<p>I am an entering freshman planning to major in MCB. In picking out my classes my brother is pushing me to take harder clases than suggested for the premed track. He insists that med schools will look highly on the fact that I have taken harder classes. As a consequence, he recommended me taking chem 4a/4b in my first two semesters, and then take chem 112a/b in my sophomore year, instead of chem 1a then 3a/b. I am a little worried now since I heard that chem 4 is a grade killer, which is not really a good thing for premed people. Is my brother wrong? Will taking chem 1a and then 3a/b look any differently for med schools than taking chem 4 then chem 112? Thanks</p>
<p>To be honest, I would really recommend that you go ahead with Chem 1A and then Chem 3A/3B. I’ve heard that medical schools do look at classes, but generally this applies only to course load, not to the actual classes. Think about it, they get tons of applications from all sorts of schools, how would they know which are the harder classes at Berkeley? Secondly, your GPA is one of the major parts of your application, other than your MCAT and your personal statement/EC’s. They won’t look kindly on a low GPA, and hard classes just aren’t enough of an excuse. Many aspiring pre-meds come in and fail at Chem 1A (trust me on this one, I’ve seen it happen) and then again at Chem 3A. They’re the weeder classes for a reason, and just because you’ve never had problems in school before doesn’t mean that you’ll do well. However, if you really think you’re up to it, then go ahead, but classes aren’t everything. If you take easier classes and still do the pre-reqs, then you’ll probably do much better, have more free time to do other E.C.'s, and not stress yourself and burn out in your first year.
Good luck!</p>