<p>So I have officially accepted my admission to Michigan and I have decided to start the life of a pre-med. I obviously understand that pre-meds have certain prereq classes they need to complete; however, I have no clue which SPECIFIC ones to take at Michigan. Looking at the LSA Course Guide has been slightly confusing with all of the different course numbers, seminar classes, and different levels of classes like bio/chem/physics/etc. If anyone could possibly give me some ideas on the specific classes to take along with any great professors in bio/chem that would be great! Also, any additional comments regarding timing for the particular classes in accordance with taking the MCAT would be much appreciated as well.</p>
<p>Could anyone offer some opinions regarding classes outside of the basic prereqs too? For instance, classes like anatomy/physiology/microbio/psych</p>
<p>I suggest starting at [Pre-Medicine[/url</a>] and [url=<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/advising/advisor/prehealth]Pre-Health”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/advising/advisor/prehealth]Pre-Health</a> Advising](<a href=“http://www.lsa.umich.edu/bulletin/chapter5/pre/premed]Pre-Medicine[/url”>http://www.lsa.umich.edu/bulletin/chapter5/pre/premed) and reading through most of the links to get a general feel and then coming back here if you have specific questions… there’s a lot of info there that should help you out.</p>
<p>As for the other classes, anatomy/physiology/microbio are classes that are helpful once you get to medical school, but don’t do much to impress admissions committees. The MCAT changes in 2015 to include social and behavioral sciences, so you may need to take psych for that. (Source: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/education/edlife/pre-meds-new-priorities-heart-and-soul-and-social-science.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/education/edlife/pre-meds-new-priorities-heart-and-soul-and-social-science.html</a>)</p>
<p>Thanks for the links. Somehow I never stumbled across those… 
Any other help is much appreciated!</p>
<ol>
<li>Keep your options open because if perchance you end up not liking medicine and don’t have a plan B, things will suck. Hard. The world is a big place.</li>
<li>Plan out classes you will enjoy and pretend anything below an A+ counts as an unacceptable theft of tuition. GPA is that important if you’re serious about premed. Don’t worry about some MCAT 2-3 years in the future right now because that will only distract you from the grades you will need to make during the semester. Of course, make a habit of discarding any temptations to cheat if you haven’t done so already.</li>
<li>Do absolutely anything you want, as long as you can prove you’re the best at it.</li>
<li>Shadow friendly doctors and build rapport with mentors who want you to succeed.</li>
</ol>
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<p>Lol, don’t stress out about the MCAT now, but there’s a lot of material covered, so you can’t really ignore it while scheduling… if GPA is most important then MCAT is surely next, roughly sGPA > MCAT > cGPA.</p>
<p>My D went to Michigan and is in med-school. You do need to think about pre-med classes as a freshman. If you have taken AP and tested out of the intro Chemistry classes then you need not do as many, but you do need to take Chemistry, Bio-chem, Organic Chemistry, Physics 1 and 2, Anatomy and Genetics. Talk to the pre-med advisor and they will set out a schedule of when to take these over the next 3 years (you can wait and take Genetics as a senior since it is not in the MCAT but useful for med school.) The MCAT will change in 2015 and you will need to take Psychology classes (she majored in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science and says she would have loved the new MCAT!)</p>
<p>I agree with what others have said about keeping options open. Of all the kids my D met who said they were going to med-school (and there were a lot of them) only a few made it all the way to applications and interviews. Many dropped the idea of med-school after the first few weeding courses and others opted to do a gap year before applying. Take classes in what interests you, take the courses you need for the MCAT, get good grades, do research and volunteer in some capacity where you have interaction with health care if possible.</p>
<p>I don’t think anatomy is required as a prereq by most med schools, since it’s something you learn there.</p>
<p>I would actually recommend taking genetics before the MCAT. I don’t know when MoltoBene’s D took the MCAT, but the Biological Sciences section has been trending to include more genetics questions in the last few years. I’m not sure if intro bio is sufficient for MCAT genetics or if the revamp will affect that trend at all, but better safe than sorry?</p>
<p>My D took the MCAT in 2010. Most of her friends also took Genetics senior year (even those in other colleges) but it all depends on what your schedule will allow. Some waited in order to leave one last hard science class that would impact the GPA until the last semester. As with any course the choice is up to the student as to when their schedule will permit taking certain classes.</p>
<p>Gotcha, I took mine in 2009. I remember the official AAMC practice tests 8, 9, and 10 having a huge number (5-7) of genetics questions versus 1-2 in virtually every other biology subcategory. The upwards trend in genetics is still mentioned on SDN forums now, but it could be a perpetuating rumor, and I haven’t seen practice test 11 yet - after my time!</p>
<p>The moral of the story is check with your pre-health advisers; as much as I like to pretend, I don’t think there’s any on CC!</p>