<p>There have been a couple threads regarding freshman courses but I had a few specific questions. I pursuing either a political science or public policy degree but I am going to apply to med school as well, just to give a little background.</p>
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<li><p>Do any of you guys know the differences in difficulty between public policy and polysci, specifically at Duke? I know that both are good departments and I am familiar with the differences between the two in terms of course material, at least for the most part. </p></li>
<li><p>Since I am pursuing a non-science major do you recommend that I pursue a second degree (since I am going to be taking science pre-reqs)? Since it will presumably be less challenging to just stick with one degree, will this affect med school chances?</p></li>
<li><p>What higher level science courses should I plan on taking beyond 1st year? Should I take classes such as cell bio, anatomy/physiology, immunology, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>This is specific to first semester. I am taking a seminar (since writing 20 is 2nd semester for me), an intro polysci or public policy class, bio 31 (whichever is intro)? I was confused about my 4th class. In terms of making the adjustment to Duke easier in terms of academics-would it be better to take a class like Intro to Chem, a language class, or maybe an econ class?</p></li>
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<p>Thanks to those who give advice, I know that the questions are fairly long. I appreciate it:)!</p>
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<li><p>To the best of my knowledge, PoliSci is very theory-based whereas PubPol is application and policy-based. In PoliSci (at least all the PoliSci classes I’ve taken), you will be doing a lot with Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Machiavelli, foundations of political systems, etc. On the other hand, PubPol is much more interdisciplinary, including a strong basis in microeconomics (in fact, PubPol 128 is essentially the same as Econ 55). You’ll be writing memos, doing cost-benefit analysis, determining the effects of an increase in taxes, that sort of thing. Basically, you’ll be learning about political decision making TODAY with a bit more of a social science approach. The way I see it, the two majors are very different. </p></li>
<li><p>I’m not a pre-med, so don’t hold me to this, but I believe that double majors have no real effect on med school admissions. If you find yourself being interested in one of the sciences enough to pursue it as a second major and do well with it, go for it. If not, don’t feel pressured to do so.</p></li>
<li><p>No idea, sorry. You’ll have a pre-med advisor to help you out with all of that once you get to Duke though. No need to worry about upper-level electives yet, as you have a while before you get to them (probably not until junior year).</p></li>
<li><p>The majority of pre-meds don’t take intro bio (Bio 101) until their sophomore year…in fact, the class is already completely full so there will be no freshmen taking it this fall. Instead, you should be taking Chem 31L (or 43L/151L, depending on your AP Credit), a math class (unless you already have AP credit for Calc BC), your seminar, and then whatever you want for the fourth class. The intro PubPol class 55D is already full for the fall, so you may want to look into an intro polisci class…maybe 91D or 102D. 93D is intro to International Relations if you’re into that; I’m taking it this fall because I’ve heard Prof. Feaver is fantastic. </p></li>
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<li><p>Major choice will not affect your chances for med school as long as you satisfy the prerequisites. The thing that will matter the most will be your overall GPA and BCPM GPA (Bio, chem, physics, math). However, in the course of completing your prereqs, you’ll most likely come within 1-2 courses of a chem and/or bio minor and I highly recommend just taking an extra course or so and getting that. </p></li>
<li><p>You should take higher level courses such as genetics, molecular bio, immunology, biochem, microbio, etc. You don’t need to take all of those, but a few would be highly recommended. Biochem, though, is becoming mandatory at many top schools (Cornell, Harvard, Hopkins, Duke) so you’ll shoot yourself in the foot if you do not take that.</p></li>
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