Boston College- Biology Major Pre-med

<p>Are there any current BC students who have a science major, doing pre-med, or know anything about it that can tell me about certain classes that may grade “easier” or specific teachers that I should know about. I will be attending text year and I know I want to do pre-med. I was hoping to get some tips and advice about what classes to take/not to take. Feel free to private message me if you have some information!</p>

<p>I too, as a future chemistry major with pre-med, am wondering this.</p>

<p>I’m also an incoming freshman and am considering Bio/Chem and Pre-med.
Is there a good way to balance pre-med courses with the Core curriculum?
I think it would be important for us all to know this.</p>

<p>Dear driveshaft : As a parent with one student that graduated with a Chemistry/Economics major (now, PhD in Chemistry) and a second student with a Chemistry minor, I can confirm with hand over heart that the Chemistry department absolutely is not suffering from any form of grade inflation.</p>

<p>If you are considering Biology, Chemistry, or a Bio/Chem combination, I can assert that there is “no where to hide”. These are rising star programs at Boston College and the faculty knows that they are still building something special.</p>

<p>Strong undergraduates have excellent opportunities to participate in research projects for publication. [My first BC student began a research position in his second half sophomore year, worked through his junior and senior years with a graduate/PhD candidate, and was published upon graduation.]</p>

<p>Dear student20134 : If you are pursuing BioChem, your freshman year will include two Biology courses with labs, two Chemistry courses with labs, and likely six courses from the core curriculum. This combination is among the hardest course loads you can take at Boston College. This will test your dedication to both BioChem and your premed desire. There is no better way to “balance” your first year options.</p>

<p>Your six courses from the core curriculum will dictate your added work loads atop the sciences - once you have your orientation sessions, you will have a better idea on balancing your workloads.</p>

<p>small nit, scott but BC combined its two one-unit bio labs into one 3-unit lab (Bio 204). It’s an awesome course, btw, and enables students to get more hands on work than at other colleges’ intro labs.</p>

<p>You’ll probably take Molecules & cells, Ecology & evolution, Gen chem 1 & 2 w/lab freshman year. Depending on your major you can sub eco &evo for intro to physio. If you look at PEPS there’s some good info about professors but take it with a grain of salt, especially with older reviews. </p>

<p>Freshmen generally don’t take Bio lab (3 credit class that meets twice a week up to 3 hours each). </p>

<p>Taghian is a great bio professor and I would recommend her for Molc & Cells if you can! For gen chem, difficulty is viewed as Wolfman>Mohanty>McFadden (ie Wolfman is the hardest).</p>

<p>how difficult has it been concerning grading, workload, maintaining a good gpa, etc. What is it like compared to high school?</p>

<p>Dear bluebayou : Point taken on the revised Biology labs - my Chemistry background and older information on the Bio Lab course led me down that wrong course outline.</p>

<p>Dear driveshaft : It is difficult to know what your High School experience was like to adequately answer your question. However, if you were taking a full AP course load (English, History, Calculus, Biology/Chemistry/Physics, Language), you would have exposure to the approximate intensity you will find at college.</p>

<p>The biggest difference that I point out to college prospects would be the following : In a Calculus BC course, you will spend about 20 weeks on differentiation (Calculus I) and 20 weeks on integration (Calculus II). In college, that same course work would be done in 14 weeks for each course. The volume of work to be done outside the classroom in college is accordingly much higher.</p>

<p>There are plenty of great professors BUT be prepared for utilizing time management skills well. I actually found the “intro” courses about the same difficulty as the advanced. This is a double-edged sword: I didn’t take that many science APs, so I was in for a shock, BUT the lessons you learn in time management will apply pretty equally even to more advanced classes.</p>

<p>Also, look around you the first day of General Chem. Two of any three people you pick won’t be pre-med for more than a year. Not to discourage anyone - but get a sense of familiarity with other programs offered at BC in case you find your preferences change.</p>