Fall semester Freshmen Year courses - Pre Med - HELP

In my experience, days off are great for catching up on sleep and relaxing.

However, without classes to kind of get me in the academic mindset (and wake me up), I tended to waste a ton of the day that would otherwise have been at least slightly productive, and further, wasted much of the day before because I knew I had no class the next day! You just have to be responsible about that stuff. It also means you’re taking more hours on other days of the week. That can be a little painful and might cause due dates/tests to overlap a little more.

Is all that worth not having to wake up and go to a class or two on Thursdays? Maybe. Some weeks, it certainly is. Other weeks, not so much. It’s a trade off and just comes down to personal preference.

As a side note, if you ever have the opportunity to have Fridays off, that’s the greatest decision ever.

My daughter is freshman and wants to be in the premed track. She applied as Molecular Biology Major. She is scheduled to enroll next week, the last enrollment week. She has no choice to choose class and professors. Already many classes are full. Do you think new Bio class can be made for remaining students? Even though she put classes in the cart, I am not sure she can have a chance to enroll next week. Some classes already have waiting lists. How can she enroll for the classes what she chose for 1st semester in advance?

@michaelcosmos No, because if you take the AP credit, it counts as 1301 credit. You can’t take 2200 if you have credit for 1301. Trust me, avoid anything with “Single-Variable” in its name. Multivariable is easier, if you must have a math class.

You can do Math and Chem first semester. But anything beyond 3 pre-med classes per semester is just asking for hell.

@onlyhope
Usually with courses like bio, chem, and calc, which are prerequisites for so much in STEM majors, professors will make accommodations if all the courses fill up. They definitely don’t intend to run out of space. They’ll likely either add another section or add seats. Definitely contact the adviser if she cannot get into one of those core classes.

Just make sure your daughter is ready to enroll the moment her window opens. Should be able to view the exact date and time in YES. Can be tough to get the “ideal schedule” freshman year.

@Pancaked Thank you so much. She discussed with her advisor, who assured her that they will not run out of space for bio and chem.
I had a question about course selection for the upcoming semester - as a first year, would taking 200/2000-level classes be difficult? My daughter is struggling to choose classes from the 100/1000-level that fit her schedule and interests, as she is trying to satisfy the AXLE requirement with all her courses so far.

It really depends on the course, but in general, it’s not an issue to take 2000-level courses as a first year.

Pre-meds need to have a plan that includes:

  1. Survive first semester with a high GPA.
  2. Split up the 5 main weed out classes. You must get through the first bio, chem, calc, physics and orgo. These classes are graded on a curve and the average SAT of students in these classes is around 2300.
  3. Check to see what the med schools you are interested in require but most will accept AP credit. If you can AP out of calc do it…you have just survived 20% of the weedout risk.
  4. Use summer school to take out a weedout class and/or boost your GPA.
  5. You don’t need to select a STEM major. Health, Medicine and Society is a nice choice or major in your best area of study.

    Good luck.

I agree with all of bud123’s points. As a rising senior, I would honestly advise taking 12-14 hours, or as few hours as possible for the first semester. Ironically, before I started my freshman year, a rising senior gave me this advice and I rolled my eyes. Most Vanderbilt freshmen arrive with the pre-existing paradigm of being one of the most academically gifted students in their high school, capable of sleeping through class and doing the minimum effort on assignments and still pulling excellent grades. When other high schoolers told me that something was “way too hard” I never believed them, because nothing up until that point had been too difficult for me to accomplish. So, of course my first inclination was to disregard the advice given to me and load up on challenging classes. I did eventually learn that classes, exacerbated by overambitious scheduling, can indeed be “way too hard” at Vanderbilt.

General chemistry should be taken first semester, but should not be doubled up with any other science pre reqs like physics or bio. Other than that, take classes that interest you (just check on ratemyprof to make sure that they aren’t brutally hard) and enjoy your first semester - it is a very unique time filled with new experiences, and passes by quickly.

@bud123 I think that is sound advice.

Isn’t it sad, however, that these Vandy kids - as smart as they are - should even have to worry about weed out situations?

If I were pre-med, I would avoid Vandy like the plague.

It sounds like it has become a gunner land for pre-med since I was a student there - why put up with this when you can pay less for a state school and have an easier time getting into med school?

What good does attending an elite private university do if you are weeded out and kept out of medical school because of a low GPA when you could have gone to a state school and triumphed?

@Nerdyparent

Your characterization is completely correct. For naive high schoolers, the idea is just to go to the best school possible, as the thought is that it will provide you the best education.

However, as most anyone going through the med school admissions process will tell you, it is absolutely the correct decision to go to a cheap, easy state school. By doing this, you are not hurting yourself in any way.

Schools do give some leeway to students coming from institutions known for grade deflation, but I don’t feel as though the stress and competition are worth it.

I will say though, the only real advantage of attending certain schools is the availability of an elite research hospital on campus, with plenty of shadowing/volunteering/medical research readily available. This can be found at some state schools as well though.

For any freshman still reading this, I highly HIGHLY recommend taking at least 16 credit hours in the first semester. Anything less means you cannot withdraw without being under 12 hours (giving science classes room to drop lecture and lab) and being stuck in a bad situation. You’ll either have to stay in a class you are doing poorly in or go under hours, which can bar you from participation in Greek Life, VUcept, RA, Tour Guides, many exec boards, and will also put you on academic probation. This is a horrible place to be after your first semester.