<p>Hey, I plan to complete a pre-med track at whichever school I eventually go to. I was wondering some things about the track at UMD.</p>
<p>-Are the intro classes (bio, chem, phys, etc.) designed to weed out a certain percentage of students? Is there a general trend in the curving - does it vary by professor? If you put in the work, do you feel that you can succeed?</p>
<p>-What are the class sizes like? Are they taught mainly by a professor or a TA? How do you think this affects your ability to learn and get a good GPA? Do you feel that you can have a good relationship with your professors? Can you get involved in research as a freshman/sophomore?</p>
<p>-Do all students who go through the process to get a Committee Letter get one? </p>
<p>-Do you know the average stats and acceptance rate for the GWU early assurance program? All I can find is a minimum 3.6 GPA - what is competitive? What is a competitive SAT/ACT score? (yes, it asks for this)</p>
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<p>Also, do you think I'll even get into UMD? My mom keeps telling me I won't lol.
-Applied priority, MD resident
-1990 SAT, 1340/1600 (670M/670CR) only took it once
-3.9 weighted GPA, upward trend to a 4.1 junior year. 6 APs. ~40/330 class rank, top 13%.
-Multiple sport varsity athlete, youth coach, other good ECs.
-Great essays and recs.</p>
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<p>Thanks, an answer to any of my questions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Well, I just finished my 3rd semester, so I can’t answer your questions about the committee letter.</p>
<p>First off I do think You’ll get into UMD, honors might be a stretch though, but u never know.</p>
<p>As for weed out classes, it really just depends. Orgo for sure is definitely a weed out class (more orgo 2 than orgo 1) and is very difficult. I also hear some stories about BSCI207 (organismal Biology) being a weed out class, but I found it fine. Most of the lower level classes are roughly around 25% A’s, but again this depends on the teacher. Lectures are taught by a Professor, but there are smaller discussion sections with about 30 students that are taught by a TA. Professor and TA ratings vary DRASTICALLY at Maryland. All Professors are bright, But several of them don’t know how to teach. </p>
<p>Research is definitely available to freshman and sophomores, in fact professors tend to prefer them over upperclassman, since underclassman will be there for longer. I don’t reccomend it as a freshman though, take some time to adjust to college (its a HUGE transition from high school). </p>
<p>I think the overall difficulty of being a Pre-med at UMD (and anywhere for that matter) is your choice of major. Being an Engineering major and pre-med, I can tell you that it is certainly a struggle, but doable. Pick your major wisely!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers to my questions.</p>
<p>To add on to major choice, what do you think it would be like as a business, economics, or international relations major? I’m undecided on my major, but I’m leaning towards something that isn’t one of the sciences. I applied to Smith in my. Since it’s limited enrollment, i’d like to keep my options to it open; I could always switch to a non-LEP major.</p>
<p>hmmm… Well to start off, there is no ‘wrong’ major for pre med and as long as you meet the pre med requirements (a year of bio, gen chem, orgo, physics, english, and in some cases math), you can really do any major you want. </p>
<p>In my personal opinion (and several seem to disagree) I would strongly advise you against picking a humanities based major like business or the ones you listed below. Whilst chances are you will have a higher GPA than a science major, at the end of the day you have to take the MCAT, which is standardized. I believe that picking a science major would in fact prepare you much better for the MCAT, although if you are interested in business, then I would highly reccomend a double major in business and a science related major (this way you’ll be doing something you like and you’ll have a better science background).</p>
<p>hope this helps</p>
<p>A major in business with a double major or minor in biochem, chem, or bio, is something I will look into.</p>