<p>Could any current/ recent former pre-med students either post or PM me their first year schedule and how it worked out for them?
I'm thinking about courses but I'm not sure how to balance labs with math and hum or civ. I'm thinking of taking a Math, Bio, Hum and Sosc.
I plan on majoring in bio and maybe something similar like Chem or something not so similar like Philosophy or Econ.</p>
<p>I’d be happy to talk to you, but I apparently can’t PM since I don’t have enough posts. I just finished up my first year at UChicago (as a pre-med).</p>
<p>Maybe you can PM me with an e-mail address?</p>
<p>uchicago1672,</p>
<p>I’m interested in your first year pre-med experience too. Can you post in this thread? Thank you.</p>
<p>Will do! Currently working in a research lab on-campus; I’ll post sometime after getting home for the night.</p>
<p>I’m going to be a bit more opaque than I would have been if this were a PM, but hope this is helpful! This was my schedule first year.</p>
<p>Autumn quarter: Gen Chem, Calc 153, Hume (Philosophical Perspectives), AP5 Bio (Molecular Bio)
Winter quarter: Gen Chem, Civ (one not too intense on work), Hume (Philosophical Perspectives), AP5 Bio (Genetics)
Spring quarter: Gen Chem, Civ (one not too intense on work), Hume (Philosophical Perspectives), AP5 Bio (Dynamics, i.e. Biocalc)</p>
<p>kparcell, as you can see, I did not take a Sosc my first year, but based on what I have heard from others, sosc seems to be an intense amount of reading and writing, and imo, it doesn’t make sense to take it your first year, particularly given that you should take Gen Chem.</p>
<p>As for gen chem, there are two sets of professors (two sections), and you are not restricted from switching between sections for different quarters. I won’t explicitly name the professors I recommend; however, my thoughts are as follows:</p>
<p>Autumn quarter: Go for the professor who has the reputation for being easiest and kindest if you want a smoother transition into college chemistry. Go with the other professor if you want to be better prepared for later chemistry classes (perhaps). I had the former.</p>
<p>Winter quarter: One of the professors has quite an interesting reputation – some love his style, some absolutely hate it. Go with him if you want a very challenging experience. He explains on the first day that he will “not test on what he lectures about.” He expects you to learn A and B and figure out a concept C during the exam that is dependent upon knowledge of A and B but that you did not ever cover. However, at the end of the day, he seemed aware of the challenge, and curved nicely. Go with the other professor if you’d like a more typical experience.</p>
<p>Spring quarter: Go with the professor who is known to be a poor lecturer if you want easier exams (but with higher averages). Other professor isn’t known to be a significantly better lecturer.</p>
<p>Again, just my experiences. </p>
<p>AP5 has a reputation for being for people interested in research, as opposed to medicine. Premeds do take it. It’s a very difficult class, and I don’t think the content we covered will be particularly useful for the MCAT (as opposed to the Bio class for non-Bio major premeds, the material of which seemed more explicitly aimed at that test), so much as the scientific reasoning skills developed will be. The people in the class were incredibly kind and helpful, and we all worked to an understanding of the material and problem sets together. The labs are quite brutal. I learned a tremendous amount about reading and analyzing papers and conducting high-level labs. First quarter, we covered transcription and translation for roughly six weeks, and the cell cycle for roughly five weeks.</p>
<p>The curve for the course is fairly nice at the end of the day. I’m not going to go so far as to recommend AP5, but keep all of that in mind in choosing.</p>
<p>Wow that is great. Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Glad I could help! Feel free to ask more questions.</p>
<p>uchicago1672,</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing. BTW, you only need to take one math class? Calc 153 is at the right level for pre-med?</p>
<p>Oh, sorry for not explaining that in more detail. Different med schools have different admissions requirements and recommendations, but I remember hearing that the pre-med advising office here (UCIHP) uses the Harvard Med School requirements. As for math, that’s a year of college calc, which can be satisfied with AP credit. However, I’ve heard that med schools like to see at least one quarter/semester of math in college.</p>
<p>At UChicago, there are three different intro-calculus sequences: 130s, 150s (regular), and 160s (honors). There are three quarters of each sequence, so for the 150s you have 151, 152, and 153. AP credit cannot get you out of all three quarters – at most two.</p>
<p>Because I got a 5 on the Calc BC exam, I could jump straight into 153. I could have taken 153 any quarter of the year; I chose to get it out of the way right at the start. Getting a 4 on Calc BC gives you credit for 151. Getting a 5 on AB also gives you credit for 151. Meaning that, in each case, you could start with 152.</p>
<p>You have to test into the 160s through a calculus accreditation exam during OWeek. No matter how much AP credit you have, you must start at 161.</p>
<p>Bio majors only need credit for 151-152; there’s a statistics class that needs to be taken at some point “instead” of 153. Chem majors do need to take 153, as well as a ‘Math for Physics Sciences’ class later.</p>
<p>Do you think it’s possible to major in psychology while handling the premed requirement?
