<p>You need to take inorganic chem to fulfill the gen chem/inorganic chem requirement. Something like physical chemistry would be sufficient.</p>
<p>My response at #240 was to the previous poster, not to Malvenuto.</p>
<p>If I tested out of General Biology with AP credit, would I best move on straight to higher level bio courses (with labs) such as Genetics and Physiology? and will they be able to fulfill med school biology requirements? or should I repeat general biology in college?</p>
<p>I also received credit for AP Chemistry (5) but I am retaking that…</p>
<p>I would like to add that my AP Biology class focused almost exclusively on molecular biology. My teacher completely glossed over animal and plant biology which consequently is around 40% of the AP test</p>
<p>At the college i’m attending there is a language requirement that i need to fulfill. I’ve taken a few years of spanish but dropped it junior year. I know Spanish is probably the most medically relevant language to take, but i don’t really look forward to have to reviewing all the material i’ve taken before to have it fresh in my mind. Would learning a new language (Chinese i am thinking about) be difficult/look bad/good to medical school committees. Since i know that Spanish is probably more medically-relevant, would a med-school adcom look more favorably upon that as opposed to Chinese? I just think Chinese could be interesting and then going abroad junior year. Also is Chinese a really difficult/time consuming language to learn? Any anecdotes? 
Thanks!</p>
<p>I would think Spanish would give you some miniscule edge.</p>
<p>In the future, please don’t duplicate posts via PM’s. If it’s on here and I happen to think that I have a useful answer, I’ll post on the boards.</p>
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<p>Welcome to studying for the MCAT, USMLE Step 1, etc.</p>
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<p>Learning a new language is not going to greatly impress an adcom. It might be something that your interviewer may pick up on and ask about, but I doubt there will be any major brownie points for it.</p>
<p>There are a few medical schools, I think, where Spanish is “highly recommended,” but I can’t remember which those are. That might make a difference in admissions, but I’m not sure.</p>
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<p>Do you have any background in Chinese? Assuming you are a typical native English speaker, you’re going to find it very difficult. The Defense Language Institute considers it a Group IV language, which means that a student with superior language aptitude with 720 hours of instruction under their belt can only be expected to reach a 1+ level of proficiency. In contrast, Spanish is a Group I language, which means that a student with superior language aptitude can reach level 3 proficiency with the same 720 hours of instruction.</p>
<p>In my college experience, college Chinese classes tend to be populated by kids of Chinese decent who have heard the language all their lives and speak/read/write with varying degrees of proficiency, and not too many students start out at a baseline of zero. Since the students with some native language skill grasp the basics quickly, the class ends up moving quickly, and it’s very easy for the non-native students to have trouble getting those basics down.</p>
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<p>Agree with this. There’s no reason to send a whole bunch of PMs and then post on the board, too.</p>
<p>For the English/writing requirement: is a class in playwriting or screenwriting appropriate? Or must the class be about some obscure old English lit/history that I have no interest in taking? I wouldn’t mind taking playwriting, screenwriting, fiction, poetry, or any other class about interesting figures in history which would require a great deal of writing (I saw a few in the african american dept., american history dept., and even some in comparative lit)…but I’d prefer the playwriting or screenwriting class :)</p>
<p>Should be okay; prosewriting (e.g. fiction) or poetry might be better.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks! I did see an old thread (after I posted this one) where someone asked a similar question and I think your response was that it depends on the dept. listing. Playwriting and screenwriting are offered through the theatre dept. and the literary arts dept. So I’m not sure if that’s going to be a problem seeings how it’s not a traditional english/lit dept. But I think what I might do to compromise the sitution is to take either playwriting or screenwriting and then take a traditional english class through the comp.lit. dept. or the english dept. Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>Sorry, yes. I had assumed they were through the English department. This might be a little more worrisome if they’re not. Creative Writing and Poetry Writing might be MUCH better choices.</p>
<p>I had a question regarding first semester covered grades. I think I searched the boards pretty well and could not find it mentioned, but sorry if someone already answered this!</p>
<p>I’m going to be a freshman, and my school (JHU) covers first semester grades with a “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” system. I think this is pretty common? My question is, should I avoid taking many prerequisites during this first freshman semester? I guess my logic is that the medical schools want to see a solid grade, and not just a non-specific “good job/bad job”, grade when looking at the transcript. </p>
<p>Is there any truth to this? I’m just very paranoid. So far, the prereqs I registered for for are Gen Bio/Lab and Calc I. </p>
<p>Thanks guys</p>
<p>Adria0: I am not an expert here. Please read my opinion with a grain of salt.</p>
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<p>I only know a selected few private colleges who do this. MIT is the one that comes to my mind. It is likely not very popular at state schools.</p>
<p>I sometimes feel that some private schools try to give students a little bit break here and there in order to compensate for the effect of having too many (in terms of percentage) over-ambitious students. (e.g. Rice gives some break to one course taken in freshmen year.)</p>
