DIY postbac

[Mars41]

DIY post-bac for med school prereqs. Liberal arts background with 0 science credits. Best plan of study for next 2 years? Chemistry before physics or vice versa?

Current plan:
Fall 2015- bio 1/gen chem 1
Spring 2016-bio 2/gen chem 2
Summer A- physics 1
Summer B- organic chem 1
Fall 2016- physics 2/organic chem 2

Is this a decent course load or should I take more/less at a time? I took 18 credits on several occasions during my undergrad studies without any problems but I am completely new to the world of science.

Also can biochem be substituted for organic chem 2? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[Goro]

I would suggest chem before physics
Best plan of study for next 2 years? Chemistry before physics or vice versa?

Current plan:
Fall 2015- bio 1/gen chem 1
Spring 2016-bio 2/gen chem 2
Summer A- physics 1
Summer B- organic chem 1
Fall 2016- physics 2/organic chem 2

The two courses/semester is a decent plan for a DIY post-bac. Only you can can tell us if adding one more is too much or too little.

Physics or Orgo over the summer makes me cringe though. I suggest taking a Bio course in each session (like, say, Biochem and then Biostats, or Genetics and then Cell Bio). Save Orgo and Physics for year 2.

Is this a decent course load or should I take more/less at a time? I took 18 credits on several occasions during my undergrad studies without any problems but I am completely new to the world of science.

I don't think so. Most schools want you to have a year of Orgo.
Also can biochem be substituted for organic chem 2? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mars41]

Thanks so much for the info... Chem before physics and save orgo for year 2. Sounds like a solid plan.

 

[Aelius]

+1 for the suggestion of not taking organic chem in the summer. It's one of those courses that needs to "ferment" in your mind and is not to be rushed through. Other than that, your plan looks good.

 

[mavric1298]

How much shorter are your summer terms. Our's are 45 instructional days versus 54 in a normal term, which should give you an idea of how much more they are crunched or not. So for us, thats 18% quicker. For me thats not ridiculous, but gives you sense of how much more you're going to have to put in. I'm doing phys 2 ochem 1 right now summer term, so we'll see; but at this point on quarters everything is fast paced anyway, so I didn't hold back signing up for two.

 

[milski]

How much shorter are your summer terms. Our's are 45 instructional days versus 54 in a normal term, which should give you an idea of how much more they are crunched or not. So for us, thats 18% quicker. For me thats not ridiculous, but gives you sense of how much more you're going to have to put in. I'm doing phys 2 ochem 1 right now summer term, so we'll see; but at this point on quarters everything is fast paced anyway, so I didn't hold back signing up for two.

The extra 10 minutes of class were not that much of a change, not having all classes start at hour:30 was rather annoying. The biggest difference was actually the final exam. Since during summer quarter it is taken during the regular class hours, it was one hour only, so about half of the length of the typical final. That can be both good and bad, depending on what problems you get.

 

[mavric1298]

^I have one class that halved it, or you can chose to average your 3 midterms and just use that instead (we get to drop one for our midterm score), and one class decided the last two days where each going to be half a final, so he was able to do a full 2 hr final