular course (its called Chem 11). The Bio 13/14 sequence (intro biology) is a pain for a lot of people because the material tends to be tested in a different manner from high school with a lot more application rather than straight regurgitation of the material. However, the course coordinator for Bio 13 just left so the course will likely be a bit different for the biochemistry section that he used to teach (I don’t know who will be taking over for him). In terms of physics some of the instructors for physics 1 and 2 can be not so great, so some people like to take the more advance physics 11 and 12 which is geared more towards engineers. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t advise taking two science classes from the start since that will mean two labs, lab reports, problem sets for chemistry/physics, etc. You should take the science first that you have the most background in and feel the most comfortable with (for me it was chemistry). The second semester you can decide to take two sciences at once. The great thing is that both chemistry courses are offered twice and you can take the Biology classes out of sequence (so Bio 14 which is evolution, plants, and physiology doesn’t require biology 13). That let’s you mix and match to suit your needs. </p>
<p>The classes are all graded on a curve so the grades average out. Its pretty different from high school in terms of that a 65 may be the class average and that becomes a B/B- and then a 75 - 80 is a B/B+, etc. The exams tend to be more difficult and longer than what people are used to and of course not everyone studies equally, etc. The intro classes are also pretty big (except for Chem 11 and 12), with more than 100 students at a time in large lecture halls. That means if you find a concept challenging you need to go to office hours/recitation/TA hours. The great thing is that professors love to have people come to office hours at Tufts and they complain that people don’t use them enough as a resource. The sciences are not competitive in the sense that people are cutthroat, but they are competitive in the sense that a lot of people are studying really hard to get good grades so the averages can be higher in certain courses.</p>
<p>You should only take the MCATS when you have completed all of the Premed requirements (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Organic Chemistry). That usually means the Spring of Junior year (so you will end up taking two sciences at one time at some point or taking summer courses). Almost everyone I know took the exam Junior year spring. </p>
<p>BTW, be careful about opting out of courses because many medical schools will expect you to take a more difficult subject to compensate. So for biology that can mean genetics, but for chemistry that can mean analytical chemistry or physical chemistry (which are much more difficult classes, and P-Chem can be a pain even for chemistry majors). Also, you may find the college courses to be “easy” because of your AP’s, but like I said the exams are not always the same thing. Bio 13/14 is certainly an entirely different experience and Chem 11/12 can be pretty tough too. Physics exams can be challenging if you run out of time. Lots of different issues with each course.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>:D !! This is exactly what i was looking for. Thank you so much guildsman! Nice – i like the option of the chem 11/12 instead of the huge gen chem class. How many would you say are in the average chem 11/12 class as compared to the 100+ gen chem class? And do you really think its that much harder calculations/greater detail than gen chem? Can you still manage A’s? </p>
<p>I decided im definitely not going to opt out of any BCPM classes. However, how did you/(how do you sugggest I) complete the writing requirement. Some med schools require a year of english courses, but i can opt of Eng 1 using a 4 on AP Language… Should i just not use this credit as well? </p>
<p>Thanks so much, this helped more than you can imagine… lol :)</p>
<p>Chem 11 and 12 are capped at about 50 - 60, but we never had that many people in the class. I think we had 30 - 40, maybe (some people drop by the time chem 12 rolls around)? The difficulty of the class depends on the professor, but its usually comparable. Though there might be more challenging problems on exams and the P-sets can be longer. I opted out of the English requirement and took a special English course for people who opted out (I don’t know if anything like that is offered, its a once in a while thing). You can opt out and fill the writing requirements by taking writing intensive classes, usually (what counts varies, so you have to ask the school). You can stick with ENG 1 and 2, but people generally find it pretty useless.</p>
<p>I’m a 2011 Jumbo and for some reason my dad was ■■■■■■■■ through these forums saw this. Just thought I’d put my two cents in.</p>
