<p>Hey,</p>
<p>So I am going to be a freshman at Berkeley this fall and I am wondering which classes to take. It seems that it is recommended to take Chem 1A and Math 16/Math 1 first semester and follow up with other chem classes, waiting until junior year to take physics and bio. My question is for those who have already gone through pre med: should I follow these examples or is there a better/ less common schedule?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>A lot depends on your major, and whether you might need Math 1 instead of 16. If you are a bio major, waiting until Jr year to take ‘Bio 1’ is probably not a good plan. Cal is one school where Chem is a prereq to Bio. (So that generally means you take Bio as a Soph.) Rumor has it that Chem 1 has an less competititive curve in Spring, btw.</p>
<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepPrereq.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepPrereq.stm</a></p>
<p>and…</p>
<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepAcad.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Medical/PrepAcad.stm</a></p>
<p>Can anyone confirm that it will be easier in Spring? I heard that professor Nitsche is the best…does he still teach? Is there anywhere that I can see who will be teaching Chem 1A next year at what time of year?</p>
<p>I don’t know how Cal does it, but at my kids’ school some (not all) of the profs seem to switch around a bit teaching lower level classes, so it can be hard to always know who will be teaching what class a year from now. Plus, at some schools, profs are given sabbaticals.</p>
<p>I checked with my Cal alumna DD who is currently in med school:</p>
<p>[Home</a> Page - Online Schedule Of Classes](<a href=“http://schedule.berkeley.edu/]Home”>http://schedule.berkeley.edu/)
–can search by semester or teacher or whatever…they should post the schedule for Spring 2012 sometime in the summer.</p>
<p>Taking Chem 1A first semester is pretty common, as it is required for almost every science major. Curve Spring vs. Fall won’t make much difference-- you’re at Berkeley…everyone is smart 
</p>
<p>As for recommended order of classes, you don’t want to get behind in the chem series as chem is required for Bio 1A, so get Chem 1A out of the way! And get the Organic Chem’s behind you! Most premeds take Chem 1a then Chem 3A then Bio1A with Chem 3B, and then Bio 1B, and leave the physics series to their Junior or even senior year. But getting those first few out of the way are key!</p>
<p>For Math, I recommend the 1A/1B series unless you’re sure your major wont need it (then 16series is ok)
I was an IB major, so I can’t speak to other departments, but if you take IB classes, for teachers I recommend:
Chem 3A/L with Frechet if possible
Physics 8A/8B+Labs with Jacobsen if you can
Fall: IB 137 = Endocrinology w/ Tyrone Hayes this is a hard class but it is well worth your while (no matter what your major is, this will help you TREMENDOUSLY in medical school – I’m studying it right now!)
Anatomy w/ Diamond (very easy and enjoyable, lab is a lot of work thoughHuman Reproduction and/or Medical Ethnobotany w/ Carlson – he’s a very cool prof
and not too difficult.</p>
<p>Thats all I can conjure</p>
<p>right now, but if you have more specific questions I’m happy to answer them :)</p>
<p>Wow, thank you for emailing your daughter and posting her response and thanks to her too for writing the email!</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me any questions, she is fully aware of the ways which she benefited from info learned on CC and is happy to pay it forward.</p>
<p>Be sure to apply for the Alumni scholarship each year, if you are not already aware of it, it is a very nice award!</p>
<p>Why do most people save physics to junior/senior year? I thought it’s tested on the MCAT. Or is the physics on the MCAT basic enough that it’s recommended we self-study instead of take the course (as I hear it’s quite difficult?)?</p>
<p>Physics is tested on the MCAT and a year of general physics plus lab is required by every single MD and DO program in the US and Canada.</p>
<p>Self-study is not an option.</p>
<p>And there’s no particular reason why people save it until junior year. You could take it as a freshman if you wanted it. I think most people take it junior year because they are science majors [bio, chem, biochem] and math, chem and bio lower level required classes eat up large portions of their schedules. Junior year might be the first year a student does already have 2 or 3 science classes already scheduled.</p>
