<p>How difficult are the Premed/biology courses at UA?</p>
<p>My younger son is pre-med at Bama. His major is Chemical engineering, but his minors are Chemistry, Biology, and Math.</p>
<p>The “hard sciences” are going to be hard at any good school. My son does study a lot for his classes, but it does pay off. He has straight A’s which will be a nice help for when he applies to med schools next summer. </p>
<p>Bama is one of the FEW publics that writes Committee Letters. Usually only the “better privates” do these because they are labor intensive. The fact that Bama does do Committee Letters is one of the reasons that Bama has a very high rate for med school admittance. </p>
<p>Mr. Chris Hutt, the Director of Pre-Health Advising team, has told me many times that a Bama student with at least a 3.6 GPA (science and cum) and a 29 MCAT has about an 85% chance of acceptance to an AMERICAN MD med school. Most schools can only boast a 50% med school acceptance rate. Every pre-med student that I know at Bama (and I don’t know them all, but I know a good number) has been admitted to a US MD med school …with the exception of one whose GPA was a 3.4 and his MCAT was a 28, and he’s at a DO school now. His older brother is at a US MD med school. Note: the stats I listed were acceptance to an American MD school…not a DO or Caribbean or anything else.</p>
<p>I strongly recommend that you sign up for Mr. Chris Hutt’s listserve email so that you can get all the latest info about research opps, guest speakers, seminars, etc. Any parents of pre-heath students should also sign up to get the emails. </p>
<p>Here’s the Bama pre-health website…scroll to the bottom to get to the link to sign up to the listserve.</p>
<p>[The</a> University of Alabama Health Professions Advising Website](<a href=“http://premed.ua.edu/]The”>http://premed.ua.edu/)</p>
<p>You may not know this, but the University of Alabama School of Medicine is mainly on the UAB campus and is often called UAB school of medicine, but it really is the The University of Alabama SOM. The med school has a building on the Bama campus because of certain specialty rotations that are done in T-town. </p>
<p>Good news…the latest US News rankings for med schools. Med schools are given 2 rankings…one for Research …and one for Primary Care. To be in the top 30 for either category is great. To be in the Top 30 for both is not common. </p>
<p>The latest SOM rankings:
Research: 30 <---- similar to last year.
Primary Care: 10 <----wow…quite the jump up!</p>
<p>For specialties, the UAB SOM is ranked</p>
<pre><code>* #6 AIDS Research
- #12 Geriatrics
- #20 Internal medicine
-
#15 Rural medicine
</code></pre>
<p>Only 8 specialty programs are actually ranked…and only the top 20 schools are named.</p>
<p>Wow…lol…I wrote a lot.</p>
<p>Anyway…my point really is that pre-med at Bama will not be a cake-walk. You will have excellent profs, you will learn, but you will have to pay attention and study. :)</p>
<p>As you know, the pre-med pre-reqs are “weeder courses” at any university. You sound like you have the stats/intelligence that you won’t be weeded as long as you do your part. :)</p>
<p>Thank you so much mom2college kids, you have been so helpful on all my threads. I don’t even know how to thank you. I never would have considered 'Bama until I saw your post in one of the forums about automatic scholarships and after some research, it really looks like UA may be the school for me. Roll tide!</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Glad to help…anytime. :)</p>
<p>I should add…</p>
<p>In the United States, there is no such thing as a “poor” US MD med school. All of the US MD med schools are very good. It’s more like: very good, better, best. </p>
<p>Many pre-med students at the various undergrads apply to anywhere from 8-25 med schools because admissions to each one is very low…like 4-12% acceptance rate at each school. An exception is UMass-W which has a 22% acceptance rate but will not accept any OOS students…so it gets less apps and can accept more students percentage-wise.</p>
<p>Hi m2ck, which science / engineering major would you recommend for getting a GPA above 3.8 as a premed?</p>
<p>Hi m2ck, which science / engineering major would you recommend for getting a GPA above 3.8 as a premed?</p>
<p>ha ha…frankly there isn’t one that I could recommend for getting a very high GPA. All engineering disciplines are very difficult. Actually, they’re brutal. </p>
<p>As for specific majors within engineering and other STEM majors, it really all depends on where a student’s strengths and interests are. </p>
<p>What are your child’s strengths and interests?
