<p>I’ll be starting at BU this fall and I was super excited about it, but after reading some threads, I’m not so sure. I’m going to be in Human Physiology at Sargent and I will be Pre-med, and this is what scares me. I mean, I want to be a doctor and I absolutely love biology and anatomy, but I keep reading about BU’s grade deflation, how hard it is to get a decent GPA as a science major, and how you have to scarifice a social life to succeed. Now, I knew I’d have to work hard and stuff, but I’m just afraid I still won’t be able to do well. I guess I was a pretty decent student in high school (top 5% of class, ~3.8 GPA, 2040 SAT) but I feel like I’m still not smart enough. </p>
<p>I don’t know, I don’t want it to come easy to me, but I don’t want to be completely stressed all the time and not be able to hang out with friends once in a while. If you are BU Pre-med or know someone that is, how many hours to you spend every week/day studying? Do you absolutely have no life? And is it possible to get a decent GPA (3.6+)? </p>
<p>if you’re a good student and you study effectively then you’ll be fine. i did the exact same track and finished magna cum laude and am starting bu med in the fall. AND i went out EVERY weekend as a freshman and sophomore, and less as a jr and senior (just because partying became less of my thing). the way that you perform in college is a good indicator of the way you’ll perform in med school, and the key to that is time management. how i studied is that i started early; i would come home everyday from classes and would study on the weeknights for a couple of hours to review the lecture material. i always stayed on top of my work and did my labs and projects almost immediately as they were assigned (or began to work on them). avoid procrastination and there will be much less stress.</p>
<p>Yeah, thanks for the advice. Do you find that how people perform in high school is a good indicator of how they will perform in college as well? Or does it tend to get better or worse?</p>
<p>kingsta: i dont think any program is harder to get into that the others. probably because its also extremely easy to transfer schools (w/in BU) and switch majors at BU, so you’re definitely not stuck with your original decision (i.e. i switched from undecided cas to nutritional sciences in sar in nov of my frosh year, and then switched to human phys in 2nd semester soph year).</p>
<p>sak09: i have to say that performance in high school is not necessarily a good indicator of performance in college. it depends on the focus u maintain after arriving at BU. some of the best students tend to get very overwhelmed, or become blinded by the “college experience” and neglect the fact that the primary reason they’re paying $45k per year is to get an education. also, high school tends to be much easier than college. i don’t think i studied more than 2 days for any exam in high school, and for my tough classes (i.e. neuro, gross, biochem, gen chem, orgo, cell bio, etc.) i would begin studying at least a week in advance. it all depends on the individual. some of my friends stayed just as brilliant as they were in high school and hardly ever had to study to do well. don’t stress; 1st semester is a transition for everyone and a time to find your niche both socially and academically. everything will fall into place, no stress. as i said above, its all time management.</p>