<p>Chem 1A in the Spring is definitely easier than Chem 1A in the Fall. However, I think taking it in the Fall is best so you can get your requirements done earlier.</p>
<p>I recommend taking Bio 1A by itself and coupling Chem 3B with Bio 1B. Bio 1A is more difficult than Bio 1B so it is not recommended to couple Bio1A with Chem 3B.</p>
<p>Is it okay to couple bio 1a/al with physics 8a? </p>
<p>Also, many people have been commenting on the difficulty of chem 1a, chem 3a, and bio 1a/b, but can anyone comment on the difficulty of physics 8a/b?</p>
<p>I’m able to skip out of 1A because of AP Chem score, but it’s not recommended right? Since med schools still require 2 years of chem, I’d have to take an upper division class instead (how are those, btw?)</p>
<p>I think taking upper division will definitely look good. But on the flip side, if you find that it’s too hard and end up getting a low grade in the class and/or do badly in other classes, the fall in your GPA would not be worth it.</p>
<p>It depends on your mastery of the subject, DD chose to skip bio 1a/b and go directly to upper division coursework, she had no problem at all. She did NOT skip calc or chem and was glad she did not, they were rigorous and competitive classes</p>
<p>The one thing I heard is that skipping classes with AP credit can possibly help you have an easier time because there are a lot of premeds taking classes they already have passed out of with APs (making the lower division classes much more competitive and rigorous because of hard curves). The trade off is that those classes directly prepare you for the MCAT, or so I’ve heard (whereas the upper division classes are more specific subjects that may not prepare you as well).</p>
<p>Did your daughter take Math 1A or 16A? I’m thinking about going into a life science and not requiring the 1A, and yet I enjoyed Calc AB in high school and think I grasped it well (5 on AP test also) and so I think I could go with 1A also. Still, I am leaning towards 16A since I might not need 1A and it will help me have an easier first semester at college, and if I decide to change majors later then I can move on to 1B if I need. What do you think?</p>
<p>I’m interested also in your daughter’s skipping of Bio 1A/1B, since I got a 5 on the AP Bio test - was MCAT prep any harder because of not having a general bio class in college? I will have to research the upper divison classes to see if they are interestng and if I’d like to skip.</p>
<p>just a comment: Calc AB is pretty light for most premeds. The material that you covered over one full year in HS against HS competition will be covered in about 10-12 weeks at Cal.</p>
<p>16AB will not only include premed gunners, but also social science majors (psych an econ) and pre-biz. 1A will include non-honors math majors and engineers. Choose your competition! There is no “easy” answer.</p>
<p>The fact is that first Bio is not helpful for MCAT at all. It is different from UG to UG, but according to D’s experience at different school, upper Bio classes are very helpful to do well on MCAT. So, D. took Chem (very easy class) and first Bio (extremely challenging class that covered AP material in first 2 weeks) in her first semester. That way she had enough time before MCAT to take many more Bio classes, she continued taking them every semester (sometime double up, because of her neurocsience minor). She did not take any Calc, took Stats (again, very easy A). She took Anatomy in her senior year after MCAT and only because one of her Med. Schools added this requirement. All Bio classes from the first thru all others were very challenging, however, D. has manged A’s and so can you. I am not familiar with Berkeley though. HBut, MCAT is the same for everybody.</p>
<p>Conaanaa- seepost #6 on this thread.</p>
<p>DD was repeatedly advised NOT to skip Bio with the AP units, but it felt right to her. She genuinely enjoyed the upper division coursework she took, including taking some of the profs a second time in their grad level classes the next term. Those are the profs from whom she got LORs, too, for her it was the right decision.</p>
<p>She did not get into calc her first term and decided that going from May>January with no math meant she was rusty, she took 1a & B and continued on to the next one (3?) as she was evaluating a possible math major. She also took stats.</p>
<p>HEr bio coursework has been helpful to her in med school, having a basic understanding of some of the concepts has ranged from somewhat to extremely helpful depending on the situation.</p>