Any advice for someone who is about to be a premed this fall?

[alexfoleyc]

Well, I plan to major in psychology for a B.S degree. My freshmen yr I plan to take 2 sciences, which are chem and bio. Is it true that is a bad idea to take 2 sciences at once--especially with labs? I really want to get As in these classes. Any advice on how to get As?

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[armybound]

I would recommend not overloading with science courses as a freshman. A lot of people do very poorly their freshman year and getting in a hole with your science GPA is not a good idea.

be prepared to work hard and devote time to your studies. this is not high school. the professors do not spoon feed you the answers. you will have 100 reasons not to go to class, but if you want to be successful you should at least try to.

 

[rmorriso]

Well, I plan to major in psychology for a B.S degree. My freshmen yr I plan to take 2 sciences, which are chem and bio. Is it true that is a bad idea to take 2 sciences at once--especially with labs? I really want to get As in these classes. Any advice on how to get As?

I was taking 2 labs a semester all the way through my junior year. It's an inevitable part of being a science major pre-med. Just get used to doing the work. Get your feet wet with the 100 level labs before you jump into organic lab. It's a bitch at first (though two years down the road you'll look back and laugh at how hard it seemed).

Also second the go to class comment. I didn't study much in college (except the couple days before exams), but I made pretty much every class. Think of class as required study time, leaving you more time to enjoy yourself.

 

[Bacchus]

You will be fine. Please enjoy your freshmen year. One tip that I can give you, from being an orientation leader (read as helping register for classes), is to take atleast general chemistry. For our psych program at my university all students have to take survey of chemistry which will not be accepted by medical schools. If you have the option, make sure to take general or advanced gen chem. You should have seen the horror in students eyes when we told them this, haha. Chem will be math oriented and bio will be memorize and regurgitate. 1st semester might be a bit bland but second semester should start to focus on more physiological aspect of biology. I wouldn't suggest taking anymore than 15 credits fall semester, others may think 18 is ok. Best of luck, and remember, just relax. You have plenty of time to be paranoid and freshman year is not the time to start.

 

[Lamont]

my biggest piece of advice is to get off of SDN for a while and actually ENJOY college. make friends, have fun, all that stuff. dont be a toolbox and sit on your computer all day when you are not studying patiently waiting for the next SDN post. SDN is addictive, dont get me wrong, but its got its limits. Its the facebook of hyper-competitive gunner pre-meds. dont be one of those. manage your time, study a bit, join some clubs (go greek if thats your thing), but remember to leave your dorm and have fun. you are in your youth, dont let that get by you. remember to stay healthy...avoid late night mcdonalds and try to work out or run regularly. thats my 2 cents.

 

[Bre]

The biggest adjustment that I remember is that in high school class was where you learned everything, in college class is where you are told what to learn and then you go home and teach it to yourself.

 

[scotties123]

The biggest adjustment that I remember is that in high school class was where you learned everything, in college class is where you are told what to learn and then you go home and teach it to yourself.

. for myself and every one of my friends (we all went to different highschools by the way) highschool did NOT prepare us for college in any way, shape, or form. Ive always said, the only thing I learned in highschool was how to write a paper and how to cheat. And the cheating thing converts into being able to BS your college professors into getting test answers and grade increases. Dont slack off your first year, and dont assume that just because you did well in highschool, u will automatically do well in college. I was a 4.0 student in highschool and got a rude awakening with a 3.0 my first semester of college. good luck.

also, u will have to double up on science classes in order to get everything done on time (at least at my university) but dont do it your first semester. Just take a basic bio prereq course.

 

[Lozza]

ahhhhh!!!

 

[quiltlady]

Here's my advice on how to succeed in college. Go to class. Sit up front. do not read the paper/listen to iPod during class. Read the assignment before class. Go to office hours. Do more problems than are assigned. Do not blame the professor for your mistakes. Every term try something new and not required by your major.