My son is in High School and doing dual at OSU and planning to take Biomedical Science/Neuroscience and wanted to go to Med School
He has already got the credits for Bio-1, Physics-1,Chem-1, Stats, Calculus-AB, Eng, Psychology Intro 1100,US Gov through AP and EMTEST
He is doing dual program at college and enrolled for English-Lit, Bio-2, Neuroscience -3000 and Psychology - 3513 for first semester.
In order to prepare for MCAT he is planning to take Chem-2, Sociology, Physiology and may be Psychology 3313 at OSU for second semester but his schedule doesn’t allow to take the regular classes, instead he has to take Chem-2 (Honors) and Sociology (Honors) classes which I think are little bit tough.
He doesn’t want to take Physics-2 along with Chem-2.
Can anybody please suggest if he can choose any other courses so that it can fulfill his Biomedical Science/Neuroscience requirement as well as help him in preparing for MCAT.
I would highly recommend just letting your son enjoy his acceptance until it’s actually time to register for classes. It just seems a bit premature to plan everything out before even consulting with the pre-med & major advisors yet. They would be his best bet for class recommendations since it’s their job to help make him a success.
And honestly, a career in Medicine really is a marathon, not a sprint. I completely empathize with what you’re trying to do, but as they say - an ounce of prevention & all. Even thoroughbred race horses have their drive to run full out reigned in during most of the race, only given their heads to run at top speeds at the end. Otherwise, they tire out & don’t have anything left when it really is needed. And yes. Yes, it only gets more & more intense as he progresses towards his goal.
So I suggest that maybe you help your son just enjoy this moment in time & relax a fraction of an inch. He won’t have this opportunity to just ‘be’ again for a very, very long time if he stays on course to become a physician.
I totally agree. My daughter is a current freshman and her Biological Sciences advisor told her that if you think you may ever consider med school, you will want to take the chem and bio in college. They told her med schools do not like to see that you satisfied your foundations of science in high school with AP credits So far, the advising has been wonderful. She decided to retake both. All is not lost however, since receiving A’s in the AP level classes and 4’s on the AP tests, helped her admission to OSU and awarded her scholarships. So I guess my point is, if your son is med school bound, he may be advised to take chem and bio in college, even if he AP’d out in high school. Just something to think about.
@jumbletumbles, after reading your reply, which support my feelings, I showed it to my son and suggested him to relax and enjoy as you’ve mentioned. Thanks.
As I’ve mentioned he has already joined dual program at Ohio State University. He has already fulfilled his high school graduation requirements and he wants to select some of the courses for second semester in order to get free time in future. I told him to go with something easier which doesn’t need lot of efforts. He has decided to go with Chem-2 because that is pre-requisite for other chemistry subjects.
As new2osu has mentioned he can go with science subjects again, but he wants to wait for those subjects to take till his freshman year as he has also applied for NEOMED (Dual BS/MD program) where he gets credit for science subjects. Now he wants to select a course or two ( apart from Chem-2), that would help him to get the credits for any major (Neuro/Biomed) in OSU or even if he gets into NEOMED. So that later he would get free time for preparing for MCAT. He wanted to keep all his options open but he is finding it difficult to select such courses.
@Pras2016 – As a parent of a child who has applied to both OSU & NEOMED, between the two programs which one do you suggest and why? I am trying to see the pros and cons from someone else’s perspective.
4 years of Undergrad at OSU + 4 years of medical school
Let me say a few things I hear about the two programs.
NEOMED Pros: Save 2 years, less money and time spend on undergrad education
(Almost?) guaranteed admission to medical school, don’t have the stress associated with preparing medical school applications, doing various things to make the application stronger.
Cons: Very hectic 2 years, need to be prepared to take MCAT after 1 year of college, do not get summers off
One does not get the traditional college experience
No practical opportunity to consider a different field
You settle on one medical school, may be you could have gone to a better medical school through a regular channel.
I think something that is important to consider is that NEOMED is accepting applicants that would have gotten into Med school after a normal 4 year college undergraduate experience anyways. So it’s the applicants choice on whether they want to save the money and head straight into Med School or have an undergraduate experience that might result in going to a better Med School.
As for anybody that would argue that some might be able to get in now but not after a 4 year undergraduate education I would strongly disagree. Even if this is true someone who isn’t able to pass the Pre- Reqs with flying colors would never get past the USMLEs and other aspects of Med School.
@Leicisbest - Good point, although, once needs to think 4 years can bring a lot of changes in the medical school application process (probably to become tougher) and better Med school does not always mean the student will actually succeed there …but I have liked the discussion I have seen so far …
@dreamed - I guess the student aiming to go to med school take AP/IB and may be College Credit Plus/ Dual Credit program as my son did. I’m just wondering if someone is planning to go to NEOMED what courses he should select in college credit plus program in order to reduce the course load for 2 yr undergrad in NEOMED partner universities. We tried Transferolgy but it didn’t help much.
@Pras2016 Not Pre-Med but i know a good amount about it:
If your son is in honors, they severely limit the amount of AP/EM credit allowed to be used toward gen eds and other classes. The biomedical sciences major is not a dual track either if i remember correctly, it is merely a bare bones pre med track designed so that it’s basically med school or bust. I am almost 100% sure for both neomed and osu and for that case any pre-med program, they HIGHLY prefer you take the intro science courses at a 4 year institution and not take AP/EM credit for anything.
As far as college credit plus. I would recommend English Comp 1 and 2, public speaking, psychology 101, and assorted history, art, and humanity courses. I looked up the courses required for each program and then had my daughter take non science classes that matched up. It worked out really well for her.
I would like to correct my previous post. Even science courses can be taken if they are taken college credit plus at a state institution. My daughter knows someone that had all their physics out of the way.
