Hello Everyone!
I recently completed my first year at NYU. As I begin my summer medical research internship and move into my new dorm, I realize that at this time last year, I had many questions related to the premed program. I was feeling a bundle of emotions: excitement, anxiety and curiosity. In an effort to quench my nerves, I decided to look on forums and blogs for information related to the pre-med track at NYU. Through my search, while I did find a few heavenly sources, I realized that there wasn’t a huge amount of information online. So today, I decided that I will talk about my first year at NYU, experiences with the pre-med program and overall thoughts in an effort to help prospective students.
I am currently a Global Public Health/Social Work major at the Silver School of Social Work, however, I plan on applying for an internal transfer at Gallatin in order to participate in the accelerated MPH program and declare a concentration in Race, Class, and Illness. While a large amount of students participating in the pre-med program are traditional science majors (Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Neuroscience), there is a relatively large amount of humanities and social science majors who are also on the track. For non-science majors, the pre-med requirements will fulfill your Natural Science or elective requirements, allowing you to have an appropriate amount of space.
At NYU, the prehealth track consists of the following courses: two semesters of General Chemistry and Lab (worth 5 credits each), two semesters of Principles of Biology (worth 4 credits each), two semesters of Organic Chemistry and Lab (worth 5 credits each), two semesters of General Physics (worth 5 credits each), Biochemistry I (worth 4 credits), two semesters of English (worth 4 credits each - Writing the Essay counts as one semester), Calculus I (worth 4 credits) and at least 1 Social Science course - such as Psychology or Sociology (worth 4 credits).
Typically, science majors will take General Chemistry and Principles of Biology concurrently during their freshman year, followed by Organic Chemistry with either Molecular and Cellular Biology or General Physics during their sophomore year and complete their final requirements during their junior year. For non-science majors, most will only take General Chemistry their freshman year, followed by Organic Chemistry studied concurrently with either Principles of Biology or General Physics their sophomore year, and finally taking Biochemistry I along with your other requirements your junior year.
In the case of math and science requirements, I have fulfilled my General Chemistry and Calculus I requirements. During high school, I took AP Calculus AB and scored well enough on the exam to test out of Calculus I. While I would have preferred to have taken Calculus at NYU, my status as a dual social science major did not allot any space towards this requirement. While many students who are premed at NYU opt to use their AP credit to test out of Calculus, I would say that a majority of the students do take Calculus I during their freshmen year. I had also taken AP Chemistry, AP Biology, and AP Physics during high school, however, medical schools do not allow AP credit to fulfill the science requirements.
At NYU, the traditional track General Chemistry course is taught by John Halpin. If I am not mistaken, professor Halpin has taught the course for approximately 20 years now - and his experience shows. His lectures are very organized and his exams are fair. Unlike most other science courses, the General Chemistry exams ARE NOT curved, meaning that your raw score is equivalent to your recorded grade. Fortunately, this also means that if everyone were to do well on an exam, everyone would be able to get an A. Outside of lecture, a student must also sign up for a recitation, PTE, and lab section. Recitations are smaller classes that meet up weekly in order to discuss the material in lecture, allow students to ask questions, hand-in homework, and take quizzes. The recitations are taught by TAs, who are usually grad students. PTE, or Peer Tutoring Experiences, are weekly meet-ups organized by an upperclassman in which students complete practice problems and discuss the material with one another. Finally, there is a weekly lab. I do admit, having to attend two lectures, a recitation, a PTE and a lab each week can be a bit time consuming. However, I felt that the additional class time helped me understand the material better. All in all, I feel that while General Chemistry is time-consuming, it is definitely bearable. If you keep up with the material, complete your homework on time and do well on the labs, an A grade is quite attainable.
In the case of the humanities requirements, most students at NYU will need to take an expository writing course known as Writing the Essay during their freshman year. Writing the Essay is an introductory writing course that consists of a plethora of small writing tasks and three primary essays. As a prospective student, you have most likely heard horror stories regarding WTE. While WTE can be challenging due to the frequent assignments and the change in thinking from high school writing , I was fortunate enough to have had an incredible professor (Katherine Carlson) who made the class both challenging and rewarding. WTE will fulfill both the core requirements for your general major and the first English requirement for the premed track. Most premed students complete their second semester of English during their sophomore year of college. This can be done through taking Advanced College Essay (which is basically the second part of Writing the Essay) or an English class. I chose to take an English class known as Introduction to African Literature - another class where the professor was absolutely amazing!
For the social science requirements, I actually took Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Sociology during my second semester. I only did this due to the fact that Social Work majors are required to take both classes during their freshman year. Last semester, both Psych. courses were taught by Professor Ted Coons. Dr. Coons is a highly established researcher in his field; with this said, his exams are very difficult - however, the curve in the class is HUGE. You are graded using a standard deviation curve, meaning that a B- is equivalent to the average grade in the class. As long as you study the lecture notes and the study guide packet in order to stay ahead of the curve and complete ALL THE EXTRA CREDIT - you should do very well. Soc. was taught by Jeff Manza - another highly established professor. The Sociology recitation is mandatory as it accounts for your participation grade. The exams were quite easy, as you are allowed to bring a 1-page study sheet to each text. All in all, I think that neither class was particularly difficult, but I do think that Sociology requires less intensive studying.
As far as the overall level of difficulty of the prehealth program at NYU, I will say that that the science courses (specifically Gen. Chem, Orgo, and Physics) are usually coined “weed-out” courses. During the first semester of General Chemistry, there were about 600 students. By the second semester, there were only 400 students. This number is only cut down further due to Organic Chemistry, as many students opt to end the prehealth track either to enter a different science field or change their major completely. As long as you stay on top of your work, communicate with your professors and actually enjoy what you are learning, I think that the track will be challenging yet manageable.
Here is another great post about the prehealth track at NYU: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/new-york-university/717704-my-1st-year-of-pre-med-at-nyu-detailed-information-for-prospective-pre-meds-p1.html
If you have any more questions feel free to ask below!
