<p>I'm wondering... how much money does the summer semester usually cost as compared to other semesters? I might have to live on campus... I hope it isn't that expensive.</p>
<p>Musashi8 Although summer session is slightly cheaper than regular academic semesters, each state and each school have different fee structures (i.e., tuitions and room/board) for in-state and out-of-state students. The best deal would be to take summer class at a university in your home town, or within the distance of half an hour commute. If you live on campus, my guess is that room/board of the summer session may be more than tuition/textbook. However, one needs not to be full time in summer session except for international students. If you take one course, the tuition is charged based on the number of credit hours registered. Thus, the cost of one course in summer is surely much cheaper than full time tuition of a regular semester. The exact costs for summer classes are available from the registrar and housing offices at your university, and please check with them if you are interested. Some people find off-campus housing (such as a sublet apartment) is cheaper in summer than on-campus housing. If you choose to live off-campus, please make sure that the place is absolutely safe and in walking distance to your campus. Also, you need to find out if you can still have your meals at your campus dinning hall while living off campus. At my school, all students can pay and use campus dinning facility regardless of whether they live on campus or elsewhere. There is really no point to cook for yourself during the several busy weeks in summer school.</p>
<p>Medical schools do not care much when you complete your pre-med requirements and whether or not they are all completed at your alma mater, as long as you fulfill all the pre-med requirements at reputable universities and not from a community college, before you can apply to medical school. It may be a good idea to take one course that is the most time-consuming in summer. Even with a fast pace (science class meets 4 days (3 hours) a week, not counting lab time), one can still find a sufficient amount of time to keep up, assuming you do not need to take a job at the same time. When one does not have to divide to his time among 4-5 courses, he/she may be more relaxed and focus more efficiently on the tasks on hand and get a better grade. </p>
<p>You do not need to concern what friends are taking as people come to college from vastly different backgrounds and high school preparations. Many had most AP sciences taken while in high school, and thus they can cope with three math/science courses in one semester and still get nice grades. I would go with my own curriculum plans that meet my needs. Please be sure to follow advices from your academic dept. adviser and use your college catalog that provides detailed information you need. </p>
<p>If you plan to take pre-cal and chemistry 1 next semester, that sounds good as pre-cal is the prerequisite for calculus in sophomore year. I agree with MD2B2012s comments in the posts #21, it may not be beneficial to sit in Chemistry 2. If you indeed have more time, I would consider a general chemistry lab instead. People also agree with you that taking chemistry 2 in summer 2009 is feasible. At the same time, please go audit a few times in a chemistry lab course or organic chemistry to just test the water and see how much work involved and if the pace is in deed too fast for you. The experience will give you some ideas of better planning your sophomore courses. Between biology and orgo for sophomore year, I probably would take biology before orgo, but not both at the same time on top of a calculus. Please seek more opinions on this. You will have the summer 2010 to deal with organic chemistry after finishing general chemistry sequence, one year of biology and some lab sciences, which could help to some degree when you are ready to do orgo. As I said, not everyone takes the exact same path in course selections, and it helps you the most when you work with the course plans that you are most confident and comfortable with, and I wish to emphasize again the importance to rely on your academic advising for guidance. As we know, just finishing all premed requirements will not allow anyone to graduate with a diploma. All students need to have a 4-year plan to meet university general requirements and major requirements that incorporate your pre-med curriculum. This is why we need to develop an open-ended academic plan (road map) once you are in college, with the help of academic advisers/counselors. Also, I do not know if you university offer one calculus sequence for all majors, or there are different calculus sequence for different majors. My school offers three different calculus sequences for science majors, health majors and business majors, respectively. No need to worry about this though right now, and I am sure you could find out next year.</p>
<p>so, if I don't do the calculus with organic and bio... then when should I probably complete it? The highest calc that I would have to take is calc II, but that is a maybe. I doubt that I will have to complete that though because bio only requires me to go to calc 1. Calc II is for biochem and chem majors.</p>
<p>I was also wondering... is there anyone on this board that had to withdraw from a class, and if so could you tell me how your interview for med school went and what school you are currently attending?</p>
<p>I am sure many people can answer your first question in post #43 and I do not know who can answer your second question in #44 on this thread. To be honest with you, I am not a pre-med and I am not qualified to answer pre-med questions. This thread was started to discuss course selections per your request, and people have provided thoughtful feedbacks so far for your consideration. In general, pre-med requirements should be completed by the end of junior year. Of course some people finish in less than three years and it all depends on individual situation. Can you finish pre-med requirements in three years? You would know better yourself. The reason why I do not suggest that you take both bio and orgo in the same semester is that you need to leave room in your schedule each semester to take a course in bio lab or chemistry lab. Lab courses are part of the pre-med requirements. You also need a year of physics. If you are a biology major, you will also have upper division bio courses during junior/senior years.</p>
