<p>So I'm probably going to major in Economics which doesn't require too many upper division requirements and only has 3 challenging courses. </p>
<p>How stressful will my last 2 years at Cal be if I start med school requirements beginning next year? I plan to take two economics courses and two pre med courses per semester unless I take summer school.</p>
<p>And can I take pre med courses at community college?</p>
<p>ouch. that doesnt sound so fun. but on the plus side, you probably will have better TB standing as an upperclassmen which at least means your chances of getting into premed classes shouldnt be as much of a bloodshed as it is trying to get in as a freshman…but yes, you can take them at a CC (but they wont go into your Cal GPA). People always say this is “frowned” upon by med school. But in hindsight, I think my GPA would be a lot nicer if I’d just done that instead, since I personally dont believe med schools give such a huge bump for taking reqs at your U vs a CC unless you have drastic differences (performance-wise) in one over the other…you could always do summer schools too if you wanted to still take them at Cal and not overload during the semester. also, look into post-bac programs if none of these options seem feasible (although this can be somewhat costly/add extra time) before you can matriculate</p>
<p>hmmmm. so what made you decide to be premed all of the sudden, if you dont mind my asking? :)</p>
<p>I’ve read in MANY places that taking pre-med reqs at a community college is a bad idea. </p>
<p>I’d think that taking pre-med classes along with your normal classes might be tough, especially at Berkeley. Recently, I also decided to go the pre-med route (I’d rather be a psychiatrist than a psychologist), but instead of doing them Berkeley I’m going to do them at SFSU. It’s probably going to be slightly easier and they have a excellent program that has a good acceptance rate into med school.</p>
<p>Honestly I don’t think the courses will be that bad. Assuming you already fulfilled the math and english requirements, you need a year of physics, 2 years of chemistry, and a year of biology. All with lab. I would recommend taking Bio 1B and Physics 8B at a community college because they are pretty useless and the curves for them at Cal are pretty harsh. I would stay away from taking Bio1A/1AL with Chem 3B/3BL though, both are very time consuming.</p>
<p>I decided to do premed because I realized doing an economics major will leave me with a lot of extra space for fun/useless classes. Might as well be productive and do some premed requirements instead of wasting my tuition.</p>
<p>I was always interested in being a doctor, but the 10 years of schooling always turned me off, but as I’m going through school I’m slowly realizing it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t know though. But I think I can be an amazing surgeon.</p>
<p>KnitKnots, the reason I would rather do courses at community college over the summer is so I could save money because they’re relatively cheap. Going to SFSU is going to also be very expensive. </p>
<p>SoCaliii, sounds like good advice. I think I’ll take Chem 1A and Physics 8A next semester.</p>
<p>You have verified that your GPA is high enough so that you have a realistic chance of getting into medical school?</p>
<p>^^ what tends to be a good GPA for med school?</p>
<p>I know a CC is cheaper, but I’m fairly certain taking all your pre-med courses at a CC is a bad idea. If this weren’t the case, I would totally do them at a CC.</p>
<p>The pre-med forums may have more discussion about GPAs and such.</p>
<p>The [career</a> center](<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm]career”>https://career.berkeley.edu/MedStats/MedStats.stm) has some survey information about graduates who went to medical school.</p>
<p>A competitive GPA for med school is 3.7-3.8 or higher. You can still get in with a 3.5 or 3.6, but the odds are against you.</p>
<p>I’m realizing that the classes I’ll be taking next semester will be overwhelming… </p>
<p>Econ 100A/B
Physics 8A
Chem 1A
Econ elective</p>
<p>hmm, what do you guys think of taking Chem 1A and Bio1B over the summer at Berkeley? I’m planning on doing an hour long commute everyday.</p>
<p>I’m doubling Econ & MCB but I had Econ 100A/B and most of the lower div science classes done before junior year. You’re going to be a junior and you haven’t even taken Econ 100A/B yet? You know you need 5 electives + econometrics right? That’s 8 econ classes and I wouldn’t call any of them easy. For premed you’re going to need Chem 1A, Chem 3A/3AL, Chem 3B/3BL, Bio 1A/1AL, Bio 1B, Physics 8A, Physics 8B + MCB 102? All of these are very difficult and time consuming, except maybe Bio 1B which is still a painful class to get through. Are you done with your breadth/AC requirements at least?</p>
<p>I really don’t think starting premed is going to be a good idea right now. You’re going to overload yourself with classes, hurt your GPA, have no time for EC/research/honors, and get even more confused on what you want to do after you graduate. </p>
<p>You haven’t gone very far in the Econ major if you haven’t even taken 100A/B yet. Econ’s not a joke major at all at Berkeley and there are a lot of great classes and professors here that actually make you want to get an Econ PhD. All 3 Econ electives I’ve taken so far have been great and you should look at course descriptions/professor bios to see what I mean - Econ 134 with Christina and David Romer, Econ 115 with Eichengreen, and Econ C110 (Game Theory) with Robert Powell. </p>
<p>If you’re not interested in this stuff, just drop Econ completely and focus on being premed and getting As. That’s my advice at least.</p>
<p>What did you take your first 2 years? It appears that you haven’t taken econ courses (besides econ 1) or pre-med ones.</p>
<p>Yeah I finished my breadth… </p>
<p>I understand what you’re saying, economics is a very difficult major and it would be suicide to couple the difficult upper division classes with premedical requirements. I agree with that 100%.</p>
<p>So if I were to go down the premed path, what major should I choose? A major with not as difficult upper division courses? What about Environmental Economics or some other major? I was also thinking of Nutritional Science physiology.</p>
<p>this thread seems very intersting…please continue with ur discussion…im an incoming fall 2011 at berkeley for L&S</p>
<p>and im wondering if u have to know what kind of doctor you want to be before going to med school? i know that i want to be an opthamologist, but im not ccertain</p>
<p>and also, since ur all currently students at berkeley…i would like ur opinion on this. is it possible for me to get at least a 3.6, if i work hard? im not the inteligent type of student,…but i have a good work ethic, so will that get me the grades to go to med school?</p>
<p>^if work hard to the point you’re on par with the “intelligent type of student” then i’d say you can aim higher than 3.6</p>
<p><em>someone</em> in a curve has to get the B’s. if you’re a step ahead, it won’t be you. most of the time.</p>
<p>work hard, that’s all anyone can do, really. but don’t forget to enjoy college!</p>
<p>Economics courses should not be especially difficult or high work, since they do not have labs. Plus, an economics major is a better “plan B” than most other majors (particularly any type of biology) in case you do not get into medical school (see the career survey).</p>