Also, I want to take a language during my first and second year. If I plan to get a minor in biological sciences, should I take chem or Ap5 bio in my first year? (in addition to Hum, calc and a language)</p>
<p>So if got 5 on AP Chem, can you skip one or two of the Gen Chem courses and still meet med school requirements?</p>
<p>I’m just gonna preface this by saying that UCIHP is amazing and you can always e-mail them with these questions (not because I don’t want to answer, that’s definitely not the case, but to confirm any information I give).</p>
<p>9jagurl96: I think you can absolutely major in anything while handling the pre-med requirement. It makes it more tough, but psych should be able to happen. My guess would be that a minor in bio would be made pretty easy by the bio courses you would be required to take as a pre-med.</p>
<p>Here’s a great resource: [Biological</a> Sciences - University of Chicago Catalog](<a href=“Biological Sciences < University of Chicago Catalog”>Biological Sciences < University of Chicago Catalog). Go to the section called “Pre-med sequences for Nonmajors.” You have to take one bio class winter quarter and two bio classes your spring quarter. Second year, you have two bio courses autumn quarter and one in the winter. That is, if you don’t take AP5. AP5 is very difficult but you take a single bio class each of the three quarters your first year and then typically a physiology class autumn quarter of your second year (i.e. four bio courses instead of six – which might be less helpful in getting the minor… not sure exactly but that page has info on a Bio minor as well)</p>
<p>Not sure if you have Calc AP credit or language credit, but keep all of that in mind when figuring out what can be fit in your schedule and what can’t. But I’d definitely recommend taking Gen Chem your first year. At least, that’s what the majority of people seem to do. </p>
<p>cared1234: I’ve heard med schools like to see a full year of general chemistry in college, regardless of whether you have the ap credit. So I’d definitely recommend taking gen chem, even with the 5. Honors might be an option, though that seemed quite brutal. Or just gen chem… which you probably won’t find too painful.</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>If I’m an incoming Freshman and am soon to be taking my placement tests, is there a certain “level” of bio/math/chem/physics classes that I should be aiming for if I’m majoring in Biology for Pre-med? Will grad schools not like it if I take the easiest classes to get the grade?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The bio exam is only to assess how much bio, and in what areas, the incoming class knows. They’ve talked about using it to determine which of the people who got 5s in AP Bio can take the AP5 class, but I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>Assuming you’ve taken any chem in high school, the placement test + looking at your transcript will put you into gen chem. If you do well on the optional honors portion of the test, you might get the option to take honors. I didn’t take it, so I can’t really speak to that. The same goes for physics; I haven’t taken it yet here.</p>
<p>The math placement test is pretty much irrelevant if you have AP credit. If you want to place into honors calc or beyond, there’s an on-campus exam during oweek.</p>
<p>So if I simply take all non-honors classes, do you think it will affect grad school admission chances at all if I maintain a good GPA? I heard that grad schools place a LOT of emphasis on GPA, which is why I’m asking. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yea, would it be better to have a slightly lower GPA in honors/ AP5 courses or a higher GPA in non honors/regular courses?</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but that’s not a question I feel comfortable answering. I don’t think it’s as simple as that.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I’m an incoming freshman too, considering a major in Biological Chemistry. </p>
<p>According to the [college</a> catalog](<a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/biologicalchemistry/]college”>Biological Chemistry < University of Chicago Catalog) I’d only need to take two quarters of fundamental bio, BIOS 20186 and BIOS 20187. Since I have a 5 on AP Bio, couldn’t I just take the 1 quarter of bio credit from the AP test, couple that with the two required fundamental bio courses, and fulfill both my major and premed requirements in a shorter time span than the AP5 sequence?</p>
<p>I know I can fulfill the bio requirement with the two credits I’d receive from the AP5 sequence, but then the AP5 sequence would be classified as 3 quarters of elective credit, which I’d rather spend on more advanced (and interesting) elective biochem classes.</p>
<p>tl;dr Is it objectively worth taking the AP5 sequence for premeds that are non-biological science majors/minors? Thanks in advance uchicago1672, your info so far has been really helpful! :)</p>
<p>If you end up majoring in Biological Chemistry, then based on what you’ve said, I think you are absolutely right that AP5 is not as valuable for fulfilling credits without taking unnecessary courses. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to discourage you, and the biochem major is really tempting (you get a chem degree, and one additional course gets you a bio degree, as well), but I spoke with my pre-med advisor toward the end of the year, and he told me that of the biochem majors he had worked with, the vast majority either had a great GPA (3.8 or higher) or a not-so-great one (3.3 or below) without much in between. </p>
<p>Sorry for the delayed reply. I’m still considering the biochem major, but leaning toward a double major in bio and chem, particularly since I did take ap5 (which I do think was very valauble). And don’t put too much stock in anything I say =]</p>
<p>Ah ok, thanks uchicago1672, I was unaware of the GPA distribution among biochem majors; it seems harsh if you were to get unlucky. I’m happy to know I can save my elective credits by taking the Fundamentals sequence, though I’m going to ask Prof. Hillhouse about the general 4-year schedule for premed biochem majors since it seems that the Fundamental bio courses are open only to second-years and above. </p>
<p>About the late reply, I didn’t think much about it - let’s just say it’s a long summer and I had no rush. I’m glad you’re here on the boards to help us out with these questions, and I’m definitely very much considering everything you’ve said thus far - though of course my counselor will have the biggest say about scheduling during O-Week come fall. :)</p>