<p>I don't know if this topic has been mentioned yet..
but
i was wondering if it's okay to take classes such as general biology over the summer.
i read it somewhere that college know when applicants are trying to take the easy way out...
im gonna be a freshman this fall and i don't want to overwhelm myself by taking both gen bio and gen chem...</p>
<p>
[quote]
4.) I was always told that taking summer courses at your home institution was fine. Rumor has it that things are shifting away from that, which would be a good change to the process. If these rumors are true, you should not take your premed requirements over the summer - but I have never heard them from any official source.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My son's GF changed her major from psychology to premed at the end of her junior year. She had taken one year of chemistry by then and wanted to take O chem in the summer. She was advised by her mentor that she could but better take it in her home institution ( Penn). She was advised not to take it in her state U (WV) because it would seem like she was taking advantage of lesser competition.</p>
<p>Ultimately she was able to get into ALL the top schools including free ride at Penn and almost free at Stanford. She will begin at Harvard next month with very little out of pocket money and virtually no loans.</p>
<p>BTW, she also got in Cornell, NYU, Hopkins,Pitt, UMich, UCSF (darn good for a WV resident) and many others.</p>
<p>There are two take-home points from CB's posts.</p>
<p>1.) Even assuming that this is a rule - which it might not be - there are good reasons to break any rule. Becoming a premed late is probably one of them.</p>
<p>2.) Even assuming that this is a rule and she didn't have a good reason (which she clearly did), then doing some things that are "bad" is always acceptable if the rest of your application is strong enough, which I'm sure hers was.</p>
<p>Bluedevilmike, I am sorry I didn't make myself clear on what my son's GF did. She took O chem in the summer at Penn, NOT WVa.
I reread my post and I gave the wrong impression,having written late at night. My bad!!</p>
<p>Hi CB,</p>
<p>I understood. I just wanted to make clear that case studies are probably not the best way to draw general conclusions. The girl in question seems to have been a wonderful candidate.</p>
<p>Again, to emphasize, becoming a premed late is certainly good justification for taking summer classes. It is probably better to take them at your home institution. And even if CB's potentially-future-daughter-in-law (henceforth PFDIL) did make a "mistake" taking summer courses - which I certainly don't think she did - then such a mistake is clearly of a small magnitude relative to other strong components to one's application. It would especially be a small thing if she managed to balance significant EC's that summer as well.</p>
<p>well what about taking a non premed requirement such as physiology during the summer?</p>
<p>1.) Again, I must emphasize that what I've heard about summer courses is RUMOR, and in fact rumor that's floating around on these boards. I've never had it confirmed by any official source that summer courses are your home institution harm your application. It makes sense that it would, but I've never heard it stated officially.</p>
<p>2.) Uh... aside from physiology being a premed class, your general point would remain intact: it is better to take a non-premed class (e.g. computer science or history) over the summer than a premed class (e.g. physiology, genetics, organic chemistry). Of course, if it's okay to take summer courses, then everything is fine and this distinction goes away.</p>
<p>if i am thinking of finishing premed courses within 2 years, do you recommend that i take gen bio w/ chem my frsehman year 1st sem?</p>
<p>i don't konw how hard it's goign to be.. :-( and I really dont' want to kill my GPA</p>
<p>"Whether it's too hard"</p>
<p>Intro bio with gen chem freshman year is fine. It's not too hard.</p>
<p>Yes, I thought that was the general consensus. If you're willing to do some work, then it is not something that will "kill" your GPA.</p>
<p>I was a biochemistry major back in the days. You almost HAVE to take general biology and generaly chemistry in your freshman in order to be able to take other courses required by your major(assuming it is either bio or chem). Most other upper division courses have gen. bio AND chem as perequisites. Since these are year long courses, if you miss it, then you have to wait another year. Otherwise it really messes up your course schedules for the next 3 years. I am assuming we all want to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>I actually had a problem with my frosh year schedule, and I can't take Biology my first quarter (OSU is on the quarter system). This means I'll have to start up during my second quarter, and finish the year-long sequence next fall. Is splitting a course up like that, with a summer mission trip in the middle, going to have any possible adverse effect on my applications? Obviously this is getting really nit picky, but I just wanted to make sure.</p>
<p>Only if it harms your ability to actually do well in it.</p>
<p>I went to a school which offered the beginning classes of year-long courses only in the fall. If your school offers it in the winter quarter and you can schedule all your required courses within 4 years, it's OK, assuming you will remember everything you learned despite a summer break to continue your class in the fall.</p>
<p>When I was picking my courses, my advisor suggested taking Gen. Bio during the school year and Gen. Chem over the summer. Her argument was that people who do their pre-med classes that way do better. And colleges don't really frown upon that because realistically, "if your GPA is a 3.7, there's not much to argue" (her words). But I also agree with the argument that if you were to take summer courses, you should take them at your home institution.</p>
<p>cbreeze, I'm going to pretty much be in the same position as your son's GF. How (if at all) did she manage to take the MCAT's on time? I've heard that taking it in August is too late. I still need to take Orgo I/II and Bio I/II. Do you have any advice?</p>