<p>Being a premed is not a major, or a program, or a special type of school. You go to college, major in whatever you like, and take a few extra courses. Then you apply to medical school. Simple, right?</p>
<p>Core Requirements: 1 year of biology with lab (2 for Texas), 1 year genchem, 1 year organic, 1 year physics, 1 year English. Many schools also require a year of Math.</p>
<p>Math is a tricky requirement; generally I recommend up through Calc II (or III if you have BC credit) and one semester of statistics. English classes may include classes labelled as English, Literature, Composition, Writing, etc. This list is probably not exhaustive.</p>
<p>Extra courses: While not usually required, biochem is also a good idea, and two semesters of bio is probably on the low side. Good classes would include Anatomy, Microbiology, Physiology, Principles, Cell Biology, and Genetics. Higher-level physics or chemistry (i.e. p-chem & a-chem) are not recommended.</p>
<p>AP Courses: The sad fact is that many medical schools do not accept AP credit, at least for some of the important requirements. They will always accept higher-level courses (i.e. biochem instead of genchem), but you should plan on taking classes as if medical schools do not accept AP requirements.</p>
<p>Schools appear to be most AP-lenient with Math requirements, if they have any in the first place.</p>
<p>Timing: Many premeds wish to finish their courseload before the MCATs, which definitely has merits as a plan. The disadvantage is that you are forced to take many classes simultaneously. The solution is to delay as many classes are possible. Here are my suggestions:
1.) Do not take any biology classes related to ecology, evolution, diversity, etc. Focus instead on physiology, cell biology, and genetics.
2.) If you feel like you had a strong high school background in physics - or even if you just feel like you're good at physics - then push that back as well. Physics on the MCAT is fairly easy, and a high school background (not even AP) combined with a good prep class should suffice.</p>
<p>Harder classes: There is really very little advantage to taking harder courses unless the material is actually relevant to medical school, in which case it will help you as a medical student, not in the admissions process per se. With that said, I will caution people that sometimes more advanced courses are graded on an easier curve, and that sometimes it is actually easier to receive high grades in "more advanced" classes.</p>
<p>Whether it's too hard: We get a lot of threads on this, and I am afraid that the answer is very simple: nobody else can help you. This varies a great deal from school to school, but more importantly, from person to person. How smart are you? How good was your high school? How good are your study habits now? How good will they be when you enter college? If you think you don't know the answers - and you probably don't - then there is certainly no way any of us could know the answers. Simply put, the members on this board cannot compose a reasonable answer for you.</p>
<p>Now, I will comfort you with this. If you have one bad semester, it is unlikely to kill you. Then you lower your courseload, take the MCAT a little later, and possibly - if necessary - you could even delay your application by a year with no harm done, so that you have more time in college to deal with actually being a premed. You can do things wrong and still survive.</p>