<p>Hey I was wondering if this would be okay... I wanted to take as few premed courses at once so that I can do as well as I can in all of them. Would this be alright? Should I switch the order or take more/less classes each quarter/semester? I don't mind staying in college for five years. Thing is, will this put me at a great advantage in terms of timing for taking the MCAT's and applying for medical school? (These are just the premed courses, I'll be taking other courses, of course. :P)</p>
<p>1st Year (3 quarters/yr):
Calculus
Chemistry </p>
<p>Calculus
Chemistry</p>
<p>Calculus
Organic Chemistry</p>
<p>2nd Year (3 quarters/yr):
Organic Chemistry
English</p>
<p>Biology
Statistics</p>
<p>Biology
Psychology</p>
<p>3rd Year (3 quarters/yr):
Biology</p>
<p>Biology</p>
<p>Biochemistry</p>
<p>4th Year (3 quarters/yr):</p>
<p>Physics</p>
<p>Physics</p>
<p>Physics</p>
<p>Yeah. Do whatever you want. I know people who took 5 years to graduate and got into medical school... All that matters is the GPA. Not when you took the classes.</p>
<p>Don't you need 3 quarters of both chemistry and organic chemistry?</p>
<p>Thanks. Any other opinions?
I'm going to be going to UCLA.. for some reason, I looked at the course list for premeds and there are two quarters of gen chem and two quarters of organic chem. Of course, I left out all the lab courses in this list.</p>
<p>If you can't handle several science courses per semester (or in your case, quarter), do you think you could handle a med school curriculum?</p>
<p>But isn't that assuming that I can't handle several science courses every semester/quarter? I just want to guarantee myself the best grades possible. Also, taking things more slowly allows one to really absorb the material while setting a strong foundation for the MCATs and future courses in medical school. Besides, I think I would like to take other courses.</p>
<p>not a good idea
gotta show the adcoms that you can handle many sciences at once
however, too early for you to say cause i know or hear from friends that getting classes you want sometimes is hard</p>
<p>Well people improve in scientific acumen over time. So I suggest that if you don't think you can handle more than 2 science courses at once, just take 2 per quarter. And then once you find out that you can handle it(i.e get good grades in them), load up on more your second year. And so on with third year. Think of it like weight training, you don't start off strong, but after time and dedication, you end strong.</p>
<p>Ahhh it's so confusing. Do medical schools really care if you can handle more than one at a time? What about those non-science majors? Don't they do it this way?</p>
<p>I think you may be looking to far ahead. STARTING slow is definitely a good idea, but who is to say you won't get more comfortable with more intense course loads over time? Start with chemistry and calculus, and then see what happens from there.</p>
<p>Think about it this way, when comparing you to the other thousands of applicants will they care more about your gpa or when you took the classes? I personally think that the gpa is more important overall.</p>
<p>Courseload is a factor. When some members of my university's med school admission committee came and spoke to us, they said that they consider GPA in the context of courseload to make sure the applicant can handle the med school curriculum. Good grades but easy courseload (according to them) can actually be detrimental to an application. One easy semester, or two, is usually not a huge issue, but a consistently easy courseload can be a problem.</p>
<p>I've also heard similar things on this board and on SDN.</p>