What is the suggested coursework for a biochemistry major (premed) to prepare for the MCAT and apply to med schools?
Once you’ve been accepted to a college, you will meet with an advisor who can help you schedule your classes. The lower level coursework required for your degree is usually pretty lockstep since you cannot advance to upper level electives/degree requirements until you’ve fulfilled all your lower level major pre-reqs.
As freshman biochem major, a typical course schedule will have you taking gen chem, calc, bio and a general education elective (e.g. freshman composition, intro sociology, intro psych) each semester.
While your med school pre-reqs will give you the necessary background knowledge for the MCAT, college coursework will not prepare you for the MCAT exam. MCAT prep is all on you.
I am a Biochemistry major at my college. Each school has various requirements for the actual biochemistry degree. As a freshman, I took general chemistry, general biology I, and calculus my first semester. The classes needed for most medical schools are a year of general chemistry (inorganic), year of organic chemistry, a biochemistry class, year of general biology, year of physics, introductory psychology, introductory sociology, some combination of calculus/biostatistics, and humanities classes, such as English. I would recommend talking to a pre-health advisor at your college. We have a checklist at my school that we use each semester to help us plan our schedules. Most medical schools also recommend upper-level science classes, which are likely to be fulfilled within a biochemistry major.