<p>I was wondering if you guys could tell me the sequence of the classes you've taken so far. Obviously the difficulty of the class depends on the school and teacher, but in general what should a undergraduate pre-med schedule look like? I want to have a fairly manageable freshmen schedule so any help is appreciated. What prerequisite classes are easy enough to take freshmen year, and what are ones I should steer clear from until later?</p>
<p>The way my school (WashU) works is:</p>
<p>Freshman
Semester 1: Gen Chem I
Semester 2: Gen Chem II, Bio I</p>
<p>Sophomore:
Semester 1: Orgo I, Bio II
Semester 2: Orgo II, Physio(recommended for MCAT)</p>
<p>I took physics over the summer but a lot of people take it junior year.</p>
<p>If you want to apply to med school during senior year, you might want to try for one or two courses a year. At some point you will have to double up or take a course during the summer. Chem and Bio should be easy enough for freshman year. I recommend taking orgo as a sophomore with no other science courses if possible. And then physics junior year. I think Orgo is something that requires so much time you shouldn’t take any prereqs with it. But it should be fine to double up when taking physics, inorganic, or bio depending on you own weaknesses and strengths.</p>
<p>I took intro bio, gen chem, and multivar calc/linear algebra freshman year.</p>
<p>I took physics, orgo, orgo lab, and biochem sophomore year</p>
<p>So, I had everything done by the end of sophomore year and took the MCAT over the summer. Didn’t have to worry very much for the rest of my college career.</p>
<p>Doubling up on sciences is tough but certainly not impossible. I’m with norcalguy in completing everything by the end of sophomore year so that you can take the MCATs over the summer. Postponing them is giving yourself time to forget stuff.</p>
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I did the same.</p>
<p>I would, however, advise against this. It doesn’t have anything to do with course load or anything so much as options (RE: course load, only you know if you can handle it or not).</p>
<p>I say this because MCAT scores are good for 3 years for most medical schools. I’ve decided to take a year off by applying at the end of my senior year, but this is the latest cycle I can apply and have my score valid for the greatest number of schools. So if you have a crisis of faith at the last minute, that leaves you between a rock and a hard place (apply even if you’re not completely sure vs take some more time but you’ll have to take the MCAT again if you want to apply later).</p>
<p>Did you guys squeeze in your GE courses in with your medical prerequisites within your first two years, or did you guys wait to finish a majority of them junior and senior year?</p>
<p>Also what are your opinions on using AP credits to take upper level classes and opting out of classes that would most likely have been easy A’s and padding to our GPA? Are there any AP credits that we should generally not use for the sake of having a manageable freshmen course load that that won’t jeopardize our GPAs?</p>
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<p>I squeezed mine in.</p>
<p>My schedule:</p>
<p>Fresh Fall (18 hrs): Bio I w/ lab ,Chem I , Cal I ,Gen Ed ,Gen Ed</p>
<p>Fresh Spring (16 hrs): Bio II w/ lab, Chem II w/ lab, Stats Class, Gen Ed</p>
<p>Soph Fall (15 hrs): Microbiology w/ lab, Genetics, Orgo I, Language class</p>
<p>Soph Spring (19 hrs): Orgo II w/ lab, Phys I w/ lab, language class, Gen Ed, Gen Ed</p>
<p>Junior Fall (16 hrs): Cell Bio, Biochem, Phys II w/ lab, Gen Ed</p>
<p>MCAT in January between semesters</p>
<p>And then Junior Spring, Senior Fall and Spring were/are gen ed and upper level sciences.</p>
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<p>If you think you can handle it then it’s fine. I know if I could have done that I probably would have been able to take a couple of more classes that would have been interesting to take (vert phys or a similar course). Otherwise though, if you are worried about how you are going to transition, just don’t opt out.</p>
<p>FWIW, I’ve felt that my upper level bios for the most part were easier than my gen ed intro bio courses. Take with grain of slat though.</p>
<p>Highly variable…</p>
<p>For myself as a PB, it has generally been 3 sciences/semester + full-time clinical employment + a few hours clinical volunteering each week. Basically, just make sure you’re done w/ the med school prereqs by spring of jr yr and take a light load spring jr yr to prep for the MCAT around spring break (if it goes poorly, this allows for a retake at the end of the semester before or immediately after AMCAS opens).</p>