Trying to make my 4 year plan (Premed psych major, neuroscience/finance certificates)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>If anyone would like to point out errors on my part, please help me out. Here's what I got so far.</p>

<p>I have a 5 in AP Calc BC, 5 in AP Bio, 5 in AP Physics, and I'm semi-fluent in Korean. Also assume I get a 4 in AP Chem or place into Chem 215.</p>

<p>Oh, and many of the programs have a statistics requirement. I took statistics at a community college and got an A. Will this fulfill that statistics requirement?</p>

<p>Freshman year:
-Writing seminar
-Mol 214 (Intro to Cell/Mole Biology - for Neuroscience prereq)
-Literature Analaysis class
-A freshman seminar first semester</p>

<p>-Another freshman seminar second semester
-Math 200 (math for economists)
-Korean 105? Not sure which one I'll place into, but assume 105 for now.
-Chemistry 215 (premed requirement)</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
-Economics 100 (Microecon)
-Korean 107
-Organic chemistry
-A psych class</p>

<p>-Economics 310 (Microecon Theory Math Approach)
-An Ethical/Moral class
-Ecological Biology
-Psych class
-Another psych class</p>

<p>Junior year:
-Econ 362 (finance)
-Psych class
-Physics 103 (premed, but not sure if I need it) or something useful
-Bio elective for neurosci.</p>

<p>-Econ 362 (finance)
-Physics 104 or something fun
-Psych
-Another psych class</p>

<p>Senior year:
-2 psych classes
-Econ</p>

<p>-1 psych class
-2 econ classes</p>

<p>I appreciate any criticism, thanks.</p>

<p>PS, the GE's for Princeton are:
W, FL, EC, EM, HA, LAx2, QR, STx2, SAx2</p>

<p>My psych classes cover SA and EC.
Econ classes cover QR
Premed classes cover ST</p>

<p>Freshman seminars will cover one HA class and one LA class.</p>

<p>That leaves 1 extra LA class (I think I'll take an English class) and 1 EM class (I'll take some philosophy course I guess).</p>

2

<p>A few quick things:
*KOR 105/107 are only offered fall/spring semester, respectively. I'd recommend talking to the head Korean professor (there are only two) for placement...she's usually very good about this sort of situation. Usually she recommends 101/107 (fall/spring) or 105/107. Either way you go, you should be fine in terms of workload. While many students will caution you against taking five, especially first semester, 100-level Korean is really very easy, especially if you're semi-fluent. Besides the time in class, it'll take little to no outside class time.
*If you're going to be a finance certificate, I might recommend taking MAT 201/202 (or 203/204 if you really like math, but I'm assuming not) instead. Many of the ORFE and ECO courses that you might take require a good grasp of math, and you might want something a little more advanced than MAT 200.
*DO NOT TAKE PHY 103. PHY 101, as far as I know, also fulfills the pre-med physics requirement, and is much less painful. 103 is not necessarily difficult, especially if you've taken high school physics, but it's just a really unpleasant class. The lectures are boring, the problem sets are largely unfulfilling and unhelpful, and the labs are excruciating. Stay awayyyy.
*OChem at Princeton is two semesters. You'd probably drop the ecological biology (EEB?) class in its stead.
*I'd recommend taking a psych class earlier, just in case you find you don't like it. I know you probably feel pretty sure about it, but a surprisingly large percentage of college students change their minds, and it might be good to make sure you're doing what you want to do if you're scheduling out your years like this. Probably switch the 3rd semester psych with the 2nd semester math or something...that way, you'll have psych early, and the math will be fresh in your head for ECO 310.
*In terms of the statistics requirement: plan to take a stats course. Princeton doesn't give credit for courses taken before matriculating, and while this wouldn't be a problem if you just wanted to take individual courses that had stat as a prereq, PSY requires a statistics course to sign in to the department (PSY 251, ECO 202, ORF 245). </p>

<p>Feel free to PM (or email, which I check more regularly. You can ask through PM if you want) if you have any other questions--I have plenty of time over the summer to respond :P</p>

3

<p>A few things:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>MOL 214 is offered in the spring, not the fall. MOL 215, which also fulfills the biology requirement for premed, is offered in the fall. It's not your typical premed course--the emphasis is understanding classic experiments rather than memorizing facts about protein synthesis, DNA replication, etc. Most premed stick take MOL 214.</p></li>
<li><p>Your schedule amounts to an organized attempt to make your life miserable for four years. You leave yourself no real room to take electives, you will have to do independent work your junior year in both neuroscience and finance. If you want to be a doctor, then there is no reason to get a finance certificate except for intellectual satisfaction. I would argue that any sort of satisfaction you may get will be mitigated by long hours spent grinding away at all of your work. If you're interested in finance, then I would recommend taking some of the courses required for the certificate without actually enrolling in the program. This way you won't have to do the independent work and will be able to take things at your own pace. </p></li>
<li><p>Your plan does not give you a very broad education. You'll take the necessary intro courses to fulfil your distribution reqs, but these are not usually that stimulating. It's always good to take a few intermediate and/or advanced courses in subjects that you're not majoring or getting a certificate in.</p></li>
<li><p>If you got a 5 on AP Physics C Mechanics and E&M, you only have to take one semester of physics, but it must be an upper level course. Common choices for premeds are AST 204 and CHM 306. Of course, you can always just take one of the year long intro sequences.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I would recommend that you decide early if you want to be a doctor or you want to do finance. If you decide on finance, you'll want to consider majoring in a different subject since psychology and finance have such little overlap. If you decide to stick with premed, drop the finance certificate. I'm also happy to answer any other questions you have.</p>

4

<p>Don't you have to take a writing course...? Forgive me if I missed it in there, hahaha.</p>

