<p>Can any Penn student please explain what the standard pre-med route at Upenn includes (courses, extracurriculars, majors, etc.) Also, does Vagelos MLS or LSM make it easier or harder to complete pre-med requirements?</p>
<p>Thank you. I am asking this because I have heard that UPenn is one of the better IVies in pre-med.</p>
<p>I’m not pre-med, and I’m in the class of 2015, so take this with many grains of salt, but:</p>
<p>I’d imagine it’s no different from being a pre-med at any other college. You take the same classes that all the med schools request of their applicants, you should get medical / science research experience, and you can major in whatever the hell you want. Vagelos LSM probably makes it harder to be pre-med since you have to get the dual degree (more classes to take so less room for pre-med requirements, less time to study for the MCAT, and possibly lower GPA). Vagelos MLS is not at all designed for pre-meds, and from what I know, its high rate of attrition is due to students wanting to pursue pre-med instead of research science.</p>
<p>There are only ten courses to fulfill the pre-med requirements, which is why you can’t “major” in pre-med at Penn like you can at other schools. Two semesters intro chem with lab, two semesters intro physics with lab, two semesters intro bio with lab, two semesters organic chemistry with lab, two semesters English. So I had friends who majored in anything ranging from economics to creative writing to biology who were pre-med. But there is some talk of increasing the biology requirement at some med schools in the future, so I would advise taking courses like biol 202 (cell biology and biochemistry) and biol 221 (genetics). See for example [Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/healthprof/premdcourses.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/healthprof/premdcourses.html)</p>
<p>Vagelos MLS forces you to take intro chem, intro physics, organic chem, and biology courses, so you basically fulfill all the pre-med courses by doing the program. Not sure about LMS.</p>
<p>^ good post but also 2 semesters of math.</p>
<p>^ Yeah one semester of Math 104 and any other math course (Statistics is strongly suggested I believe). So what would be the best/easiest major for a pre-med?</p>
<p>Psyc is a pretty easy major that I’ve known several premeds do.</p>
<p>what do you guys think the new healthcare bill will do for people entering medical school? will it make it easier/harder with everyone required to buy health insurance. also, what kind of pay doctors will get in the future? will specialities such as surgery see their pays drop from the near million dollar range down to 200-300,000? I look forward to your ideas.</p>
<p>first and foremost, pay shouldn’t be what concerns you if you actually enjoy practicing medicine…money can’t really make you wake up happy everyday. nevertheless, the healthcare bill may not even pass as it was deemed unconstitutional in a court (i think it was a superior court, not sure) and it’ll def go to the supreme court…so who even knows. not something that should concern you. what should concern you more though is the fact that the class of 2015+ will face more rigorous requirements for college classes as well as mcat testing.</p>