<p>I’m a pre-med bio major and I used my AP bio credit for Bio 13 because I knew I would be taking more upper level courses. This has worked out well for me and I think using the credit for bio makes a lot of sense because Bio 13/14 ARE weed out courses. Obviously I only know from experience about 14, but I would have to disagree with the above posts - the testing material is at the high school level but sometimes the questions border on the ridiculous - extremely poorly worded literally trick questions etc (Francie Chew is famous for this). This is not sour grapes, I actually did very well in the course, but just a warning. From people I know who have taken both I think Bio 13 covers more material but the tests are more straight forward and if you study hard you’ll have no problem with the questions. So it’s sort of a toss-up (14 has easier material but absurd tests/13 has harder material but straight forward tests) but I would AP out of one of them.</p>
<p>I agree that I would not use the chem credit, although if you decide to definitely don’t take Orgo freshman year - it really is as hard as they say and there’s no reason to take it right when you’re trying to adjust to college. I also took Chem 11/12 because I had taken AP chemistry and thought I would like the challenge. I agree that it is nice to have smaller class size - I think mine was about 30-40 - but would not recommend this unless you really love chemistry. It doesn’t look any different on your transcript and you will put in significantly more work/sweat/tears than Chem 1/2 - believe me, there is a huge difference between these two course tracks. That said, if you put in a lot work, you should do well. Prof. Dewald teaches it and he is a hard a** but he definitely teaches you what you need for the test. He is also a character and if you pay attention says plenty of amusing things throughout his lectures. If you decide to take Chem 1 DON’T take it in the spring because it is also taught by Prof. Dewald and he literally teaches to the Chem 11 syllabus - I know some friends that did this and really regretted it. I don’t know whether this is just jumbo urban legend or not, but supposedly he proctored both the Chem 2 and 12 final a few years ago (although only taught 12) and essentially said “Well the chemistry department expects you to all know the same stuff…” and gave everyone the Chem 12 exam. Like I said - a little bit of a hard a**, but definitely a character. One last note I forgot to mention - Chem 11/12 (with Dewald) is NOT graded on a curve but on a 13-point scale. So an 87 is an A-, 74 is a B- etc. also, if you get an A on the final you get an A for the course no questions asked. Even with what seems like a fairly lenient grading scheme I would really stress that unless you really love chemistry I would not recommend taking 11/12.</p>
<p>As for physics, if you’re looking for challenge and a true calc-based understanding of physics go for Physics 11/12. I have a bunch of friends that took these and were fine. Personally, I loved AP Calc AB but used the AP credit and did not continue calc in college so I felt it would be best to do 1 and 2. I actually took these out of order as well although the physics department does not recommend it. I had very little physics background (my high school physics was kind of a joke) but this was totally okay because physics 1 is kinematics and physics 2 is e/m and modern - these have very little overlap. If Prof. Tobin is teaching either course I would strongly recommend him - he is one of the best professors I have had at Tufts. He understands technology (how to use powerpoint productively, clicker quizzes etc.), gives great lectures, and is a genuinely great guy. I’m taking Physics 1 next semester and will then be done with pre-med and will take the MCATs in the spring as guildsman talked about. Several people that took all of physics with orgo this past semester and are studying for the MCATs as I write this, and will take them this summer.</p>
<p>For English 1 and 2, if you have the credit to get out of 1 I would use it. This is because if you take 1 and get and A- or higher you don’t have to take 2. Unfortunately, many professors feel you should have to take 2 regardless and so refuse to give As in their English 1 classes. I got really lucky with my class and this didn’t happen to me so I didn’t have to take 2, but I know some people who were really annoyed with their professors who literally said at the beginning of the course that the best grade they would give would be a B+. I would wait for 2, see if there are any subjects that interest you (Eng 2 courses have themes) and if not, look at other writing intensive courses, including philosophy.</p>
<p>You didn’t mention math, but just in case it’s on your mind as well, only three medical schools in the country require a full year of Calculus - Harvard, Wash U, and Johns Hopkins - all of these will accept AP credits however so if you’ve got 'em, use 'em. I actually wish I had continued to Math 12 (Calc 2) but that’s just because I enjoyed AB Calc. At this point, however, I will be using a Biostats course to fulfill the Tufts (and any med school other than the aforementioned three) math requirement.</p>
<p>Good luck! Perhaps I’ll see you in Physics 1!</p>
<p>Thank you soo much!! That was an extremely helpful post. </p>
<p>I am trying to decide a few things right now.
