<p>I have read posts on CC a while back about premed at Rice in general, and whether or not to use placement credits to get into higher level classes. I wanted to hopefully get some answers to some of my questions that may have been phrased differently on other threads. </p>
<p>I have a few questions I was hoping could be discussed:</p>
<p>1) How is the premed advising at Rice? (I heard it was 'okay', but nothing spectacular.)
2) How much work outside of class do most students usually put in per week for premed?
3) What is approximately the average GPA @ Rice taking premed courses and majoring in the sciences?
4) For math, competitive medical schools would like to see two semesters of calculus. Would it be the same to them if one placed out of Calculus 1 and 2, and went directly into Linear Algebra/Calculus 3? (I know that is not usually the case in the sciences.)</p>
<p>in the sciences people place out of 101/102 all the time. Its just Math 3 and 4 is normally Diffeq and Multivariable calc (211 and 212 respectively)</p>
<p>The issue of advising has been debated here. Personally I think it is pretty bad across the board. That being said, there are plenty of advisers who will help you gladly</p>
<p>“premed” is not really a major. It is supplemental to your degree. So, if you are an english major and have never taken organic chem - then you may be working really hard. Some people (biochem /premed majors) seem to handle them both pretty well.</p>
<p>Some of the courses are challenging and will require time and effort. If you are planning a double major in engineering and premed, it might we worth reconsidering.</p>
<p>I do not know the average GPA, but about 30% gets honors. The lowest level of honors is cum laude, requiring like a 3.7.</p>
<p>Maybe someone else here has a better number.</p>
<ol>
<li>Official advising here isn’t terribly helpful, IMO. Granted, you should still get to know them, but you’ll have better luck learning about courses and the med school application process from older peers (there are a ton of pre-meds around).</li>
<li>The amount of work you put in is a pretty good marker of what grade you will get in the class. Simple as that, put in as little or as much as you want, but more importantly you have to find a study schedule that works for you. Usually the week before midterms and finals though, expect to be living in the library.</li>
<li>From my experience science classes are curved to a B, B+ range, so I’d say the average probably sits at a 3.0-3.3. That’s about average at most schools around the country, and higher than a few other top institutions. It’s definitely possible to keep a 3.8+, but you better be prepared to buckle down. First semester is traditionally where most pre-meds slip, and a bad first semester is extremely hard to recover from, especially since nowadays anything less than a 3.5 cumulative isn’t going to cut it for medical school.</li>
<li>Calculus placement depends on individual medical schools. From what I know, most of the T-20s will actually let you AP out of Calc I and II, and Calc III / DiffEQ is more than enough to satisfy any remaining math requirements. As long as you have Calc I and II done, you’re basically golden.</li>
</ol>