<p>Hey everyone, just wanted to post a cool video that showcases Barnard’s chem department and some of the students involved. As a premed at Barnard, I really really loved the chem department and the classes I took through them.</p>
<p>[Spotlight</a> on Faculty: Chemistry Professors as Mentors | Barnard College](<a href=“http://barnard.edu/headlines/spotlight-faculty-chemistry-professors-mentors]Spotlight”>http://barnard.edu/headlines/spotlight-faculty-chemistry-professors-mentors)</p>
<p>How was Organic Lab?</p>
<p>Lab was pretty awful. Not the fault of the faculty or resources – it was one of the most organized and well-run labs I’ve ever taken. It’s just incredibly difficult and time-consuming.</p>
<p>So basically… the exact opposite of the physics labs I took at Columbia, which were easy and short, but miserable by virtue of the complete lack of organization and resources.</p>
<p>As a premed in Barnard, how do you feel in terms of guidance for med school applications. How prepared are you for MCATs? Do you know the average GPA of graduating premeds (since med school admissions seem to care a lot about GPA).</p>
<p>Guidance here has been kind of… less than satisfactory lately. Hopefully this will change soon. There’s a great support system among the peers, though – I really feel like all the premeds are kind of in it together, rather than cutthroat competitive like you hear about at other places.</p>
<p>I felt super prepared for the MCAT. Biology and chem are great here, and I got a near-perfect score on the bio-orgo section of the test with very little studying. The professors really get you to learn the stuff.</p>
<p>I heard an average GPA of 3.65 floating around somewhere, but I could be very wrong, so don’t quote me on that.</p>
<p>Thank you very much mysteryflavored!
Since the focus is on liberal arts here, are science majors a minority?
Did you feel so? How may of you were in the pre-med track?
Are the requirements of 9 ways of learning etc… annoying for folks who love to concentrate on their major? Will those courses bring down the GPA?</p>
<p>Science majors are definitely a minority, but they do exist. It’s kind of nice that way, actually, because you take all of your classes with the same people and get to know most of the girls in your major over your four years. Chemistry is a lot smaller than biology and neuroscience, so I get the feeling that all the chem majors are like family, and the department treats them as such. With bio, you need to be pretty involved to get that experience (which I am and do).</p>
<p>Despite the minority of science majors, there are a lot of premeds at Barnard. There’s been a pretty big shift for medical schools to accept more humanities majors (so their doctors are more “humanistic”, which I think is BS but that’s another conversation 
). I think the reigning pre-health club has over 200 members at the moment, and that’s just the people who felt compelled to join a club for it.</p>
<p>As a biology major, I really appreciated the 9 ways. I love science and I love my major, but I also realize the benefits to a liberal arts education and know I won’t get the chance to learn much outside of my field once I hit medical school next year. The nice thing about the 9 ways is that you can customize it to include the classes you WANT to take, rather than having to take 15 pre-determined classes. I took classes in economics, anthropology, comp lit, history, and dance and loved all of it. As for how much it takes away from my major… I’m going to have to say it didn’t. I never took more than 16 credits a semester and still felt like I took almost all the classes I wanted to take.</p>
<p>It’s funny you mention GPA… almost all the premeds I know consider the science classes the ones that bring down the GPA. I did about as well in my sciences as I did in my 9 ways. A perk to the 9 ways, too, is that you can take them pass/fail for a nice, stress-free learning experience. Barnard allows like 21 pass/fail credits (although a smart premed won’t pass/fail more than a couple classes).</p>
<p>Thank you so much mysteryflavored!</p>