<p>If we are planning (or thinking) about medical school (more specifically, I would like to study neurology), which science should we take first?</p>
<p>I was hoping to do intro psych/intro bio first year because I am not too sure about what I would like to study (I am considering psychology as well), but would it be better to take chemistry?</p>
<p>I'd also appreciate any comments on the intro chem vs. intro physics track. My son is going back and forth between the two for his science (although he is not interested in med school).</p>
<p>I think Ds friend who is @ Tulane in med school ( her interest is tropical diseases- Tulane was her first choice) was a bio major.
Her roommate who is doing research at the health sciences university majored in biochem</p>
<p>I think you should take both chem and bio , I have the impression that in the sciences it is important to have the foundation early- which would be at least bio & chem before you can go on to upper division classes.
For the pysch track, not so many foundation classes needed.</p>
<p>I should start by saying that I'm a math major who just completed his first year and who is not considering med school.</p>
<p>I think that med schools look at undergraduate education as undergraduate programs look at high school education. They look at your test scores and grades, above all. Considering this, it is probably best to major in whatever interests you most, since you will be most likely to do well in that subject and you will enjoy your four strenuous years at Reed. That being said, you probably are expected to have shown a strong interest in biology and probably in chemistry as well.</p>
<p>Fragmented advice:</p>
<p>You should definitely take bio and, probably chem as well, in your first year. You will have to take either that year to major in it, in order to prepare well for the qual. Bio is notoriously difficult (anecdote: this year I was walking out of the library and I saw some friends standing out side of Vollum Lecture Hall. I went to say hello, and when I reached them they were all crying because the bio test was so hard. They complained about some totally obscure question concerning a mosquito disease). However, it might be notoriously difficult because it's a rigorous science and it may be that some non science majors take bio thinking it will be easy. I say that you should probably take chem that year because you will need to take organic chem for the MCAT, and it's best to take tricky classes earlier.</p>
<p>I took physics this past year and enjoyed it very much. The intro physics lecturer changes every two years; next year and the year after it will be Joel Franklin, who everybody LOVES. He's a young Reed graduate who will probably use cool notes (they did not reorder Giancoli). A week of intro physics consists of three fifty-minute lectures, one eighty-minute conference with a member of the faculty (not necessarily the lecturer), and one three-hour lab taught by a junior or senior physics major. This year there were three problem sets a week, due at the beginning of the lecture, and there was a test at the end of each quarter. Having taking a year of physics (without calc) in high school, I feel like I learned a lot in the class. The class uses calculus, but teaches the simple constructs necessary. Also, the first month or so of the second semester is a solid introduction to special relativity. I don't know as much about intro chem, but it's pretty much the same setup except that the lab it taught by a professor and is one hour longer, there was only one problem set a week last year, and the conference setup might be different. It is more or less understood that chem it is the easiest intro science class. It is the class that advisors suggest for those who like science least. This is not to say that it's easy to do well in the class.</p>
<p>So, I say take for those of you considering med school, take intro bio and perhaps intro chem in the first year. You will have to take chem and (I'm pretty sure) o. chem. Know that Reed's bio department has a really good reputation--the highest percentage of students who get bio Ph.Ds of any school, and active research in the faculty. Look into the alt. bio major, which is bio/anything, codeword for "premed."</p>
<p>For those of you considering chem or physics, know that chem majors have to take intro physics, but physics majors do not have to take chem. Both majors have to take calc I, intro to analysis and multivariable calc one. Physics majors have to take two addition semesters of math. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>