Coursework

<p>How would you like us to quantify degree of recommendation?</p>

<p>I'm a senior in high school now and thinking of going to med school after undergrad but I've read that physics is one of the pre-requisites and the problem is I dropped the subject earlier on and have been physics-less this year. So my question: am I screwed, or can I somehow do something about it?</p>

<p>You can, you know, take it in college.</p>

<p>BDM, do you recommend taking Gen Chemistry even if you get a 5 on the Chem AP and your school recommends you start with OChem?</p>

<p>Yeah, probably. MCAT GenChem is tough stuff. Best to get it as many times as possible. Too, you'll have to take another lab chem to make up for it -- and analytical or physical are both brutal classes.</p>

<p>Oh wow, BDM, i just noticed that a few posts up about three months ago you were about to answer my question and I just...never came back.</p>

<p>Anyway, I decided to be a biochem major, after taking Dev Psych this summer and realize how much I utterly despise the subjective humanities as opposed to the structured, objective sciences. The suggested sequence calls for me to do genetics and cell/molec bio during my senior year, well after I will have taken the MCATs. Should I do as suggested?</p>

<p>Also, how does a med school view taking a year off to do student missionary or studies abroad?</p>

<p>
[quote]
Should I do as suggested?

[/quote]
Not sure what you mean. The plan you outline is certainly viable, but cell bio can come in handy on the MCATs.</p>

<p>A year abroad is a positive thing, usually -- depends on what exactly you're doing -- but can make it much more complicated to apply.</p>

<p>BDM, what was your schedule like frosh and sophomore years? {You took the MCATs as a rising junior, right?}</p>

<p>Did you push physics back?
And what about all this genetics, cell bio, physio stuff I hear?</p>

<p>BDM, what was your schedule like frosh and sophomore years? {You took the MCATs as a rising junior, right?}</p>

<p>Did you push physics back?
And what about all this genetics, cell bio, physio stuff I hear?</p>

<p>I took the MCATs August before my junior year.</p>

<p>I AP'd out of one semester of general chemistry and took the other, along with a chemistry research seminar. I also took one semester of general biology, one semester of physiology, and one of cell biology/genetics. I didn't take any physics because I was confident in my HS education, even without having taken AP Physics. I took the full year of organic chemistry, where I did very poorly but learned what I needed to learn for testing purposes. In two of those four semesters, I took a much-higher-than-normal courseload.</p>

<p>I also had calculus, 2 writing, environmental science, 3 foreign language, econ, political science, and some others that I'm probably forgetting.</p>

<p>BDM, did you take two semesters of Chem Lab?</p>

<p>Not in genchem, but the research seminar was nothing but lab work. Even then, it caused enough trouble that I had to make a few phone calls, even having to talk to the Director of Admissions on one occasion to ask for an exception.</p>

<p>I know this is in another thread, but to just put the nail in the coffin. Would you recommend I take gen chem lab 2 even though I took gen chem 1 and 2 and gen chem lab 1, getting A's in all 3 of them. Also I am currently a sophmore and because of scheduling issues I could take gen chem lab 2 only my senior year?</p>

<p>The reason I was able to not take chem lab 2 was because of AP credit.</p>

<p>Well, you'll probably need something, and may as well be the intuitive thing.</p>

<p>what is the general time frame for applying to med school? when is the application deadline? when are the interviews? when are you notified if you are accepted/rejected?</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/282027-timing-alert.html&lt;/a> (post #16)</p>

<p>Also BDM, how do you feel about taking summer courses? It seems that in order to be fully prepared for the MCATs by the end of sophomore year, you need to really go above and beyond in courseload.</p>

<p>How do you feel about summer classes? My fear is that when I transition into college, I'll have too many classes at once. Do you think it'd be best to start lightly first semester frosh year, to see how we'd deal with classes in a college setting? Because, sure, I'm taking the hardest classes at my High School (DiffEqz, Multivariable, AP Lit blablabla etc) but I doubt that really compares to how college would be.</p>

<p>From experience, has anyone (BDM, NG and others) felt disadvantages of summer courses?</p>

<p>Why do you want to take the MCAT after sophomore year?</p>

<p>The disadvantage of summer coursework is that you lose out on the extracurriculars that build your resume. Your MCAT score is not that only thing that matters to a medical school.</p>

<p>As a generalization:</p>

<p>1.) Summer courses are less rigorous grade-wise, and credible rumors have it that med schools are starting to wise up to this.
2.) Summer courses interfere with very important extracurriculars. You have 9 months to demonstrate that you're a good student; you need those last 3 to demonstrate something else.
3.) Summer courses move quickly enough that you end up learning the material less well, which can bite you at MCAT time.</p>

<p>Look, if you happen to be in a position to take it before junior year -- hey, by all means, fire away. But there's no sense sabotaging yourself to do it.</p>

<p>What if you are taking a summer course so that you can go abroad during the year?</p>