Recommended Course to take before the MCAT

Do they teach "how to have a life" at ur school? I know some ivy league schools remove this course from their curriculum back in 1969, but you don't have to take it for credit. Some people learn it from mundane things such as hobbies or going out with friends.

What I am trying to say is..... ur a freshmen! don't worry about the mcat right now! Tomorrow u may wake up and realize that you don't want to do medicine.... seriously. I had countless friends that did this and they all regret not doing more things with their time. Yes, I do think you should take pre-med class and do well. But worrying what classes to take for a test that is so very far from now is paranoia. Your basic pre-med classes are enough for the mcat. For Christmas, can you please, please have fun! For the both of us. I, on the other hand, have to worry about mcat and i wouldn't want another person to suffer meaninglessly as I am right now!

BloodySurgeon said:

Do they teach "how to have a life" at ur school? I know some ivy league schools remove this course from their curriculum back in 1969, but you don't have to take it for credit. Some people learn it from mundane things such as hobbies or going out with friends.

What I am trying to say is..... ur a freshmen! don't worry about the mcat right now! Tomorrow u may wake up and realize that you don't want to do medicine.... seriously. I had countless friends that did this and they all regret not doing more things with their time. Yes, I do think you should take pre-med class and do well. But worrying what classes to take for a test that is so very far from now is paranoia. Your basic pre-med classes are enough for the mcat. For Christmas, can you please, please have fun! For the both of us. I, on the other hand, have to worry about mcat and i wouldn't want another person to suffer meaninglessly as I am right now!

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I agree with what you said about possibly deciding not to do medicine. Many people go into college thinking they want to do one thing and then realize it really is not as great as they first thought. BUT I don’t think that you should just forget about what you have to do in a few years to try to get into medical school. Think about it, the OP only has 2 - 2 1/2 years before he has to take the MCAT. That is really not that far away. I wish I had thought about what classes would benefit my MCAT, then I would have been focused on what I needed and I wouldn’t have wasted my time in elective classes I really didn’t need. Also, I wish someone that was older and wiser about the process would have given me advice, so I think that his request is very reasonable.

I think the classes that will best benefit you for the MCAT are:

1. Biology 1 and 2, of course.
2. Chemistry 1 and 2
3. Physics 1 and 2
4. Organic Chemistry 1 and 2

But those are just the obvious classes, here are the others that you may have a choice in taking.

5. Genetics
6. Cell Biology (This is really something you will need)
7. Microbiology
8. Medical Terminology can really benefit you on knowing what they are talking about on some of the passages
9. Biochemistry
10. Physiology (even though it’s the hardest class ever)

Also Human Anatomy helps alot.

The classes you really need are orgo 1&2, physics 1&2, general bio, general chemistry. other classes i found really helpful are human physiology and biochemistry. i've also heard that genetics and physical chemistry are helpful. good luck

You know what... I was gonna write a whole speech on why he shouldn't take those classes for the mcat, but i decided not to. Biochem did help a bit and human physiology wouln't hurt either. Genetics is unneccesary since the mcat only ask Mendelian genetics, Hardy-Weinberg prinicple, and pedigree analysis (all can be learned in literally 5 minutes). Cell physio is taught in ur basic bio class and thats should be enough.

Guess, what? I decided to take a space science class one quarter, out of sheer interest. It had a lot of physics and math that I thought would never apply to me as a pre-med. I learned about planetary motions how missions figured out physical properties of celestial bodies. And you know what? Guess where they take 90% of the physics problems from? I can't tell you how many problems I get about space science on the physical science section (physics division). And you know what. I get them right. I'm sure other people have similar experiences, taking classes and finding those topics on the mcat as well. I don't suggest you take a space science class just for this fact, because knowing deeper knowledge outside the material is not the point. Joe nobody taking the same test without prior knowledge on space science can just as easily solve the same problems. It even gets me into trouble sometimes because I would know updated information up to 2006 and I get a passage written in 1999 that contradicts common knowledge.

If I could do college over again... i'd party more and study less (with an addition of more extra curriculum, damn im lacking in that department)

In addition to the med school pre-reqs, the classes I found most helpful were Cell Biology, Genetics, and especially Biochemistry.

fattymangox03 said:

The classes you really need are orgo 1&2, physics 1&2, general bio, general chemistry. other classes i found really helpful are human physiology and biochemistry. i've also heard that genetics and physical chemistry are helpful. good luck

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Are you serious with Physical Chemistry?

To the OP, I agree with the consensus, I think A&P and Genetics seem like they will help and some of the other cellular classes might be a help as well, but I'm guessing the cellular courses are more for understanding more detail in the passages. I'm just basing this opinion on what I've read in the EK and the Gold Standard Series.

In my list I think I put Microbiology. It is a MUST! I think if not for the MCAT, it will be a big help in med school. Medical Microbiology is awesome too. I love Micro. If I could marry it I would.