5

<p>Maybe I should do premed and do Econ/Finance undergrad?</p>

6

<p>Edited version (THANKS GUYS!)
Freshman year:
-Writing seminar
-Mol 215 (Quantitative Princ. in Cell and Mol Bio)
-Korean 105
-A freshman seminar first semester</p>

<p>-Another freshman seminar second semester
-Math 200 (math for economists)
-Korean 107
-Chemistry 215 (premed requirement)</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
-Economics 100 (Microecon)
-Literature Analysis class
-Organic chemistry
-A psych class</p>

<p>-Economics 310 (Microecon Theory Math Approach)
-Orgo Chem II
-Ecological Biology
-Psych class
-Another psych class</p>

<p>Junior year:
-Econ 362 (finance)
-Psych class
-Physics 103
-Bio elective for neurosci.</p>

<p>-Econ 362 (finance)
-Ethics/Morals class
-Psych
-Another psych class</p>

<p>Senior year:
-2 psych classes
-Econ</p>

<p>-1 psych class
-2 econ classes</p>

<p>It says in my book that Eco Bio or Evolutionary Bio is needed for premed students...?</p>

<p>And it also says "Students may fulfill the quantitative methods prerequisite by taking and passing a preapproved course in another department, or at another college or university, or by passing an equivalence..."</p>

<p>Is that inaccurate? Thanks.</p>

7

<p>About the Eco Bio--it's probably referring to EEB 211 which you aren't required to take because you got a 5 on AP Bio.</p>

<p>Could you maybe provide an explanation for why you want to do premed and finance?</p>

<p>If in the end you decide to go that route, then yes I would recommend majoring in economics. It will be much easier than trying to fit in a certificate that is totally unrelated to your major. That would require you to retool your schedule again.</p>

8

<p>the eeb class is needed (unless you have AP in which an upper level bio will suffice) and the class i assume you are referring to, eeb 211, is in the fall. I would take both bio classes in freshman year, hopefully in place of one of the freshman seminars. Neuro junior work will be done as your psyche junior work, and thus will not add any appreciable work. keep in mind that your junior neuro class (mol 408) is extremely quantitative, at least in part, and will be dealing with concepts from physics that you will not have seen for 3 years. PHY 103 is not a sufficient class for what you are attempting to do, and taking it will void your AP. this schedule is possible, but burn-out is likely. I agree with the previous poster who suggested you take finance courses, but don't officially enroll in the certificate. Med schools do not care about any minor that isn't absolute fluency in a foreign language, anyways.</p>

9

<p>Okay cool, I can cross off EEB.</p>

<p>Why do I want to get a certificate in finance? I want to be a Dean of Medicine, who normally has a lot of administrative responsibilities that overlap with financial responsibilities. Would it be better to get an MBA and an MD?</p>

<p>And I just want to be rich/able to take care of my money.</p>

<p>Thanks everyone, you guys are awesome.</p>

10

<p>Burn out? I'm taking the same amount of courses as everyone else, no?</p>

11

<p>Having a finance certificate will not give you a leg up in getting a Dean's job. For better or worse, people in the medical profession don't really care too much what you did for undergrad. Furthermore, it wouldn't be helpful since medical school deans don't make decisions about investments, M&A, or much of anything else that makes up the core of the certificate curriculum. It also won't have an effect on your future earnings/wealth unless you manage your own money, which is not a very good idea to begin with. If you want to get an administrative position in medicine, then a joint MD/MBA would be much more helpful. Remember, the finance certificate only covers finance, not general business skills.</p>

<p>You will be taking the same number of courses as other students, but you won't have much room for electives. You run the risk of graduating from Princeton having studied just two subjects in any sort of depth only to discover that finance is largely useless in the medical profession and wishing you had taken more liberal arts courses. When you have to carefully plan out your schedule before freshman year starts because it's going to be that tight, you should take a step back and reassess your longterm goals and how your coursework fits in with those goals. </p>

<p>You seem to have a strong interest in medicine. I would recommend majoring in psychology and possibly picking up the Neuroscience certificate. Take a few finance classes on the side and decide junior year if you are interested in a MD/MBA joint program. I'd recommend checking out the MD/MBA page on Harvard's website. Read the student profiles and see if it sounds like a good fit for you. </p>

<p>HMS</a> and HBS Joint Degree Program - Harvard Business School MBA Program</p>

12

<p>^Wow you are a sage.</p>

<p>I will listen to you!</p>

<p>Screw finance certificate...</p>

<p>Ugh, have to do some major repairs to my schedule.</p>

13

<p>the burnout will become apparent when you find yourself unable to take classes PDF and have to write a second mini-thesis senior year for finance. Take Weasel's advice.</p>

14

<p>Some advice: Chem 215 is not offered in the spring, only in the fall. So you may want to switch that to first semester. It's a very good, albeit difficult, class. A lot of pre-meds with AP bio credit but not Chem credit take CHM 215 in the fall and then MOL 214 in the spring. </p>

<p>Also, since it will be tight with you in terms of all of the requirements, I'd recommend picking freshmen seminars that fill distribution requirements that you might have to take electives later on to fill.</p>

15

<p>for the finance certificate you only need 1 semester of independent work (~20 page paper) which you can do either junior or senior year. Otherwise you can include a finance component into your thesis (ie economics of psych drugs or something like that)</p>

16

<p>please if you actually believe you will have enough of a say in your psych/neuro thesis to include a finance component, you've got to be joking.</p>

17

<p>^okay uhh right.</p>

18

<p>you can definitely do it- as a chapter in your thesis, for example. You choose what you want to do your thesis in.... and I know friends who have done mol/finance so I don't really see the difference.</p>