Any tips for incoming premed students? What classes would you recommend I take as a freshman? Will probably end up majoring in mcb, neuro, or psych.
@dm1325 My main tip is to be genuine in your course selection. There really isn’t anything that you “should take” outside of the pre-med requirements. With that being said, there is a medical ethics being offered for first semester freshmen called UC 152, might be something to look at.
Major in what you are passionate in as well! Classes will be a lot easier for you if you are studying something that you enjoy. Don’t feel like you have to be a science major to apply to medical school (the acceptance rate for non-science majors is the same, if not higher, than science majors).
For your first semester schedule, honor your desire for medical school by taking 1 or 2 classes that would go to towards pre-med requirements, but utilize the rest of your schedule to take fun/interesting classes and explore majors.
I signed up for honors orgo chem and lab 210/211 for first semester. It includes an honors study session group. Is it really that bad? I will be taking it with a first year seminar and an honors core course rise and fall of american empire which is humanity and first year writing requirement. Any advice for orgo chem? I got a 5 on the ap.chem exam.
I love bio/neuro/psych/phil/basically everything related to the intersection between the biological and social sciences so I’m definitely majoring in something along those lines because I know that I’ll enjoy it (not because I think I have to for premed) 
I’m just trying to figure out a balanced first sem schedule. Does it sound reasonable to take bio, chem, calc and a writing seminar first semester?
I don’t think calc is required for med schools but I am not sure.
@Eeee127 I took Honors Orgo as well. It’s not any “harder” per se as the honors person is essentially P/F, but it is more work (it ranged week to week, but it ranges from 30 min-3 hours of extra work per week).
I mean my advice is very generic, but it’s important to be proactive in the class. If you realize you are struggling with understanding the material conceptually, then you need to seek help, whether that is office hours (GSI or professor) or join/make a study group. Once you get behind, it is VERY hard to catch up cause new material builds off old material.
The only concepts from AP Chem that are relevant for Organic Chemistry (that i remember at least) are bonds (inter and intramolecular), pH, Keq, and Gibbs Free Energy. It’s not really the math behind them as much as it is understanding them conceptually.
@dm1325 I wouldn’t recommend it for the average student. That is heavy workload considering grades for bio, chem and math are heavily dependent on exams. I think if you are very passionate about STEM and you know you have a fantastic work ethic, then sure it is possible, but I wouldn’t recommend it for most students.
Since you are interested in pre-med, try to find other health related classes that would help you out for both med school and fulfilling your LSA degree. You could take the Medical Ethics class, any other health/science related First Year Seminar, Psych 111 (Intro Psych, needed for MCAT), Sociology 100 (Intro to Sociology, needed for MCAT), or something else. When you come to orientation I’m sure the people you work with will tell you the same thing about taking Bio, Chem, and Math all in the same semester. But if you are confident in yourself, go for it.
And @Eeeee127 Calc isn’t directly required for a majority of medical schools, but 2 semesters of math is definitely a requirement for some of them. Calc would fulfill it, so would Stats.
@hailbate do you feel like the extra work in honors orgo with the structured study session group helped you do well in the class? Did you still have to join other study groups or is the honors study group good enough? What kind of extra work do you have to do? I thought it was just studying together, and honors students told me that it was helpful. Are you still in the Honors Program?
@hailbate do most students that haven’t taken AP Chem jump straight into orgo (215/216) and 210/211, or do they take chem 125/126 and chem 130 first semester? Also, what exactly is the medical ethics course? I’ve had multiple people mention it to me but I can’t find it in the LSA course guide.
@dm1325 You can start with Chem 210/11 if you placed into it based on the chemistry placement test regardless of if you got AP credit. You just will not get credit for general chemistry and you have to request a copy from umich to med schools saying you placed out of gen chem.
My D got 5 in AP Chem and was placed into Orgo 1 in her first semester in college. It was certainly a challenging course particularly when she was taking Calc3 at the same time.
Get a volunteer job in a hospital immediately to talk to doctors and see if you actually LIKE dealing with people. This is the most important piece of advice I can offer. See if the type of people who work in hospitals have personalities you enjoy. See if you feel like you could fit in…to the banter and camaraderie of health care providers. Talk to doctors, nurses, support people. See if you share their values. Listen to their stories of how they got into the careers they did. If you want to be a doctor, talk to doctors. Ask about the most challenging parts of their journeys. What was unexpectedly difficult? What was unexpectedly rewarding? What parts of being a doctor do they most love? Most hate? Would they have done anything differently? THIS is the stuff that will help you.
Many many people who do a premed degree will not get into medical school. The competition is pretty brutal.
So what happens to the folks who don’t? They have a biology degree…which is awesome if you want to be a researcher (a shiftless nomad who follows the money), or work in a diagnostic lab or other industrial lab setting, or be a teacher. But beyond that, there’s not a lot of flexibility.
Being a doctor is terrific and God knows we need more…but it is a very difficult life. It takes a very specific kind of person to do the job well and have a tolerance for extreme stress and John Q. Public.
You will have smelly patients, criminal patients, patients with loud ugly ideology, patients who question everything you tell them and cite a washed up celebrity as their health guru, people who have anxiety, self destruction, and pure dangerous ignorance. It’s tough. It eats up your life. Finding balance with relationships and family is a challenge. You have to be so in love with medicine you’re willing to make massive sacrifices.
Know what you’re getting into…before you tie yourself to a degree that has limited options if you change your mind.
Most of all…good luck and I really hope it’s a good fit.
@MaryGJ umich hospital does not allow freshmen to volunteer in the fall. Would you say biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience is more useful than bio major?
There is a Ronald McDonald House across from Mary Markley. Would be great place to volunteer. Two and a half months left of summer. The summer before my freshman year, I was a Red Cross volunteer in an emergency room at my local hospital. Was able to talk to a lot of different doctors. If you want to be a doctor, be a bio major. Or a chem major, or a physics major. Just understand where you stand if it doesn’t work out. If you pick a different major make sure it includes:
One year of General Chemistry;
One year of Organic Chemistry; (two is better)
One year of Biology; (more is better…topics like Cell and Molecular, genetics, biochem, virology, etc.)
One year of Physics; (two is better)
One year of Calculus. (two is better)
One year of Statistics.
One year each of Psychology and Sociology.
(and four terms of the same foreign language gives you an edge)