<p>I spent the majority of my first two years of college not knowing what or why I wanted to study. I am now a 3rd year and I committed to the pre-med track at the beginning of this semester. I'm not sure which specific field of medicine I want to enter, but I know I want to go to medical school. </p>
<p>I am currently taking Chemistry and am doing well above average, which is encouraging to me. I took the second semester of Biology in my freshman year because I had AP credit for first semester bio. However, I did below average, and now intend on taking both semesters this summer.
So by the beginning of senior year, I still have to take Organic Chemistry and Physics, but I want to take other upper level science courses and also be able to finish my degree.
I'm afraid that I'll do poorly if I double up on Orgo and Physics, which is why I am considering doing a 5th year to finish both my pre-med and B.A. requirements. This will be very expensive, as I go to a private school. The option that my school's pre-health advisor suggested what she said would be a more financially practical option of finishing my B.A., graduating and applying to a non-degree-seeking program (at UGA, Georgia state or community college) to take pre-med science courses. However, my concern in doing that is lower quality of courses/professors (compared to Emory's academics) might make me less competitive when I apply to med school.</p>
<p>Also, if I stay for a 5th year, when would be an appropriate time to take the MCATs and apply for med school? </p>
<p>If more information is needed to advise on this, please ask! </p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>What does it take to get some advice? Did I not post enough information, or is this a dumb question?</p>
<p>1) you can take your pre-reqs after you graduate at a state college. Adcoms won’t care if you can explain why you did so. Do not, under any circumstances, take your pre-reqs at a community college once you’ve completed your BA.</p>
<p>2) don’t take your MCAT until you’ve finished or have almost finished all the med school pre-reqs. Spring of your 5th year. No later than mid-May.</p>
<p>3) I don’t see why you can’t take OChem and physics at the same time. Most science majors take multiple science/math classes at the same time. In fact, not being able to manage more than 1 science course at a time might suggest you’re unable to cope to with the heavy science workload that med school will entail. Unless your med school requires additional science coursework, you don’t need to take any. Save it for when you actually get into med school.</p>
<p>Knowing what I know now, if I were in your shoes, I’d forgo taking all the upper level science classes I wanted to take in favor of graduating on time, with classwork primarily from one (very good!) college, and having completed all prereqs at my university.</p>
<p>I’d try to squeeze the most interesting upper level science classes (biochem and physiology have been the most useful for med school so far) into my schedule, but certainly wouldn’t add an extra year just to space things out (if the main reason to space things out is so I can fit in more classes), especially if finances are even remotely concerning.</p>
<p>You might try thinking about what’s so intimidating about the orgo/physics combo awhile, and perhaps discussing your thoughts with your advisor or mentor. I know that if I’m cognizant of the challenges I’ll be facing in the future, I’m much more prepared to deal with any obstacles that pop up. For what it’s worth, the semesters I did the best (and felt like I accomplished the most) were also the semesters that were quite academically challenging. Perhaps you’ll rise to the challenge, and end up a better student and better prepared for medical school as a result.</p>
<p>The pre-med that I’ll have left to take after summer is over are 2 semesters of Orgo + lab, 2 semesters of Physics + lab, and 1 semester of Calculus.
Other non-required courses that I want to take before I graduate are Biochem (1 semester) and Microbiology (1 semester). </p>
<p>To complete the required courses alone, it will impossible for me to finish those on top of my major requirements.
I could technically graduate on time by overloading for one semester next year, if I forgo Biochem and Microbiology. Are those extra classes not worth it?
Would it be wise to take the MCATs when I still haven’t finished these courses?</p>
<p>This is what my senior year will look like without the extra classes:</p>
<p>Fall:
Orgo
Physics
Calculus
Major req
Major req</p>
<p>Spring:
Orgo
Physics
Major req
Major req</p>
<p>Unless your potential med school specifically requires biochem or micro, neither are worth taking an extra year or semester to graduate. Any biochem you learn in undergrad will be covered in the first 2 weeks (or less) of med school biochem. Having it really isn’t much an advantage. Ditto for micro.</p>
<p>The schedule you’ve posted looks very do-able. One semester overload with just 3 science/math classes isn’t that hard. </p>
<p>Do not take the MCAT until you’ve finished OChem and physics. The material covered in each course will have a substantial number of questions on the MCAT.</p>
<p>As it stands, you’ll need to take a glide year after graduation so plan to use your year off wisely. If you really, really want to take biochem and micro–you can do so during this year and you can take them somewhere less expensive than Emory.</p>
<p>thank you everyone for your replies!!</p>
<p>i found out another factor in staying an extra semester.
since i’m also considering dental schools, i want to take biochemistry. however, the prereq to taking biochem is 2 semesters of orgo, which i’ll be taking my senior year. so my options are 1) staying an extra semester to take biochem. if i do that, i can also use that semester to redistribute some of my classes so that i don’t have to overload, and to take 1 or 2 upper level science courses. option 2 seems like taking biochem at georgia state or uga.
by what everyone said in this thread, the wiser choice is the latter, correct? </p>
<p>thank you!</p>