Hey guys,
I am entering college this fall and I NEED some advice from you guys. I know that there are certain pre-requisite courses for med schools such as biology, chemistry, physics, math, english, organic chem, …and etc, but I don’t know which courses to take first in my freshmen year or the next following years. Can I have some advice and examples from you guys? Just, if you can, tell me how was your schedule, how you felt about it, and what is your advice.
Thank You
The only person who can provide a credible advice is a pre-med advisor at your college. Every college has specifics and every students has different background. Talk to your pre-med advisor!
I agree-- your specific school pre-med advisor is your best bet on advice on your schedule. Many freshman pre-meds will take the Bio and Chem series, but some advisors may recommend a different schedule based on your major, skills, AP/dual enrollment credits, etc…
What is your major?
what AP classes are you coming in with?
Your first semester, you’ll typically take bio I and Gen Chem I.
Can you answer some basic questions:
You’re an int’l right?
Are you going to be attending a US undergrad?
How will you be paying for that???
Do you realize that you won’t likely get into a US med school?
If you do, how will you pay for that?
what were your stats?
There is a standard list of courses that you will need to complete - some of which are sequential, others not. Here’s AAMC’s list of general requirements: https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/requirements/ There’s also enough biochem on the test that you want to take that and I think higher level math (through calc) as well. Your advisor and/or pre-med student association will give you the best advice here. You will not want to take the MCAT until you’ve got these courses under your belt - and reviewed any that you took freshman year and may be a bit rusty on. S finished his requirements by the end of junior year and took the MCAT between junior and senior year so he knew his scores before he started applying for med school.
The best advice for freshman is not to overload themselves during their first semester. If you have two very rigorous courses like Chem 1 and Bio 1 (both will have labs too, which can feel like an extra class), do not then heap on other time-consuming, heavily demanding courses. You want time to adjust to a new environment and to make friends. If you have AP credit, think hard about whether you want to skip the entry level or not - there are pros and cons. S repeated those courses though he could have skipped to the next level because he wanted to be sure his foundational courses were solid and he wasn’t going to be working at 100% from day one. The case for skipping is that the competition and grading curves in these intro classes tends to be severe in many schools. You 'll have to weigh this depending on your school, your advisor’s recommendation, etc…
Remember, you can major in anything you want - but being pre-med, especially at a school with semesters instead of quarters, and a lot of distribution requirements and/or required courses, means you won’t have time for a lot of experimenting. Plan your schedule out for all four years (especially if study abroad is one of your goals). Again, your pre-med advisor can help you there.