<p>I want to major in psychology and also take pre med classes in the spring. Are there any disadvantages to doing this? I want my first semester to be manageable. This is the first time I will be living away from my family, and I want to get used to college before starting my pre med requirements.
Are these classes ok for my first semester?</p>
<p>-Math 16A
-Anthropology 3AC
-Psychology 1
-Some class that fulfills one of the breadth requirements
- 1 unit P/NP seminar</p>
<p>i’d take chem 1a first. the earlier you complete that course the better because a lot of the other pre-med pre-req courses require 1a. it will give you more flexibility down the road. if you get into a jam later on with your scheduling where you have to pack a few tough science classes into 1 semester, you may come to regret not just getting chem 1a over with your 1st semester.</p>
<p>it can still be a manageable semester if you’re only taking 1 science class.</p>
<p>The premed courses will be teaching you the material you need for the MCAT - the SAT equivalent for med school applicants. That test has questions on general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics. Since you will take this test before your senior year at college, typically, in order to apply for beginning classes in med school the year immediately after Cal graduation. </p>
<p>You will need to have taken Chem 1A, Chem 1AL, Chem 3A, Chem 3AL, Physics 8A, Physics 8B, Bio 1A, Bio 1AL, and a biochem course such as MCB102. </p>
<p>Note that quite a few med schools want calc or other college level math. Fortunately, Math 16A satisfies that for most and is the pre-req minimum for Physics 8A/8B. The remaining med schools that want a full year of math, not zero or one semesters are a minority, but include some key ones you may well want to be applying to, including UCLA. Some of those will consider Math 16A plus a semester of statistics to fulfill their one year math requirement, but their are those like UCLA that demand a full year of Calc. The more a med school is involved in producing both research and practicing physicians, the more likely they would be to ask for stronger math. Note that med schools usually don’t like AP credit or premed classes taken at a CC but your main coursework done at a ‘harder’ school. </p>
<p>Pre-reqs that limit when you can take a course in the premed sequence:</p>
<p>Physics 8A and 8B require at least a semester of Calc, whcih can be Math 16A but also can be an acceptable AP Calc grade. The med school might not accept that as meeting their math requirements but it will let you get into the Physics course immediately.</p>
<p>MCB102 requires Bio 1A and Chem 3B be completed first.</p>
<p>Chem 3B requires Chem 3A be completed first</p>
<p>Bio 1A requires Chem 3A be completed first.</p>
<p>Chem 3A requires Chem 1A be completed, but you can use AP Chem scores to satisfy the requirement sufficient to take Chem 3A. However, med school is going to want to see you take initial chem in college, so most premeds take Chem 1A even after passing AP Chem.</p>
<p>As you can see, there are a chain of classes Chem 1A -> Chem 3A -> Chem 3B -> MCB 102 which takes four semesters to complete, another chain Chem 1A -> Chem 3A -> Bio 1A -> MCB 102 that also takes four semesters to finish. Physics is pretty free of connections, other than Phy 8B requiring Phy 8A first, and Bio 1B has no pre-reqs at all. </p>
<p>The last thing to consider is that these classes, particularly the Chem 3A/3B, Bio 1A and for some the Physics 8A/8B are curved competitive classes commonly called weeders because of the effect they have on terminating pre-med hopes and dreams, although they seem to yank out many flowers and fruit trees along with common weeds, leaving only a fraction of the class in position to earn an A. As a result, one tends to avoid doubling up on the more demanding premed classes in any semester. That means you would need 7 or 8 semesters to space these out, but you have a target to be ready for the MCAT after only 6 semesters and your first semester usually involves taking the less challenging Calc and Chem 1A classes. You will find that you will have to double up some coursework, perhaps Phys 8A along with Chem 3B and Phys 8B along with MCB 102. If you use summers to space out the premed courses then you have less time for volunteer work which is also critical to your med school application. </p>
<p>There are nuances and exceptions to this, and there are those who have doubled or tripled up on the weeders and pulled out full A grades in all of them, but not that many pull it off. Others double sometimes and have other semesters with just one weeder, and with enough hard (and smart) work they can keep up competitive GPAs. Plenty space out everything and are still unable to maintain a high enough GPA to be competitive to most med schools. A 3.2 GPA in the premed courses is not likely to gain many admission offers, which means mostly A or A= grades with a minimum of B or B+. </p>
