First Year Dilema

[hopefulMD]

Hi everyone,

I am an incoming UC freshman but I have over 58 quarter units of credit (mainly from community colleges course but some from AP tests also). I was hoping someone would give me some advice on a perspective course list (my health career advisor wasn't too clear and to see her i have to set up an appointment a month in advance...absolute lunacy...shows how much they care for us freshman.. ...but i think i understand with the AMCAS fiasco and all).

Anyways...I have already taken a year of Calculus and a quarter of Chem. but should I hold off on Physics and Biology and Chemisty at the same time this year because of their labs or take only these science courses exclusively (w/o electives). And possibly even take o-chem in the spring and summer and take the august mcat in 2002.

Now that is the dilema that I am faced with....i am exploring my options and being as realistic as I can. And if your still reading this, THANK YOU and i know your insight will all be earnest and with good intentions. Thanks again.

Valeti Doctor

P.S. I haven't started school yet so my class registration is a complete mess.

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[mj]

my first advice would be to slow down. There is no rush to take the MCAT before your sophmore year. If memory serves me the scores are only good for 3 years so unless you are right on schedule with your app you are cutting it close and might end up retaking it.

As for your courses, it would depend on what you are good at. If science classes with labs aren't difficult for you, take them. If you struggle with any of them, you might want to break them up. The key is to balance your work load to best fit you while still getting in what you need and scoring well.

Final note -- not all med schools will accept AP credit for pre req classes. If your chem was done AP, you might want to do some research about schools you are interested in applying to. There are a few threads in the "Everyone" section that cover this if you do a search.

good luck
mj

PS. I forgot -- if your advisor isn't the best you might try switching. A good advisor can be a valuable asset.