2 questions about scheduling and EC's/research

[tweek125]

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alright, so basically the way my schedule is going to play out for the rest of this year and next year allows me to be able to get all my medical school pre-requisites done within my freshman and sophomore years and have those under my belt in time for the MCAT. however, this would mean taking orgo I and II with labs along with physics I and II with labs at the same time. I wanted to get these out of the way so I could possibly find a nice program to study abroad with my junior year (i really want to go abroad, but don't want adcoms seeing that i took a good portion of my prerequisites at a foreign university that they can't really gauge). but because of what i've seen on the forums and heard about orgo from people who have actually taken it, along with combining it with physics, the possibility of a breakdown seems a lot greater..

so that's the background. my questions: If i do take orgo and physics at the same time, should i just focus on those and push some of my EC's/volunteering to the side? also, since if i was able to study abroad my junior year, i probably wouldn't be able to get any research experience wherever i end up. would it be possible to find a position later in that year and put on my AMCAS that it's ongoing? (i'm not really familiar with the time structure of application cycles, so bear with me here..)

thanks for answering, any info is helpful.

 

[WUbear]

in my experience, orgo is not conceptually that difficult but is just a LOT of material to grasp, which is what makes the class so hard. I think you should make sure you have enough time to devote to orgo and physics, since low grades would affect your science gpa, a pretty important factor in determining your fit at a medical school. I'd split up orgo and physics if at all possible (maybe do 1 over the summer?).

As far as research goes, several pre-med deans have told me that doing research looks good but won't make up for low grades. Starting research halfway through junior year throughout the end of senior year is fine, especially if it goes along with good grades.

Try to choose the most important EC to you, the one you get the most out of, and make sure to keep that at the very least. That way, if things start to get crazy with physics and orgo, you've prepared yourself to make some more room in your schedule.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[theWUbear]

whatttt dude make a new username i'm going to get confused