<p>Hi. I am a current High School student, and Im going to be a Senior this year. As you all may know I will start to apply for colleges this fall. I would like to be a physician. So my question is that if you go to college, (and not majoring in Pre-Med) then I know that I have to take the four basic courses for Med School which are: Organic Chem, General Biology, Physics, and General Chem. But then how do I know which course to take on my freshmen year of college? Any recommendations on which one to take for my first year? Or can I take about 2 of those four courses in one year??
Thanks</p>
<p>Except at Penn State, there is no such thing as a “pre med major”. Pre med is an intention, not a major.</p>
<p>Pre med requirements include:</p>
<p>2 semesters intro bio w/labs
2 semesters gen chem w/labs
2 semesters ochem w/labs
1 semester biochem
2 semesters intro physics w/labs</p>
<p>2 semesters of college level mathematics (some schools require calc 1, some require stats, some both calc & stats, some require other math classes. You will need stats for the MCAT.)</p>
<p>2 semesters English or other ‘writing intensive’ classes </p>
<p>1 semester intro psych
1 semester intro sociology
(Some med schools require these classes; most do not. Both classes are needed for the MCAT.)</p>
<p>Some med schools have additional requirements, including (but not limited to) anatomy & physiology, genetics, calc 2, upper level humanities, upper level social sciences. You need to look at the specific requirements for any medical school you think you might want to attend, especially your state medical schools.</p>
<p>Once you know what college you will be attending, you can look for the pre-med advising office’s webpage. There will usually be a suggested course sequence.</p>
<p>Some courses (ochem, biochem, occasionally physics or biology) will have pre-requisites–courses you are require to have completed before you can take them. Pre-reqs can vary by school so your course sequence will depend partially on what college you attend.</p>
<p>Since the chem is longest required sequence, most students at least take gen chem as freshmen. Many colleges also require a freshman writing class–so take that. Fit in your other pre med requirements wherever they are convenient. Med school adcomms will want to see you take 2 or more sciences/math at a time for at least a couple of semesters to see if you can handle the heavy workload you’ll experience in med school.</p>
<p>Gen chem + bio + math + freshman writing/GE elective is a fairly typical freshman pre med schedule. </p>