<p>I heard from many threads it is next to impossible to maintain a 4.0 GPA, if one intends to do major in Biochemistry and do Pre-med, no matter what college they go to. Is this true? To those people in college confidential that majored in Biochemistry, how was it? Was it difficult and time consuming? Were you able to maintain a 4.0 GPA? About how many hours did you have to study everyday? Did you have time to study for the MCATs while doing pre-med and a biochemistry major? Did you have time to do extracurricular activities, such as playing sports, or participatin in clubs and club activities? Did you have time to work to pay for college tuition or time to do internships?</p>
<p>Why so set on Biochem?</p>
<p>It's hard to maintain a 4.0, period. You need to have a realistic view of college. This isn't high school where everyone had 3.9's. Last year at Cornell, out of 200+ premeds, only 6% had GPA's of 3.9 or above.</p>
<p>6%....I consider that pretty high for Cornell.</p>
<p>It doesn't include the 600 others who were weeded out beforehand.</p>
<p>i was actually gonna ask the same question as Raihan since i heard that majoring in Biochem gives you an edge when applying to med/dental school. or is that wrong?</p>
<p>It seems to me that the difficulty of a major and the difficulty of doing well in general depends on a) a student's aptitude and work ethic and b) the academic level of the school.</p>
<p>Am I wrong? Can we actually be general about something like this?</p>
<p>If you work hard you can do well at any school. You don't have to be a genius to get a 4.0 at any school in my opinion. You need to have some intelligence, but achieving good grades is all about work ethic. I don't care how smart you are, if you don't work hard at a difficult school, you won't do well.</p>
<p>For the record, I think even the valedictorians of many colleges don't have 4.0 GPAs. I know Yale rarely does. Vanderbilt didn't last year.</p>
<p>6% is 12 kids...biochem is tough, but its not just only the science classes you can easily get a B in a nonscience class. i'm actually straight chemsitry but i'm two classes away from a biochem degree (swap a second semester of pchem lab for biochem lab, and swap inorganic chemistry for biochem III). 4.0s are tough period</p>
<p>so what classes are different with biochem major as to bio major anyway?</p>
<p>pchem (10 char)</p>
<p>Analytical Chemsitry, A more physical science approach to biochem (3 semesters in biochem versus 1 (if you even need it) in biology), biochem lab, instrumental methods in chemistry...basically a lot more quantitative labs/courses...</p>
<p>Obviously, this varies from school to school.</p>