<p>would it be dentrimental to my med school chances to be a bio major. I realize that the bio major gets rid of all my pre-med stuff as the reqs of the major, however, some of the other courses (in-depth bio courses) aren't necessary for pre-med, and won't these couses just drag down the GPA????</p>
<p>My advice is to major in whatever subject you are interested in. That's ultimately what you will do the best in. If you like bio, by all means, be a bio major. I am a bio major (premed as well) and I wouldn't have it any other way. The beauty of being premed is that you can major in whatever you want and still finish your med school prerequisites.</p>
<p>The only courses you won't need are evolutionary bio and genetics (i might miss one or two). genetics might bring down the gpa, but even if it does, it's a trivial dent.</p>
<p>I see that a major in biology basically fulfills all the pre-med requirements. What is the deal with this "program of study" business. How many classes do you need to fulfill this??</p>
<p>It's basically your concentration in bio.</p>
<p>Every bio major must take the broad bio requirements: genetics, evol bio, biochem, etc.</p>
<p>In addition, each bio major chooses a program of study which is basically a type of bio they would like to take more depth courses in.</p>
<p>The requirements for each concentration is different. My concentration is molecular/cell biology. There are 2 mandatory classes I have to take (around 6-7 credits total) and I have to take an additional 7 credits from a big list of classes. So I have to take an additional 14 credits in addition to my general bio requirements.</p>
<p>WOW, that is a LOT OF BIOLOGY for 4 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Not really. I will be a junior in the upcoming year and only have 20 credits of science left (including my concentration requirements). Divide that over my remaining 4 semesters, that's only 5 credits of science per semester.</p>
<p>there's always the 'general biology' option, which offers more freedom. your degree isn't going to specify what your concentration is - it's only going to say 'biological science' whatever your field of study is. so basically, you have a lot of freedom to take classes that interest you. well bio classes anyways.</p>
<p>(as a side note, if you're not premed, AP out of intro bio if you can.)</p>
<p>major in what you want. Medical school adcom could care less.</p>
<p>(as a side note, if you're not premed, AP out of intro bio if you can.)</p>
<p>If we are premed (and a bio major) could/should we still "AP out of intro bio"</p>
<p>You can AP out of intro bio if you're premed but you shouldn't.</p>
<p>Why not? I thought that it would lighten the science requirements. Please explain this to me, thanks.</p>
<p>go to a medical school website and see whether they recommend you use your biology ap credit or not. Usually it doesn't matter as long as you take upper level courses.</p>
<p>But of course you having already taken ap bio will give you an advantage in the class and make the course easy for you; in other words, an easy a.</p>
<p>1) The intro bio classes you are referring to: 101 and 103 are a whopping 2 credits each. They're a drop in the bucket compared with the amount of bio courses you will have to take as a bio major. Skipping them won't lighten the load much at all.</p>
<p>2) Medical schools prefer that you take your premed requirements in college rather than in high school.</p>
<p>3) Cornell's intro bio classes are extremely good. I had an awesome AP bio teacher at a great high school, scored a 5 on the AP test, and received A's both semesters and I still feel my AP bio class can't touch Cornell's intro bio classes.</p>
<p>4) Although I doubt it will be the case, you can take the "easy A" mentality and believe Bio 101/103 will be easy A's since you have already taken bio before.</p>
<p>5) MCAT. I don't know when you took your AP bio test (probably either junior or senior year). If you don't take intro bio at Cornell, that means by the time you take the MCAT you will be roughly 4-5 years removed from your bio AP class.</p>
<p>Hey norcalguy, the highest MCAT score you can get is 40, which is extremely rare right?</p>
<p>that's wrong. The highest you can get is a 45; but because the test is curved no one really ever ends up getting a 45.</p>
<p>Yes, a 40 is extremely rare but unfortunately, the test is out of 45. Less than 1% of test takers score 39 or above.</p>