UNC Premed: Specific questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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<p>Now that it's official that I will be at UNC next year, I have some questions.</p>

<p>How/when should I get in touch with prehealth advising to make sure I'm on track with everything for premed?
How hard is the premed chemistry sequence at UNC (101, 102, 241, 261, 262+labs)?</p>

<p>I'm not too terribly worried about calculus, biology, or physics...but chemistry is what I'm really worried about...what should I prepare for/how should I prepare for it?</p>

<p>Speaking of calculus, biology, and physics...I should place out of Math 231 and 232, and Physics 104, from my junior year AP scores...and I am fairly sure that I should place out of biology 101 (I will be taking the AP exam in May and made a 4 on a practice exam I did in December to see where I was). Should I take the advanced courses I place into (which would be Math 233, physics 105...and biology 252, assuming I do well enough on the AP exam) or should I retake some of these intro courses, for those of you that know the course difficulty at UNC better than I do?</p>

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<p>any suggestions?</p>

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<p>You can declare your major your first semester with an academic adviser that should (but might not) thoroughly explain what you need to do to complete whatever major you decide to choose for your premed pathway. Carolina does not have a "Premed" major. I would venture to say that most people decide to major in biology or chemistry with the intention of pursuing med school while others take more nontraditional paths. The premed chemistry sequence at Carolina is very difficult for most people, especially when it comes time for organic chem. As far as retaking entry level courses at Carolina, you really should do what you feel comfortable with. If you dont feel like your biology is up to par, then retake it. If you feel like you have a solid understanding of it and had a good lab experience in high school then don't retake it and try to get into 201 or 202 if you have chem credit. You can try to get into bio 252 but I can almost promise you it won't happen because so many people need it. EXSS majors and bio majors have to have it and as a freshman it is just impossible, but no harm in trying i guess. You don't need to take MATH 233 for a biology major so if you are a bio major dont do it. you need physics 105 so i suppose you could try and take it for a bs bio major. But for your first semester really look at all your gen ed requirements and get those out of the way, you do not need to, and almost certainly should not jump in the deep in your first semester.</p>

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<p>How hard are math 231 and 232? As in, how hard is it to get A's in them (I'm inclined to do either 231 and 232 or 232 and 233 since I've been exposed to the material in 231 and 232, but are these classes harder to get A's in because of the grading curves and such)? </p>

<p>I think I'm going to try for a psych major and a bio minor while doing premed.</p>

<p>After looking at the biology site, it seems I will need to have taken Chem 101 (I will not have any chemistry credit going into UNC) as a prereq for pretty much all of the other bio courses, so I guess I won't take a biology class first semester, and focus most of my energies on getting an A in Chem 101, getting gen ed classes out of the way, and getting used to college. That sounds like it'll already be a lot without an extra biology class.</p>

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<p>good stuff phony. im in the same boat</p>

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<p>according to advisers, MATH 232 is the most failed course at Carolina so i have been told to avoid it like the plague. if you are a BS psych major, you have to have one of three classes ( MATH 232, COMP 110 or COMP 116) so if you just love calculus go for it, but otherwise i wouldn't do it, i would do one of the other two.</p>

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<p>The advising website says to major in something you can do well in and you are interested in....let me just say there are a tremendous number of premeds until the first few weed out classes, bio and chem are hard so balance your schedule. comp 116 is a science based comp science course that is doable but lots of projects. I do wonder if you will need 232 for upper level science courses....there is always physics and astronomy or science courses.</p>

<p>check the advising site and read it carefully they give lots of advice for pre meds or other pre professional majors....the key is high gpa for med school and a good mcat score. shop profs on pickaprof if you have to but many intro courses are listed as Dr. Staff.....a relative unknown. ;^D</p>

