<p>Hi, I'm going to be a sophomore at JHU for 2006/07 and was planning on taking the MCAT's the summer of my sophomore year. Freshman year I placed out of bio and took chem. Next year I have to take biochem (fall), cell bio (spring), and orgo (fall+spring), and their associated labs. I therefore can't fit physics and do well in all of the courses during the academic year. If I wanted to take the MCATs the summer of soph. year, would it be okay to take both semesters of physics this summer? I'd be taking them at Hopkins, and continuing the research I've been doing during the school year at the med school at the same time. Would this be viewed poorly by med schools (similarly to taking orgo in the summer)? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>im in a similar situation and from what i have been told by my advisors and a few med school admission counselors, including Harvard BU Tufts and Cornell they dont like summer courses unless you have a good reason, i.e. studying abroad or something of that nature. They also said that if your a science major and take other sciences they dont care because they have a good judge of what you can do scientifically from your major but if u were a pre-med english major and took just the pre-meds they wouldnt want u to take it over the summer</p>
<p>Holly,</p>
<p>How strong was your physics background in high school? The MCAT physics is not that tough... but obviously you want to have some exposure to it before you take the test.</p>
<p>almost nonexistent unfortunately, the class went very slow and we barely got through half the book. i actually heard hopkins physics is really intense...do you think a single semester will do for the MCATs? In this case, i would have to wait until junior year to take the second half. thanks for the replies!</p>
<p>Holly,</p>
<p>I'm not sure how JHU breaks it up, but my guess is that each semester will overprepare you for half of the MCAT, not that a single semester will prepare you correctly for the whole thing.</p>
<p>There are two "parts" to introductory physics: mechanics and E&M (electricity and magnetism). Most colleges go too in-depth on each of them (for MCAT purposes), not too advanced/fast. Am I being clear?</p>
<p>It is not that college physics will go too far with physics, it is that it will go too deep into physics. If Hopkins physics is like most schools', then one semester will overprepare you for mechanics while giving you no education in E&M.</p>