Question about taking courses in a non-traditional sequence/figuring out my major

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello all,

I am a freshman undergrad student, currently pre-med, but I am totally lost when it comes to declaring my major (this seems like a random fact, but will be explained later). I am about to select classes for next fall and I am debating whether to spread my courses apart or do something else.

For my school, here are the courses required for pre-med: 2 semesters of intro biology, 2 semesters of general chemistry, 2 semesters of physics, 1 semester of organic chemistry, 1 semester of biochemistry, and additional science courses, such as Physiology/Cell Biology/Genetics/Molecular Bio/Immunology, etc., depending if the student is pre-med, but not necessarily being a hard science major. And of course stats/calc, and social science/humanities classes.

I talked to my Biology professor last fall, who strongly discouraged me from taking science classes in the summer (they’re very fast-paced and intense; I’ve heard it’s hard to keep up once you’ve lost track) and discouraged me from taking science courses out of order. For example, taking the first half of an intro Chem course in the spring, and then taking the second half of the intro Chem course in the fall. Normally, people take part 1 in the fall and part 2 in the spring.

(Well too bad for her, because I am actually taking a Biology course and the first half of that Chem sequence this spring semester. :stuck_out_tongue: Haha.)

I originally planned to finish the general chemistry sequence this summer (summer school!), but after taking into account the difficulty of the class and the condensed nature of the summer semester, I am debating whether to drop the class and protect my GPA.

This is a little harder for me because scheduling my pre-med requirements is kind of contingent on the major I eventually choose next spring, during my sophomore year. Some majors I’ve considered: Biology, Community Health, Music, and Quantitative Economics or Economics. So as you can see, I’m very undecided. This is a problem, because If I chose to major in Biology, I would have to fulfill the major requirements ASAP because if I start the Bio courses too late I won’t graduate on time.

I’m in no hurry to go directly to medical school right after my senior year (yay gap years!), so if anyone would like to comment on my projected pre-med course spread, it’s below:

Spring 2017: Intro Bio Course (Part 2), Gen Chem (Part 1)

Fall 2017: Intro Bio Course (Part 1), Gen Chem (Part 2) OR Gen Physics, Part 1
Spring 2018: Part 2 of Gen Chem could be here, Genetics (prereq is the fall Bio course), Cell Biology (prereq is also the fall Bio course)

Fall 2018: Organic Chemistry, Gen Physics Part I could be here also, Microbiology, Physiology
Spring 2019: Biochemistry, General Physics (Part 2), other random science courses that I find interesting

Fall 2019: more cool science classes and whatnot, major requirements
Spring 2020: etc.

I’m wondering whether it’s good to take a break in between the Gen Chem sequence and Organic Chemistry. Same goes for the potential break in between the first half of Gen Physics and the second half. I would have to take statistics sometime during these next 3 years, I just don’t know when. I’ve completed the social science/humanities part of it (I took two Psychology classes this year, and I tested out of the English portion), so I’m not too worried about that. I guess it’s also important to note that I would like to take a break in between classes so I can preview and prep, especially since the science classes I took at my high school weren’t as in depth/as difficult as the classes I’m taking here.

Another note: I kind of want to take Physics next semester because that part of the sequence covers mechanics, which I enjoy. Also, I just took that a year ago, so the material will be kind of fresh in my brain. But again, this scheduling is all up for change. I’m also planning to take Intro Econ and Intro Comp Sci courses to see how they fare for me.

Thanks for reading this post! Any comments are appreciated.

-A Very Confused Student

2

General comments–

  1. make sure your college allows you to enroll in Bio 2 without taking Bio 1 first. At many colleges bio1 is a pre-req for Bio 2. Depending on the specific curriculum there may or may not be any specific knowledge carry-over between 1 and 2 that’s needed to successful in Bio 2. You need to check that out too.

  2. regardless of what your college requires for pre-meds, not all medical schools will accept biochem as a replacement for ochem 2. Some med school require both ochem 2 AND biochem. Check the admission requirements for any and all med school you are considering applying to. (On their website or in MSAR) Especially all your in-state public med schools.

  3. not all med schools will accept AP credit for English. Many will expect your English AP scores to be supplemented with another writing-based class or two. Please check the admission requirements for any med school you may want to apply to in the future.

  4. if you want to take physics 1 next term–take it. There’s no law about what order you need to take your pre-reqs. You can even major in physics if that is what you want to do. But if you do take Physics 1, be sure to take the Physics 2 the next semester since there is a ton of carried over knowledge you risk losing if you want to take physics 2 several terms later.

  5. it’ll be OK to take a break between gen chem and ochem. There isn’t a lot of specific carried over knowledge between the 2.

I strongly suggest you talk with a health professions advisor about your course sequencing. They will have specific knowledge about how coursework at your college is set up.


I will say I am alarmed by this statement:
[quote]
I guess it's also important to note that I would like to take a break in between classes so I can preview and prep

[/quote]


You know that as either a biology major or a med student you aren't going to have this luxury, right?  Spacing out your coursework like that will delay your college graduation if major in bio and med school is going be full on "drinking from a fire hose" with no breathers.

~~~

I have a suggestion for you since you are having such a tough time deciding on your major AND you're Ok with not going to directly to med school.

Put aside everything pre-med for now. Concentrate of taking those classes you're interested in and find out what your major is going to be. Once you've decided on that, then you get your GEs and major requirement done and graduate on time.  Get a job, work for a year or two and figure out what your really want to do in life. If you still want to go to med school, you can do a post-bacc to take (or finish taking) your med school pre-reqs. There are formal programs for career changers, but you can also do-it-yourself at a local 4 year college.

The most important thing right now is to figure out what you want to do with your life. Med school will still be there in the future. if that is what you want to do.
3

@WayOutWestMom

Thanks for your response! I wanted to address one point:

“You know that as either a biology major or a med student you aren’t going to have this luxury, right? Spacing out your coursework like that will delay your college graduation if major in bio and med school is going be full on “drinking from a fire hose” with no breathers.”

  • Yeah, I do realize that, but I wanted this break in between classes specifically for Physics 2 because I know I'm weaker in electricity & magnetism. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. But overall yes, I know that I can't keep on taking breaks.

Thanks again, that was really helpful. :slight_smile:

4

@mylifeisgone195

Addressing your specific issue–

Do not take a break between physics 1 and physics 2. You’ll lose too much of your knowledge base and physics 2 will be harder than it needs to be since you’ll have to relearn material/concepts on the fly

5

<<<
1 semester of organic chemistry


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As mentioned, a number of schools require 2 semesters. And even if you apply to schools that don’t, you’ll be competing against applicants who have both semesters of Ochem.

As for AP English…does your Univ require 6 credits of a “Writing Intensive” class within your major or elsewhere? These courses often have an “WI” designation indicating that they fulfill the Core/GenEd Writing Intensive req’t. These courses are often upper division courses.

If so, then med schools will generally accept those 6 credits. If I remember correctly, there’s a place on the AMCAS app for just this situation.

6

Thanks for the responses! I was just wondering if taking physics could help orgo? I’ve heard of that but I’m not sure.

7

Physics and Orgo had basically nothing to do with each other at my school.

8

Physics does help with ochem, but not intro level physics (which is classical mechanics plus E&M). You’d need quantum mechanics.

D1 said ochem was very easy once you understood quantum mechanics because the reaction pathway was obvious from a physics POV.