<p>At a few undergrad schools (such as MIT), first year first semester is all pass/fail. Is it a good idea to take premed prereqs during first semester? I read on several websites it looks really bad to OPT to take pass/fail because medical schools will see the P as a D. However, what if P/F isn't an OPTION, but MANDATORY (first semester)? </p>
<p>If it does look bad, then does it mean that I can't take any science/math courses at all first semester? What if I want to be a math/science major? The premed prereqs all contain introductory courses, so I can't NOT take those courses if I want to take more advanced courses. Should I just use this time to get my distribution requirements out of the way? (I'm so used to taking at least one science course that I feel like I wouldn't get used to not taking any math/science for a whole semester.)</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience doing premed at a school where first year first semester is all pass/fail? </p>
<p>DS’s school is not one where first year first semester is all pass/fail. But his school requires all students to take 4 more classes before graduation than the number of classes at comparable schools. (BTW, essentially all AP/IB credits are useless other than for the placement purpose at his school.)</p>
<p>Also, his school encourages the students to take one class pass/fail each year. However, his premed advisor (who writes the premed committee letter) suggested him to take every class with a grade.</p>
<p>I am not sure whether this premed advisor is too strict or not in his advice. But this was his advice.</p>
<p>I think his point is that a premed should take every opportunity to demonstrate his academic credential. Taking all classes with a grade and getting a good grade can help demonstrate this.</p>
<p>But very few premeds are perfect in every aspect. For example, some CCer like BDM even suggested that a premed should occasionally take a heavy course load in one or two semesters and excel in such a “stress test” environment. A good advice indeed - if only you can hack it. But how many could actually achieve this?</p>
<p>Remember that, to be a successful applicant, a premed only needs to be “good enough.” You do not have to be one of the best students at Harvard in order to get into a med school. This is because, to a certain extent, the in-state love and the regional bias of med schools in your state/region would indirectly help an applicant getting into her in-state med school in the end. IMHO, there is no need to stress out too much in your four years in college - which could be the most precious, care-free time in your whole life, and the last time you live a life without many mundane responsibilities.</p>
<p>Medical schools will not accept P/F grades for pre-req courses. Any course that you plan to use to fulfill requirements for admission must have a grade. </p>
<p>(According a friend’s D, a MIT bio grad, MIT really isn’t true pass/fail for freshmen. MIT records “secret grades” for all freshman classes. A special transcript with actual letter grades replacing all the P/F 's is what is sent to AMCAS.)</p>
<p>There are few other school that ‘cover’ first semester freshman grades (i.e. the letter grades don’t normally appear on a official transcript), but all of these school uncover those grades for AMCAS and med school applications.</p>
<p>If you want to take math & science coursework that you will use to fulfill med school admission requirements your freshman year–you may not use the P/F option. </p>
<p>You may want to check before taking psych & sociology P/F. Some med schools have added/will be adding social science pre-reqs to their pre-reqs starting w/the class entering in 2016. You need to check to see if P/F grading is acceptable for the social science courses.</p>
<p>I have heard of the “secret” grades at a school like MIT and the uncovering of the grades by the school when applying to med schools.</p>
<p>Somehow I have the impression that Rice has a policy that allows their students to drop one course without a record unusually late in the fall semester of freshman year. This would be a god-send for some premeds who happen to have a rocky transition in the first semester in college - if this is true.</p>
<p>I also heard of an overly premed-crazy overly-cautious parent who suggest the child not to take any science prereqs in the first one or even two semesters. Rather, they suggest her/him to get used to the new environment and get a sense of the rigorous level and course load of the prereq classes. I think this is too extreme. The other extreme is to urge the child (or the child himself chooses to do so) to finish the college in 3 (instead of 4) years.</p>