If xxxxxE were a bit easier than yyyyyE, it won’t matter to your child if your child has less interest in the xxxxxE material. </p>
<p>Really, a student will have his best chances</p>
<p>Keep in mind that while STEM majors are very difficult, no matter what you major in, the pre-med pre-reqs are weeder classes.</p>
<p>M@CKs: What is UAB’s policy on OOS? Does attendance at The University of Alabama help an OOS at all?</p>
<p>Can’t seem to find this information.</p>
<p>MY D is a current junior and in thr pre med track.</p>
<p>She has had the opportunity to take several of the classes below.
She just finished the Junior Seminar which basically set up her Med School Application.
She will do the Hospital Apprenticeship this Fall as well as the Contem. Issues in Medicine.</p>
<p>She is also active in AED and they have set her up with shadowing starting her freshman year.</p>
<p>Those that practice medicine in the greater Tuscaloosa area are more than welcoming to students!</p>
<p>OPTIONAL Courses Offered at the University of Alabama that may be useful to pre-health students:</p>
<p>AS 101. Freshman Seminar. 1 hour. Pass/Fail
Prerequisites: Freshman standing
The pre-health section(s) of AS 101 will provide an introduction to the health professions available, provide a timeline for students to build a competitive application to graduate health professional programs, and assist students in devising a timeline for their time at The University of Alabama.</p>
<p>AS 299. Junior Seminar – “The Application Year”. 1 hour. Pass/Fail
Prerequisites: Junior standing or higher
AS 299 is designed to assist students make their applications to medical and dental school. Topics covered include but are not limited to: health care policy, admissions trends, personal statement, interview workshops, test preparation, and application/submission timelines.</p>
<p>BSC 409/410 Hospital Apprenticeship I. 2 hours.
Prerequisites: BSC 114:115 or BSC 118, BSC 116:117 or BSC 120, and junior or senior premedical student standing.
A one-semester apprenticeship at Northport Hospital–DCH. Students are assigned to or may select departments in which they will be given special tasks that contribute to the operation of these departments.</p>
<p>BSC 450. Biochemistry. 3 hours.
Prerequisite: CH 232. Many medical schools strongly recommend biochemistry as part of your undergraduate preparation for medical school. Though not required, it is a very good idea to take biochemistry if your schedule allows.</p>
<p>UH 330 Honors Issues in Contemporary Medicine (also CHS 330). Three hours.
Prerequisites: Member of the University Honors Program and junior or senior standing.
This lecture course is designed to acquaint students engaged in premedical studies with the major patterns of illness in the U.S. and with the medical disciplines that treat those illnesses.</p>
<p>*M@CKs: What is UAB’s policy on OOS? Does attendance at The University of Alabama help an OOS at all?</p>
<p>Can’t seem to find this information.*</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t know if UAB gives an edge to OOS students who attended a AL university… From the pre-med forum on this board, there is a belief that OOS public SOMs take few OOS students, but the ones that they do take have some tie to the state…like having gone to undergrad there.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the information everyone!</p>
<p>Yet another great thread on the BAMA forum. </p>
<p>M2CKs…that is all I could find too.</p>
<p>Omama, What major is your D doing? Has she already taken the MCAT?</p>
<p>Omama: Can a student do the Hospital Apprenticeship during the junior year? (I am assuming she will be a senior in the fall) DS has heard that the Issues in Contemporary Medicine is very popular and sometimes difficult to get into. Was it difficult for your daughter to secure a spot?</p>
<p>Quiet…you might want to look at the CS pre-med track…</p>
<p><a href=“http://cs.ua.edu/~cordes/fep/pdf/ComputerScience_PreMed_PreLaw.pdf[/url]”>http://cs.ua.edu/~cordes/fep/pdf/ComputerScience_PreMed_PreLaw.pdf</a></p>
<p>My Ds major is Psychology with a minor in Chem. She is also close to a minor in Bio.</p>
<p>One of our state schools (Ohio) requires BioChemistry so she is on the fence for that class.</p>
<p>She has taken the MCAT. </p>
<p>I would assume you can take the Hospital Apprenticeship class junior year!</p>
<p>I think it is a awesome opportunity for students.
When I tell her doctor friends here at home they just can’t believe it!</p>
<p>I also believe our State Flagship doesn’t do Commitee Letters.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if it was difficult(to get in Hospital App Class). But I do know she contacted Chris Hutt for permission to join the Junior Seminar as it was full.</p>
<p>She came with alot of AP credits so that has been helpful!</p>