<p>Echoing some of phoneyreal98's science questions, from a mom meddling before CTOPS:
Freshman kid's interested in pre-med plus international relations plus having a life on campus. Plus studying abroad for at least one semester.
I'm not sure she knows how difficult that could be, but then again, I don't want to plant negative thoughts.
Then again, I don't want her to automatically be on a five-year plan. Or perhaps I should advise her that at least one summer would need to be spent on campus.
If there are students out there who are accomplishing similar feats, through careful planning and getting a good start freshman year, I'd love to get my Kid in touch with them. I was a liberal arts major, and know very little about this load.
Kid will have specific scheduling questions, some of which are answered in pre-med thread elsewhere at college confidential, but I'd love her to hear advice from UNC students.
Is the pre-med society, Alpha Epsilon Delta, still active? Any other places to go for advice and inspiration?
And thanks, current students, for all the advice you've given here in the past.</p>
<p>Honestly, that load might not be as hard as you'd think, especially if she has a decent amount of AP credit coming in. The AP credit can take care of a lot of the general college requirements, which makes things a lot easier. Don't know a ton about international studies but I'm assuming that you'd get at least some credit towards the major for studying abroad, so it's not like a semester abroad would be a wasted semester. Pre-med requirements are tough, but as long as you are focused and willing to work hard during the week, you can still easily go out and have a life just like anyone. I'd say that as long as she plans ahead and is careful about scheduling, it shouldn't be any problem to do pre-med with international studies and also study abroad in eight semesters. If she wanted a little more flexibility, she might consider doing study abroad during the summer, or even doing one or two summer sessions in CH.</p>
<p>Thanks, luxlibertas. Helps me to not rain on her parade.
And helps me advise her, or make sure she gets good advising, for that first semester.
And helps me advise her to try to find (very light) work in the library or local hospital, not the pizza joint or bar.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, it's pretty difficult for Bio and Chem majors to study abroad. You don't have to major in that to be pre med, but I would think that's good to know. If they do study abroad, generally it's in the summer. I don't know of anyone double majoring in International Studies and Bio or Chem - those are all pretty demanding majors. Plus, International Studies requires that you study abroad.</p>