<p>Sciences are pretty strong at NU. The chemistry department, I know from experience, is very good. It is the highest funded department in the College of Arts and Sciences at NU. The advisor and the head of the department try and stay really active in your life so that they can help you out. They are very good at helping you get co-ops that fit your specific needs.</p>
<p>I would advise against majoring in biochemsitry. Instead, do Chemistry or Biology, and try to double in the other. The biochemistry kids are technically taken care of by the Biology department, but it always seem like they are pushed around. Sticking with one of the departments gets you a lot more assistance with co-ops and recommendations. Besides, it is only 9 more classes to double in biology if you are majoring in chemistry.</p>
<p>If you do a romance language, I am pretty certain you can only major in spanish. (Everyone, please correct me if this has changed) If you do spanish, you will have to study abroad. If you do a science, you pretty much definitely won't, although you can try to get a co-op abroad. I know med schools like diversity, but I highly doubt you'd get enough science in to be able to get into med school. That's just my opinion.</p>
<p>It will definitely be to your benefit. When you apply to med school, everyone has good grades. Presumably, everyone has done well on the MCAT. Everyone has found a professor to give them a great recommendation. It goes down to your essay, your interview, and your experience. If during your interview, a med school professor asks you to explain the work you did in some lab your middler year, not only will you be able to talk about it like everyone else can but you could also talk about how the skills learned from that lab affected how you succeeded in your next co-op. You can talk about how the work you did in one of the top hospitals in Boston helped you know you want to be a doctor. Co-op really helps. In my opinion, it is like you took a year off between college and med school in order to be really sure that you want your life to be a certain way, except you aren't behind at all because you were still in school.</p>
<p>Yes it does, if you do 3 co-ops. If you come in with a LOT of credit, and drop a co-op, you can squeeze it into 4 years.</p>
<p>When the head of the chemistry department was talking to chemistry freshman, he talked about how there is an orgo chem class and an orgo chem for chem majors class. In the orgo chem class, when you get a C+, they can curve you to a B. In the orgo chem for chem majors class, when you get a D, they can curve you to a B. At least for the chemistry department (I don't know about bio), the harder the class, the more they want you to succeed. They want you to earn good grades, yeah, but they also want you to get good co-ops and get into good grad schools.</p>