<p>is the pre-med stuff hard there?</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Wash U. majoring in biology as a pre-med. Science-wise, he went in with AP chem (5), AP Bio (5) and AP Calc AB (4). He decided not to place out of any of the entry level chem or bio because he heard that they're different in college. He doesn't start the bio sequence until next semester but has been doing gen chem and calc I. He said the calc is pretty straightforward. The chem is very hard but he says no harder than his friends' at other schools like UC Berkeley, UCLA, etc. It was a definite advantage to have had AP chem. But what makes it hard is that in each test there are a certain number of questions that extend the material further in never-before-seen problem-solving ways; again that seems similar to other universities. Also the curve is hard (easier for bio than chem) but like at other schools. He really feels that the administration tries to help the students as much as possible. For example, they have special weekly review sessions (beyond the normal sections) that go over those tricky, extra puzzling problem. Also, there are chem tutors living in each dorm. He's hanging in there, working hard but staying afloat, not all A's but good enough. He also said that the students are very supportive of each other and readily help each other with questions. No cut-throat positioning going on.</p>
<p>wow, thanks for your reply, so would you say that WashU is hard but on the level of UCLA and UCB?</p>
<p>That's what he says in terms of difficulty and the curve, not necessarily in terms of course content (I haven't heard about that yet). He also has a good pre-med friend who is a senior at Stanford, and it appears that both universities have those hard puzzling problems included in their tests. But he definitely felt that everyone at Wash U. was in it together pretty equally, all commiserating and trying to help each other along.</p>
<p>I guess the inclusiveness of WashU is a nice difference to the cut throat pre-med stereotype.</p>