I have heard that being Pre-Med in college is tough, especially during freshman year. What is it really like and does anyone have any advice about being successful?Are you able to balance your workload with your social life? I’d love to hear personal experiences as well!
To be “pre-med”, you can major in anything you want, as long as you take the medical school pre-req courses like Chem, Bio, Org CHem, etc. etc.
Look at your college’s pre-med advising pages and see if they have a suggested order of taking the pre-med courses…like start with BIo?
You probably only want one Lab course at a time.
Make sure to sign up for classes as soon as you can so you don’t get shut out of any classes you want.
I’m almost done with being a “pre-med” student as a freshmen and I can give you this adivce, MAKE SURE YOU ARE SERIOUS. My first semester schedule consisted of General Chemistry w/ Lab, General Biology I w/ Lab, Calculus I, and 2 other classes. Combined it was 18 credits. You really have to be serious with your work, its doable. I’m a biochemistry and molecular biology major, so I’ll end up taking more science classes than required for medical school. Definitely talk to someone in the science and pre-health department at your school. I had a major advisor and a pre-med advisor. There’s much more to being pre-med than just classes. You need to maintain a strong GPA, be involved in your school community, volunteer, shadow, research, etc. in order to be a strong candidate for medical school. Certain medical schools have requirements for classes you need to take, others don’t care as long as you have the sciences covered. Definitely make sure you have an idea of where you may want to apply to.
My college’s pre-med program recommends:
Biology: General Biology I w/ Lab & General Biology II w/ Lab; Microbiology; Cell and Molecular Biology
Chemistry: General Chemistry w/ Lab, Organic Chemistry I w/ Lab; Organic Chemistry II w/ Lab; Advanced Inorganic Chemistry w/ Lab; Biochemistry w/ Lab
Physics: General Physics I w/ Lab & General Physics II w/ Lab
Math: Calculus I & II; Statistics or Biostatistics
Other: 1 Semester of Psych, 1 Semester of Sociology, 2 Semesters of English
So that is the recommended for my school personally. The math isn’t required for all schools, but some schools want to see it. Like I said, scope out where you want to go. Most people end up (at my school) majoring in biology, chemistry, or biochemistry because it makes it easier to get a degree and cover your requirements. DO NOT take more than two labs in a semester. It will be overkill. A college lab is typically 3 1/2- 4 hours, so imagine that twice a week plus 16 other credits with lectures, studying, social life, etc. If you have any questions PM me! Just definitely think about where you want to go.
To answer your social life question, yes. I still have one. I’m able to be involved in a few clubs, student government, and go out with my boyfriend 2 nights during the week. It takes getting used to though. Make sure you put your academics first.
How tough premed is depends primarily on you. Some considerations:
As med school app process takes a year, when would you apply (eg more “traditional” route (after junior year) v at end of senior year)? As it’s best to apply one time with the strongest app possible, waiting to apply at end of senior year allows you time to ease in frosh year, have more time for ECs, college life, MCAT prep, etc, whereas the more “traditional” route could put more pressure on you from day one. Don’t misunderstand; there are many med students who successfully apply via “traditional” route.
What will your major be. Although how hard a major is can be in the eye of the beholder, some (eg engineering) will be harder and place greater time demands on you. You do realize that you can major in anything you want. Most premeds will probably choose some flavor of bio maybe out of interest, but also because a bio major tends to satisfy major reqs and most premed reqs at same time. Keep in mind that although premed and prepare both have “pre” in each word, no major “pre”pares you for med school (or for MCAT). Pick a major that interests you as if you like material you’re more likely to do well GPA wise which will be important to your med school hopes… Also in picking a major, consider a Plan B as most premeds will change their minds about med school.
Quarter v semester system: although you should stay on top of material no matter which system, if you go to a school on a quarter system, 10 weeks goes by lightning fast and staying on top of things from day one can be critical to earning a good grade.
Talk to premed advisors as soon as possible. Good luck.
At very few schools Pre-med is an actual major, most of the time it means you fulfill the pre-requisite classes which vary slightly by medical school.
Freshman and sophomore years are tough on the pre-med track. Intro bio and chem are weeder classes at a lot of schools. Organic chem is a notorious weeder typically taken sophomore/junior year for most students.
If you understand the “risks” and are determined to go down the pre-med track, be vary smart. I would advise you to take a slightly easier schedule your first semester, regardless of what the adivsors tell you, 12-15 credits or so. The first semester is a big adjustment and you will have plenty of time to take larger loads if necessary. Also pay big attention to what professors teach what classes, as it makes a HUGE difference for the intro-science classes.
@Jugulator20 I didn’t know that you could apply for med school at the end of your senior year…if you do that though, won’t your acceptance/rejection letters come later…is this for students who want to take a gap year?
@rvalover7 Wow, that was a lot of super helpful information! Thanks! Are labs considered a separate grade than the lab? For example, if you had Gen Bio 1 W/Lab, does that mean it is a combined grade?
@Mandalorian thanks! so 12-15 credits would be about 3-5 classes?
Get tutoring as soon as you run into trouble in a required med school class. Know the drop dates just in case. Don’t overload first semester while you get settled in. Find others in your classes to study with. For your non-med school related classes 1st semester, try to pick things that you have some background or skill in to reduce your stress.
@dlsk_8935 I PMed you back with your questions 
Yes. There are many reasons for a gap year(s) (eg, grade repair, research, etc). It’s best to apply one time with the strongest application possible. S ended up first year with GPAs below 3.2. He applied at end of senior year as it allowed him time for grade repair, ECs, more time for MCAT prep, college life, etc. As a note, if like S you need time for grade repair, you just cant spend the gap year playing videos games, med schools will want to see that you’re doing constructive (eg working, research, etc)
@dlsk_8935- It depends on the classes and if they have labs attached. But an example for a first semester schedule might be: Intro bio +lab, intro chem+lab, english 101/gen-ed, possibly 1 other gen-ed.
The intro science classes are not conecptually difficult, but they are very time consuming especially with the labs. I would advise against taking chem, bio, and math/physics all at once, especially your first semester. Pick 2 intro science classes and a couple gen-eds to knock out.
Your first semester, take calculus 1 (or 2) and either bio or chemistry with the lab, plus English and an easy gen-ed. Give yourself time to adjust to college. Remember that it’s a marathon, not a dash race. (And right now, a majority of students applies senior year or later.)
During each lecture or reading, write down a question. Then bring those to office hours. Each week, without fail.
As soon as you hit a B+, go to tutoring. It doesn’t seem like a bad grade, but it means you don’t master the content, and the course will build on each notion, so that it’ll get harder and harder to keep a high grade.