Freshman Year Course Selection

[td08]

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OK, short background:

I have BC Calculus credit and AP Bio credit, I'm going to take biochem / cell biology my junior year for my biology and a semester or two of statistics somewhere in between. For my freshman year, this is my schedule:

Intro Chem w/Labs
Intro Physics w/Labs
Intro-level Neuroscience class
Composition class

My advisor said that I should drop physics with labs and take it during my junior year because "med schools really like to see a balanced schedule." Right now, 13/16 of my credits are for science courses and he said that "this is too heavy for a freshman course load."

I plan on taking some psychology / bio / social science classes outside of my major next semester and my sophomore and junior years...so I don't really see how this will make me appear "unbalanced." Do med schools really care WHEN you take courses (other than prerequisites of course) or just WHICH courses you take?

I'm planning on applying for med school during the summer of my junior year, so I'd like to get physics out of the way now and not have to take it along with organic chem next year.

Should I take his advice or stick with what I've got?

 

[dog0]

I really wouldn't take Physics my first semester. This was my schedule Fall semester freshmen year:

Gen Chem I
Gen Chem I Lab
Sociology
Glory That Was Greece
Composition I

You need to get assituated with college life your first semester. If you come in with AP credits you also have some breathign room (I came in with 30). Try knockign out some electives (composition, humanities, etc). A lot of things are going to be new and you're on your own. Plus, your first semester should be memorable; stay focused but enjoy yourself. Take the extra time to get to know people and go out or else you'll be miserable for the next 3 years. Also, Physics is one of the most challenging sections on the MCAT. I'd recommend taking it your sophmore or even junior year. That way most of the material will be fresh!

Enjoy college; start worrying about medical school junior year :\

 

[bodonid]

1) med schools don't care when you take prereqs, with a few exceptions that probably don't apply to you.

2) since you are a freshman, are you absolutely sure you can handle that courseload? It is certainly doable for many people.

I'd recommend taking something like the above poster. I had:

Orgo I w/labs
Geography
Symbolic Logic
Some lit class
Some math class

 

[135892]

OK, short background:

I have BC Calculus credit and AP Bio credit, I'm going to take biochem / cell biology my junior year for my biology and a semester or two of statistics somewhere in between. For my freshman year, this is my schedule:

Intro Chem w/Labs
Intro Physics w/Labs
Intro-level Neuroscience class
Composition class

My advisor said that I should drop physics with labs and take it during my junior year because "med schools really like to see a balanced schedule." Right now, 13/16 of my credits are for science courses and he said that "this is too heavy for a freshman course load."

I plan on taking some psychology / bio / social science classes outside of my major next semester and my sophomore and junior years...so I don't really see how this will make me appear "unbalanced." Do med schools really care WHEN you take courses (other than prerequisites of course) or just WHICH courses you take?

I'm planning on applying for med school during the summer of my junior year, so I'd like to get physics out of the way now and not have to take it along with organic chem next year.

Should I take his advice or stick with what I've got?

It seems fine, if you think you can handle it (and it should no problem). But yeah, just sprinkle in some different types of courses throughout the various semesters.

 

[stoic]

OK, short background:

I have BC Calculus credit and AP Bio credit, I'm going to take biochem / cell biology my junior year for my biology and a semester or two of statistics somewhere in between. For my freshman year, this is my schedule:

Intro Chem w/Labs
Intro Physics w/Labs
Intro-level Neuroscience class
Composition class

My advisor said that I should drop physics with labs and take it during my junior year because "med schools really like to see a balanced schedule." Right now, 13/16 of my credits are for science courses and he said that "this is too heavy for a freshman course load."

I plan on taking some psychology / bio / social science classes outside of my major next semester and my sophomore and junior years...so I don't really see how this will make me appear "unbalanced." Do med schools really care WHEN you take courses (other than prerequisites of course) or just WHICH courses you take?

I'm planning on applying for med school during the summer of my junior year, so I'd like to get physics out of the way now and not have to take it along with organic chem next year.

Should I take his advice or stick with what I've got?

as a general rule we take gen chem and bio first year.

feel free to put physics off till jr. year. general relativity doesn't help you much in med school.

 

[SarsMO]

Just keep in mind that your MCAT will be after your junior year; it may be beneficial to take physics closer to that date.

For me, I absolutely wanted to get my gen ed requirements out of the way. I had at least one science class every semester, but knocked all of my gen eds out by the summer after my soph year, so I had 4 solid semesters of bio classes and other classes that I WANTED to take, not that I had to. I would recommend getting those annoying gen eds out of the way...

And stop worrying about medical school right now. Chill out for a while.

 

[Bacchus]

I wouldn't take the AP credit for your biology class. If you did well on the class deal with the drudgery of taking bio at the collegiate level and get the A. Consider it a cheap A, whatever you paid for the AP test. If you're a science major it will take no extra time to take biology.