<p>To read much more about the whole premed path and medicine as a career, I recommend [Student</a> Doctor Network Forums | An educational community for students and doctors spanning all the health professions.](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]Student”>http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>
<p>^"A 3.2 GPA in the premed courses is not likely to gain many admission offers, which means mostly A or A= grades with a minimum of B or B+. "</p>
<p>What if end up with around a 3.7-3.8 but got a B- or even C+ along the way?</p>
<p>Hi everyone, I’m considering pre-med also and have a couple of questions which would really help if anyone would be willing to give their opinion. I haven’t settled even my Phase 1 classes yet and I’m afraid that by the time I pick my schedule I am going to get a very rough/bad schedule in terms of timing and maybe even professors. Right now for my schedule I basically just have Math 1A, Chem 1A and I think I want to add Chinese also. My brother, who graduated from berkeley two years ago, had some advice for me though (he was also a pre-med), and that was to take easy classes just for the GPA. I know I’ve heard this around everywhere regarding premeds, but I’m in a bit of a dilemma here.</p>
<p>For example, my brother suggested I take Math 16A instead of Math 1A, even though I already took AP Calc AB in high school and I think I did really well in it (still waiting for test scores though). Also, he said I should not skip out of Chem 1A (which I wasn’t planning to do anyways) and for the Chinese, to purposely do poorly on the placement exam so as to be placed in an easier class. While I understand that there is this mentality that you must protect your GPA at all costs if you are a premed, I really find it lame that it has become the status quo to do this.</p>
<p>I love learning stuff and I’m afraid I will be bored with the subject material if I take classes that are purposely easy. For example, I REALLY want to learn Chinese well because it’s part of my heritage and I want to be able to actually use it and be able to read it, etc. but if I take my brother’s suggestion, I’m afraid I won’t learn much more than I already know. Has anyone else gone through this dilemma and what was your reaction to it? Help! :P</p>
<p>And on an unrelated note, I’m waiting for my AP Lit score but I think I did well enough on it to pass out of R1A and R1B, but apparently med schools still want you to take a year of english regardless of AP Credit. Should I stick to R1A/R1B classes or maybe take something higher since I can skip out of those classes? I guess it’s a bit on the same note because it would be more interesting to take the harder classes but those classes would be . . . well, harder ;p</p>
<p>If you have AP Calculus credit, you can check your knowledge of calculus with the sample final exams for Math 1A and 1B here:</p>
<p>[Choosing</a> an Appropriate First Math Course — UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html]Choosing”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html)</p>
<p>What is your intended major? That may determine whether you need to take Math 1 versus Math 16 (although any major that accepts Math 16 accepts Math 1). Pre-med by itself is not a major.</p>
<p>You’ll want to check medical schools on their policies about which more advanced courses can be substituted if you use AP credit to move ahead in math, English, etc…</p>
<p>If you are a native or heritage speaker of Chinese, but do not have much ability to read or write, there are specific courses suffixed with X or Y for those who are native/heritage Chinese speakers who have little reading and writing ability (X for native/heritage Mandarin speakers, Y for native/heritage non-Mandarin Chinese speakers). If that describes you, it may be advantageous to take these courses, since you won’t have to take as many courses (1X or 1Y ~= 1A + 1B at the elementary level; 10X or 10Y ~= 10A + 10B at the intermediate level).</p>
<p>Chinese language placement test here:
<a href=“http://dcrf-dev.berkeley.edu/chinese/UC_CPT/ucb/[/url]”>http://dcrf-dev.berkeley.edu/chinese/UC_CPT/ucb/</a></p>
<p>my Chinese is so horrible that it’s laughable. my high school friends have a bet going on as to when my French will get better than my Chinese. but i do think that if you’ve been speaking/writing it since you were a kid, your foundation is already there, and it’s going to be way better than any third language you care to learn. (for example, chinese feels ‘instinctive’ for me, whereas french requires a bit more thought). if you’re like me, you’re better off just reading chinese books or chinese news (and speaking chinese to students from china) than using your units in academic classes.</p>
<p>in the chinese language placement test, i placed at 100XB.</p>