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<p>There is some truth in it. My child’s premed adviser actually told him that it is better to take all classes with a grade. But many CCers here think it should be OK to take one or two non-pre-reqs pass/fail.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that, if most premeds from your school do this, it is probably acceptable to have a one or two non-prereq courses taken pass/fail.</p>
<p>If you happen to be a bio major (for example) and will take tons of upper division bio classes any way, it is more likely acceptable to take one intro bio pass/fail (it is because you still have many opportunities to show your academic strength in bios) – unless you will likely apply to some “picky” medical schools like some UC (UC Davis?) in the future. Many bio majors even skip the intro bios if they have a good AP Bio score.</p>
<p>Thanks, mcat2. Ahhh now I don’t know what to do. Like I said i signed up for two classes that are prerequisites (General Biology I/ Gen Bio lab and Calculus I). </p>
<p>Now I am considering dropping both of those courses so that I can take them after the first semester. Is this a good idea?</p>
<p>Adria, you go to Hopkins. They produce enough successful premed applicants so they know what they’re doing. Talk to a premed advisor and see what they have to say. Maybe its fine to take some premed courses first semester. Maybe not. They will know best.</p>
<p>My school recommends taking Organic junior year–whereas the AAMC as well as other colleges like Emory and Duke list it as a sophomore level class. In fact, my school’s recommended premed track lists Biology first year, Biology and Intro Chemistry sophomore year, then upper-level Biology, Organic, and Physics junior year. That seems like a recipe for GPA pain, as well as general mental pain. Would my recommended course of action be to register for Biology and Chemistry freshman year, so that I will be on track to take Organic sophomore year? I will most likely take an MCAT prep course the summer between sophomore and junior year, as I need a whole summer to prep.</p>
<p>Also, if I chose to take the intro Chemistry this fall, I have to chose between 1) splitting my year of Calculus between 2nd sem soph year (Calc plus Organic… do-able, I’m sure, but tough.) and 1st sem junior year, 2) taking just one semester of Calculus in 2nd sem soph year, and 3) taking it Junior year along with Physics. Thoughts? </p>
<p>Also, for BDM- what do you mean by “adcoms don’t care about minors”? They don’t care if you have one or don’t, so don’t bother? They don’t care what subject it is, so it’s not worth it to take that gov course to make it a minor? I know I want to study Biology and Government but my school doesn’t offer a Biology minor so I was planning on majoring in Biology with a minor in government. But if adcoms don’t even register that you have a minor I might as well just cash in all those elective AP credits and make it a double major in Government and Biology. </p>
<p>We register for classes on Monday and aren’t given advisors until school starts in the fall so sorry for the load of questions but I’m at the last few days before I have to pick something. I read all 17 pages and thought it’d be easiest if I jotted down some questions and compiled them together to ask in one go. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Orgo is a sophomore level course for chem majors. Most premeds I know that aren’t chem majors take orgo junior year. It’s good to take orgo sophomore year (or 2nd semester soph and 1st sem junior) so you have time to study and take the MCATs while still being able to start applications on time if you want to go straight through.</p>
<p>If you want to have an MCAT score ready to go for applications the summer between junior and senior year I’d suggest finishing your premed requirements by first semester junior year. </p>
<p>Med schools do not care what you major or what you minor in. They do dislike vocational majors like nursing and kineseology, but whether you major in bio or history or government doesn’t matter. You could be a triple major with 5 minors and lose out to applicants with stronger GPA, MCAT, research, LORs, etc. There are more important parts to your application than what you major or minor in.</p>
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<p>I would say that most premeds that are not chem/bio/biochem majors take orgo junior year. At least it seems it is the case at my child’s school.</p>
<p>Actually, at his school, for these science majors, roughly 10 percents start to take orgo in the fall of freshmen year, 40 percents start to take orgo in the spring of freshman year, and the rest take it at the regular time, sophomore year. It is somewhat strange that students at his school can take orgo starting either the spring semester or the fall semester. All the courses, except for the one starting from the fall of freshman year, are essentially the same.</p>
<p>It would be too late to take orgo in junior year for these majors, as orgo is often a pre-req for the core science courses for their major, like biochemistry and some other upper division science courses.</p>
<p>When a somewhat weaker bio major wishes to postpone taking one science classes, I would think it is the physics that is pushed over to junior year, not the orgo.</p>
<p>If you want the benefit of biochem for the MCAT, I would recommend taking O chem second year if possible. Physics in the Spring of your 2nd and Fall of your 3rd year works really nice, as it will be fresh in your mind for studying in the spring of your 3rd for the MCAT.</p>
<p>I´m so glad that I was a biochem major, because I didn´t have to deal with any of this!</p>
<p>mmmcdowe: Is it very typical for a biochem major to take a year long version of biochemistry? How about p-chem (one or two semesters)?</p>
<p>I have the impression that the most important courses (beyond the pre-req) for a chemistry major is p-chem, but the most important courses for a biochem major is, what else, biochem.</p>
<p>Because the somewhat different focus, I guess the minimum requirement for a biochem major is: one semester of p-chem but two semesters of biochem. (maybe also cell bio?)</p>
<p>But for the chemistry major, the minimum requirement is: two semesters of p-chem, one (sometimes even zero) semesters of biochem, and one semester of (advanced) inorganic chemistry.</p>
<p>I am just curious about the difference between these two majors. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>At one time, my child thought he would be a biochem major. He sort of backed out from that major at the last minute.</p>