<p>Please do an exercise like this--draw 8 boxes (representing 8 semesters of 4-year undergraduate program) on a sheet of paper. Under each semester, list out the courses you have taken and plan to take to see if you can finish all the requirements to get an undergraduate degree in 2012. The courses under the 8 semesters should meet your degree and major requirements including the pre-med curriculum. What courses to list under each semester? Your college catalog and your academic adviser will help you out on that. After you are done mapping all the required courses into 8 semesters, you will have a better picture to understand when you can finish pre-med requirements and when you are able to graduate. If 8 semesters are not sufficient, will adding summer semesters and a regular semester help? </p>
<p>I would suggest that you check out pre-med threads where many pre-med college students, current medical school students and even faculty on medical school admissions committees provide a great amount of insightful information. Please do a keyword search to find those threads. You cannot just stay on this small thread to get all your questions answered. For example, please try this one first: General premed advice. However, please do not spend all your time on this board when you are in school, because it will take too much time.</p>
<p>1-2 withdraws isn't going to raise an eyebrow. More than 2 W's and you've established a pattern and will likely be asked about it at some point. Interviews questions depend on the interviewer and what they're interested in. Some interviewers don't even bother looking at your transcript and won't ask any question about academics. It doesn't mean that your W's won't be noticed by the review committee however.</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear that because I don't plan on withdrawing from any more classes because I will improve my study habits and make sure I do well from this point forward!</p>
<p>btw, why is it that they made general chem and pre-calc computerized... does anyone else have this at their universities?</p>
<p>Hey guys, I recently figured out that I might be able to exempt that chem course and go to the course next semester by taking a placement test. Do you guys think it would be a good idea to take the test?</p>
<p>If you're taking the General Chemistry I course now and not doing well in it, what makes you think you'll be able to take a Credit by Exam (Department Exam) to get credit? Most likely it will be the final exam for the course.</p>
<p>Yea, I know... but at least it is a paper and pencil test. I've gone over my old tests and things and have figured out my past mistakes and done practice problems etc... It doesn't hurt anything I guess it's worth a shot. However, does general chem 1 build on general chem II or are they independent?</p>
<p>Btw, I could have probably passed... but I thought it wouldn't be worth the risk because I thought I still wouldn't be able to make the score on the computerized test format. ALso, I have to maintain at least a 3.0 gpa each semester to keep my scholarship.</p>
<p>i'm assuming you mean gen chem 2 building on gen chem 1</p>
<p>answer: somewhat... but most of chem2 was dealing with all the Ka, Qc, reaction rate stuff... whereas chem 1 was more about orbitals and the periodic table, etc (clearly a gross oversimplification^^)</p>
<p>Try looking in your textbook, because most schools use the same one for both semesters</p>
<p>Your exams in the actual General Chem I course are computerized? I guess it gets you used to the MCATs which are now computerized as well.</p>
<p>Yea, probably so... but have any of you guys taken a placement test for a science? How difficult are they usually?</p>
<p>Ok, everyone... I have figured out something after talking to the testing services at my university. I have three choices. The first choice is to take general chem 1 next semester and go to the chem 2 lectures and taking the test to hopefully avoid taking a summer semester. Or, I could take the placement test now and try to get the credit for gen chem 1 and go to gen chem 2, while avoiding taking a summer semester. Otherwise, if I didn't get the credit I will end up taking the summer semester. The test can only be taken once. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>could someone please reply?</p>
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The first choice is to take general chem 1 next semester and go to the chem 2 lectures and taking the test to hopefully avoid taking a summer semester.
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<p>What does this mean? You'd be taking Gen Chem 1 and 2 at the same time?</p>
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Or, I could take the placement test now and try to get the credit for gen chem 1 and go to gen chem 2, while avoiding taking a summer semester.
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<p>Is this placement test computerized? Given that you have trouble with computerized exams and that you dropped out of the course, I don't think this is a good idea. To quote post #50 by froggie2009 - "If you're taking the General Chemistry I course now and not doing well in it, what makes you think you'll be able to take a Credit by Exam (Department Exam) to get credit? Most likely it will be the final exam for the course."</p>
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Otherwise, if I didn't get the credit I will end up taking the summer semester.
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<p>How are your ECs looking? If you have a weak transcript, you'll need to make up for it somehow. You might be better off using your summer to start building a strong resume.</p>
<p>The placement test isn't computerized. It's paper and pencil... what I mean is that I could attend both lectures and try to get credit for 1212 because I have friends who could let me borrow practice tests, look at their old tests, and etc... So, I could take the test now or wait till after I'm done with gen chem 1 and see if I will need to take gen chem 2 over the summer or if I exempt it. Or, vice versa...</p>
<p>What do you mean by EC's?</p>