Hi! I’ll be a first-year student at the University of Rochester in fall 2021 as a part of the class of 2025. I’m planning to major in biomedical engineering (BME), possibly on the pre-med track. I would like to take at least one college-level course online this summer (more so to prepare for BME not necessarily to get credit although that would be great of course!).
For those that are familiar with this major (or pre-med in general), would you be able to provide me some guidance in what courses would be best for me to take?
First…make sure Rochester will accept a course you take elsewhere as part of your degree program.
If they will…I would suggest taking a general education course that might enable you to slightly lighten your course load this fall…as long as you will still be a full time student.
Really…courses for your BME major should be taken at Rochester, in my opinion.
I’d take that one step further. If you’re going to do this, and I’m not certain I’d actually recommend anything other than recommending you enjoy your last summer with your friends, take a gen ed that isn’t part of the BME curriculum, but is required for most medical schools to get in. This could be something like psychology, statistics, etc. Just be sure it applies to both.
Now onto the bigger point…getting into medical school as a BME is not easy. Your typical course will be like an average pre-med’s hardest course. Be prepared to work hard. At the end of the day it’s all about GPA. They don’t care what major you get it in.
@thumper1@eyemgh Thank you both for your advice (and quick responses)!! @eyemgh, you mentioned that getting in to med school as a BME major is not easy—what major would you say would be “easier” (I put this in quotes because I know getting in to med school is very difficult for anyone!)? I’m not completely set on BME so I may switch majors if I find BME is too strenuous and not as conducive for preparing for and applying to med school.
If your goal is medical school, pick something you like, where you can get a high GPA and all of your pre-med requirements out of the way. That may even be music. How many of the people you’re competing with will have taken Multivariable Calculus? Fluid Dynamics? Thermodynamics? You’ll take those AND their advanced versions at UR while the people you’re up against won’t have even taken Calculus based Physics.
Don’t get me wrong. If BME speaks to you, follow that path. If not, follow the route of least resistance. BME isn’t it.
That’s what I’d suggest too! Don’t take ANY classes. You don’t need them and as @thumper1 said, they might not count towards anything anyway. It should be a magical summer. Don’t miss out on that experience!
Avoid taking ANY science pre-req online. Many medical schools do not accept online science coursework. Some won’t accept online non-science coursework either. (There have been exceptions made during Covid but with the return to in-person classes this fall, I expect any leniency for online classes will disappear.)
FWIW, D2 graduated from UR a few years ago (neuroscience/math double major) so I’m somewhat familiar with policies at the university.
UR can be really picky about accepting credit from other colleges, especially so for community college credit. You need to check with both the registrar’s office AND your departmental major advisor about whether UR will accept credits from another college. Most departments require written advance permission to take major coursework anywhere else than at UR.
UR has no GE requirements. Instead, students are required to complete a “cluster” outside of their concentration area (one for engineers and two for everybody else) and non-UR coursework cannot be used to fulfill cluster requirements.
This means any summer college classes you take are just going to end up as excess credits recorded at the bottom of your transcript.
However, be aware that even if UR won’t accept the summer class credits, you are still required to report them to AMCAS/ACOMAS/TMDSAS and send a official transcript when you got to apply for med school.
If you are dead set on taking a summer class, I suggest intro psych or intro sociology. You’ll need both for the MCAT and a BME major may have a tough time fitting both into their schedule.
TL;DR. you’re probably wasting your time and money taking summer classes before starting at UR since your credits probably won’t be applied toward fulfilling graduation requirements.
Only take something, if you want to, for fun or to keep your skills up. Don’t expect the credit to transfer to UR and definitely get an A because med schools will care. It will count toward your GPA (as do any college level classes taken during high school even if a college doesn’t accept them).
Best wishes to you - my guy loved UR (still does, but he’s soon to be fully graduated from med school).
My mindset in taking a course over the summer was mainly to refresh myself on chemistry and biology (since I haven’t taken those courses since sophomore and junior year, respectively). After hearing everyone’s thoughts on taking summer courses, especially as a BME major and in regards to UR credit and med schools looking at them, I will most likely not take a course.
Also, I (foolishly) did not know how challenging BME is (particularly as someone who’d like to go pre-med), so I’m considering switching majors so that I will still be challenged but not pushed so much that I don’t have free time to do extracurriculars, so if anyone has suggestions about that, I would appreciate them!
Major in something you like. UR is a terrific school to be able to do that since they have so few required courses.
If you want to refresh chem and bio, (and math) do it - online without a college course. Look at Khan Academy scanning for topics you feel you’re not up to par in. It’s a smart thing to do with pre-med in mind IMO.