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<p>Math 232 is really not that bad. its the most failed class probably because a lot of people take it. its like the general bio and chem classes (101, 102, etc.), everyone, even though who dont major in chem or whatev have to take them so the average is low. im a BME major (also premed) and math 232 was not bad at all if you do the hw, and prepare for tests. the tests are fairly predictable as to what Qs will be on them. Personally, i got an A- in it. its really important to ask people what grade they got in the class if your going to ask them how "easy" or "hard" it is because often you'll ask and they'll say something like "oh it was easy" then you ask what grade they got and they reply "B-..or C+". not what you want to hear if your med since GPA...yeah...</p>

<p>As for pre-med, it really doesnt matter what major you take (sounds fishy but its seriously the way it is). the classes you take in undergrad (at least the first 2 years of gen ed.) wont matter sinc eyou have to retake them essentially, in med school. im not sure how well you know the structure of med school but its 1 or 2 yeras of classroom teaching (physiology, anatomy, etc) and then you learn by being in the hospital so i wouldnt worry too much about what classes you take as long as you get a degree of some sort.</p>

<p>If your a chem major, or psych, i wouldnt really go too much into physics or math. you really dont need to. (i'd take MATH 231, 232, 233, and maybe 383, and phys 105, 116,117 but im not sure) you'll have to take a lot of chem classes anyways if your chem (or whatever psych requires). and if you place out of bio 101, take bio 202 which is mole bio/genetics. the hiearchy of bio for pre med (if your not a bio major) is 101 (w/lab), bio 202, bio 252 and thats it. that being said, for chemistry, you'll need to take or recieve credit for 101, 102, 241, 261, 262. and all have labs except 261 (the lab you take is analytical 241L which is also considered orgo I lab).</p>

<p>ALSO, if your premed, join CPMA (carolina pre-medical association) which i did this year (im a freshman) and its really useful. they meet twice a month, and they usually have panels or speakers come in to talk about med school admissions or current topics in medicine that are interesting or controversial (stem cell research, etc). really neat to hear.</p>

<p>also, go see your advisor!! not one in general but one that is say a chem major advisor or psych major advisor because if they actually know what they're talking about and can actually help you.</p>

<p>good luck, its tough!</p>

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<p>Ok, so I think I'm going to try to do Math 233 and Chem 101 first semester (these two will be hard, but I'm going to try to take a fairly light load other than these two classes) and I've heard recommendations to try to get Mela for Math 233, and Hogan for Chem 101...any other prof recommendations for these classes...what about professors to avoid for these classes?</p>

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<p>Hey Guys, I graduated from UNC '07 in BS Biology and am attending UNC Med in the fall, so I definitely know what you're going through and what to expect. </p>

<p>A good website for people in you shoes is "<a href="http://www.studentdoctor.net"&gt;www.studentdoctor.net&lt;/a&gt;"&lt;/p>

<p>While I'm not too sure of your exact plans, I want to point out that medical schools do not take high school credit. I had to take calc my senior year in order to fulfill my med school prerequisites, and yeah it wasn't too fun. So just make sure you fullfill premed requirements with actual classes and not credit. While different from med school to med school you generally need 2 Bio w/ Lab, 2 inorganic chem w/ lab, 2 organic chem w/L, 2 physics w/ L, 2 english, and less common is 1 calc. </p>

<p>The chemistry department at UNC will definitely rock your world if your not careful. Many of my chemistry premed friends never made it to med school (in fact only one of five did). I would also recommend avoiding Dr. Hogan's intro chem class. He is an awesome guy and a great teacher, but he grades very very VERY hard. I never personally had him, but all my friends did and they struggled. </p>

<p>Honestly I used "<a href="http://www.pickaprof.com"&gt;www.pickaprof.com&lt;/a&gt;" while I was an undergrad to assess the difficulty of a class. Yeah it costs money, but it safely gave me the path of least resistance to medical school. </p>

<p>And I want to reiterate the point made by swim4china89...med schools do not care about your major...they just want to see lots of A's on your transcript, really mean that. A stellar MCAT and extracurriculars will only get you into a mediocre medical school if you have a *****ty GPA. That being said competitive medical applicants (especially the ones right out of college) have participated in interesting research, interesting summer activities (start planning NOW...don't take summer classes...go abroad, help starving children, and have good stories), and have built good relations with actual doctors (volunteer in clinics or even better work in a medical laboratory). All of these competitive activities tend to be easier to accomplish as a science major. </p>

