<p>Pre-Med Track-- what courses to take my first year?!!!!</p>
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<p>I am on the pre-med track at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, first year. I am taking Biology 100, Chemistry 111, Math 104 (Pre Calc), and Culture Through Film (Anthro). I just wanted some advice from upperclassmen. Is it smart to take Bio, Chem, and Pre calc my first semester? Will it be too difficult?</p>
<p>I've heard that Bio and Chem at the same time can be challenging. I took honors chem in high school as a sophomore, but never an AP course in Chem because I took AP Bio instead. As for taking Pre-Calc, I hear that you really shouldnt take chem until you have taken Calc, but my counselor put me in chem anyways cause she thought I could handle it. Thoughts?</p>
<p>There’s no calc in a 100-level chem course. I think your schedule looks average, maybe even slightly below average, in terms of difficulty for a first-year premed.</p>
<p>i’ve never understood the fascination with “schedule difficulty.” there are certain classes that must be taken prior to matriculating to a med school. you complete them and that’s that. your GPA is what matters. this isn’t like high school where undergrad admissions wants to see you “push” yourself in the same way necessarily…</p>
<p>Your schedule is pretty normal/easy. I would think as a premed that you will typically take chem by bio, at least for 2 years. You know, you should probably take gen chem, o chem, intro bio, genetics, and cell biology before you junior year. That means for your whole freshman and sophomore year you will take chem along bio. Precalc is EASY. Most I know took precalc during high school. I took it my freshman/sophomore year in high school. And anthropology is not exactly known for its difficulty. You should be able to pull at least 3 As with your schedule I would think. You don’t need calc for chem. Precalc is more needed for chem than any other math. So you’re in good position as far as thats concerned.</p>
<p>Taking a bio and a chem course together hardly qualifies as “pushing yourself.” Most science majors have to take 3-4 science courses per semester and the first-year of med school is the equivalent of taking around 6 science courses together. So, it’s not unreasonable to think a premed should take multiple science courses together.</p>