<p>2) Do you think it’d be wise to take two sciences as a freshman? I know tufts does not recommend it as they want you to be able to adjust, but i’m just wondering if you think it is doable. (I was thinking if i did double up, i would take Chem 1 [for easier work] +something else, probably Phys 1, seeing as how i did not take physics in high school)</p>
<p>3) Thanks so much for the English 1 tip. I definitely will take this into consideration, and will most likely opt out of Eng 1. However, if i only took Eng. 2, would i still have to take another semester of english, since most med schools require a year of English? If so, would it best to take Eng 2 + another course such as philosophy, or just take Eng1+Eng2.? Obviously you did well in Eng 1 and thus did not have to take Eng 2. So after Eng1 you finished your yr of Eng req for med school? If i dont have to take another semester, I will definitely opt of Eng 1 and only take an Eng2 class/philosophy class. </p>
<p>and 4) I haven’t really decided on a major yet, but i really liked Math in high school, and was always really good at it. My HS only offered AB, and i’m pretty sure i got a 5 on the test. But i am considering majoring in math. My math teacher in HS said to take Calc 1 as a refresher, so i plan on doing this first semester. But i might keep going and take higher level courses/Calc 2,3… My question is do you know any math majors/math-premed students? I have heard that the math major is extremely difficult and would thus cause my GPA to suffer. Also the competition would probably be harder in upper-level math courses with kids who only eat, breathe, and sleep math. </p>
<p>Thank you soooo much for the posts. Guildsman and Theoldprof, you two have been extremely helpful! thanks again</p>
<p>Regarding Chem: I took honors and AP chem sophomore and senior years of HS and got a 5 on the exam pretty easily. Last fall I was in Chem 1 for a day and then switched to Chem 2 and still found it incredibly easy. I feel like Chem 11 still would have been nearly all review (for the 3rd time) except more work. I’m not sure which I’d recommend, but I think taking Chem 2 is a much better option the Chem 1, although Chem 11 might still be better for you.</p>
<p>As far as math, I can’t speak to Math 12 (Calc 2) as I didn’t take it, but I got a 5 on the BC exam and went straight into Calc 3 and did very well, so you may not need to retake Calc 1.</p>
<p>Do people generally consider bio 13/14 easier than chem 1/2?</p>
<p>chem 1/2 is definitely easier than bio 13/14, IMO.</p>
<p>ah, i see. So you AP’d out of chem1? Isn’t chem 2 just the second semester of chem 1 so still review topics? For med school i would still need anotehr semester of inorganic chemistry tht i wouldn’t rele want to fill with a-or-p-chem.</p>
<p>Yeah, AP chem technically covers Chem 1 and 2, but I didn’t want to jump straight into the more advanced stuff. I’m not premed, though, so requirements wasn’t an issue.</p>
<p>this doesn’t really relate to courses, but does anyone know if the Tufts EMS (TEMS) offers free classes for students who want to get certified?</p>
<p>^ unfortunately, they’re not free. You have to pay $975 to take the class… :p</p>
<p>hm that’s really expensive. they’re not even free if we agree to volunteer on the first aid squad after we complete the classes? i know some places offer that.</p>
<p>^ Nope, they’re not free at all. The thing is, the EMT course counts as an academic credit (It’s listed as PE131), which is probably why you have to pay. I’ve always wanted to become an EMT but I just don’t have the money to take the course here at Tufts. However, there are EMT courses that are held in Boston which are less expensive, but they probably conflict with class schedules and whatnot.</p>
<p>Hmm. I just looked on the website for Tufts P.E. Department and the fee for the EMT course says $450. I could’ve sworn it said $975 the last time I checked…Can anyone verify what the actual cost is?</p>
<p>yet another thing tufts makes you pay for
even the freakin pre orientation things cost money.</p>
<p>Well you don’t have to attend the pre-orientation if you don’t want to, you won’t be missing out on too much. I didn’t attend any but I didn’t find it hard to meet people in orientation. And trust me, there are TONS of ways to socialize during orientation.</p>
<p>^^@hebrewhmmr: ah okay, well the whole premed requirement thing is the real issue 
if med schools accepted AP credit i’d prlly opt out of them all! haha. </p>
<p>Anyways, is the PE 131 offered to freshmen? Or only upper classmen? I really want to take it my first semester. – it says upperclassmen on one of the few webpages i browsed and was wondering if i could posssibly be able to squeeze in.</p>