<p>Ok enough of my rambling...if you have any more questions just ask and hopefully i'll remember to check.</p>

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<p>rdanem,
your information was very informative and very, very helpful.
Thank you soooo much!
I have many questions for you, but I will only spare you some of them for a later time.
Im planning on majoring in biology as well. My main concern is that once you obtain your B.S. in biology, can you start working? and what job opportunities are available once you get that degree?
Is it hard to get into the UNC medical school as an out of state student?
Do they accept AP credits?
Thanks.</p>

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<p>Getting a job with a biology degree is pretty easy. Your real concern should be how much money you can make when you graduate. You could work for a university laboratory (Duke, UNC, State) for around 25-30 K per year. If you go and work for a pharmaceutical firm (There are numerous around RTP) you could earn a little more. There are also a lot of biotech companies in the area that would hire you for similar rates. Biology teachers are in massive demand in NC and you could easily get one of those jobs for 25-30k (if you get a masters in teaching that rises to 40k). If you want to make a lot of money when you graduate there are really two options....investment banking (you need a business or related degree)...and being a pharmacist. I personally think the pharmacy program at UNC is a great deal for those interested in science and who want to make a lot of money fast. After your sophomore year you enter the PharmD program, and 4 years later you graduate. Then you make 100k per year out of the gate....but to answer your question...finding a job is easy as long as you have decent grades. </p>

<p>It is definitely more difficult to get into UNC med as an out of state applicant. UNC is a public school and 85% of the seats are reserved for in-state students. I have heard that the admissions committee will not look at an out of state application unless they have a 35 on thier MCAT (The average for UNC is 33). That being said, as an undergraduate you have the opportunity to move your residence to North Carolina...so if you really want to do that this is an option. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics, but to move your residence you need to live in NC for 24 straight months. To accomplish this you could live off campus your sophomore and junior year (if you apply to medical school your senior year).</p>

<p>UNC med, like all other med schools, do not take AP credit. But you need to put that in perspective. You may get a lot of AP Bio credit, that doesn't mean you need to take Bio 101 again. Med school just wants 2 biology classes, so your upper level bio classes in college would count.</p>

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<p>Okay. That seems like plenty of job opportunities. Since you graduated last year, what are you going to do with your degree? I want to major in biology and I guess working at a laboratory is great and the pay is alright. As long as I can pay off my minor debts, its okay.
I would defenitaly want to become a North Carolina resident. Im Going to enter as a sophmore cause of ap's. i heard that out of state students have a 1 percent change of getting into UNC med!
So, for out of staters applying to another state, is it quite impossible because med schools give preferential to in staters vs. out of staters?
and to get into any medical school...what are some suggestions? What should I start working on....any tips?
Thanks once again</p>

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<p>thanks for your posts.
Here is the situation we are looking for some insight.
Our son will join UNC Undergrad (Premed) this fall as an out of state student</p>

<p>would he be considered an out of state candidate, when he applies for UNC medschool?
Would he pay an in-state or out of state tuition in med school (for UG it will be out of state tuition we assume)
thanks in advance</p>

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<p>Does Chapel Hill med school like to take many from its undergraduate students?</p>

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<p>bapats,</p>

<p>Unless some other states, North Carolina makes it very difficult to establish in-state residency for tuition purposes. Unless you son should become self-supporting, it is likely that he would be considered OOS even as a graduate or professional student. You may want to review the information here: [Residency</a> Office of the University Registrar](<a href=“http://registrar.unc.edu/academic-services/residency]Residency”>Residency - Office of the University Registrar)</p>

<p>I think you will find that even if a student otherwise establishes residency, it is still necessary to prove that he or she is not in the state for the principal reason of attending school.</p>