guidance and help for a new pre-med

[rewindthemovie]

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This coming fall will be my first semester of college @ Saint Louis University. Here's my schedule:

I don't have an over-abundance of credits (as many of my peers have 16-17 and I only have 13), but from what I've heard, the biology and the chemistry (I skipped 101 and went to 161 instead) are extremely hard.

I just want to know if you guys have any guidance, pearls of wisdom, book suggestions on organization/studying/speed-reading, or time management suggestions.

Thanks

 

[Fermata]

If you can.....take another course.

Just pay attention and try to keep your grades up. There are a LOT of distractions in college.

 

[ChantillyLace]

sounds like you have a plan 👍

 

[rewindthemovie]

If you can.....take another course.

Just pay attention and try to keep your grades up. There are a LOT of distractions in college.

There's ENGA-094 which is a course that helps you "speed-read" through text books, especially science textbooks. The only problem is, it conflicts. The counselor that I have seems to think that this is the perfect amount of courses, but I'll ask her.

 

[Medikit]

Don't take another course. I think your plan is excellent, having low units will allow you to adjust to college life without the stress of having a severe course load. Not that your classes won't be difficult 😉

 

[rewindthemovie]

Don't take another course. I think your plan is excellent, having low units will allow you to adjust to college life without the stress of having a severe course load. Not that your classes won't be difficult 😉

OK, thanks! 😀



Oh yes, I forgot to mention my major/minor, investigative and medical sciences/philosophy.

 

[45408]

Take another class. The actual intro course for chemistry at my school was Chem100 and I started with Chem102, which was still a breeze. The intro courses like that teach you what a valence electron is and where the noble gases are on the periodic table. You can easily handle another class.

 

[rewindthemovie]

Take another class. The actual intro course for chemistry at my school was Chem100 and I started with Chem102, which was still a breeze. The intro courses like that teach you what a valence electron is and where the noble gases are on the periodic table. You can easily handle another class.

That just doesn't make sense though. I already know all that stuff, but they gave us sheets that showed ACT math scores and their correlation to people's actual grade in the class and the first A didn't show up until a person with a 26 math act score. I had a higher score than this, and a MUCH MUCH MUCH higher science score (which i think would matter more) so I decided to take this anyway. Why would your class be so much more easy than this? Did you score a really high ACT?


I will continue to look through the schedule just in case I find something that will fit in (a core class would be nice.... like getting my theology course outta the way).

 

[hnbui]

That just doesn't make sense though. I already know all that stuff, but they gave us sheets that showed ACT math scores and their correlation to people's actual grade in the class and the first A didn't show up until a person with a 26 math act score. I had a higher score than this, and a MUCH MUCH MUCH higher science score (which i think would matter more) so I decided to take this anyway.


I will continue to look through the schedule just in case I find something that will fit in (a core class would be nice.... like getting my theology course outta the way).

the science act scores really doesn't measure how well a person is acquainted with science. the science section on the act rather measure how well you can interept and comprehend the information given in the forms of charts, and graphs. The science section is similiar to the reading section except the information or passage is in the form of charts and graphs.

edited:
I'm no expert in premed, i'm starting out just like you, but i think you have a veryy good schedule. Try fitting one more class if you can. BTw i will probably be taking 18 credits.

 

[rewindthemovie]

the science act scores really doesn't measure how well a person is acquainted with science. the science section on the act rather measure how well you can interept and comprehend the information given in the forms of charts, and graphs. The science section is similiar to the reading section except the information or passage is in the form of charts and graphs.

edited:
I'm no expert in premed, i'm starting out just like you, but i think you have a veryy good schedule. Try fitting one more class if you can. BTw i will probably be taking 18 credits.

18 CREDITS!!!! That's the max, how the hell are you gonna have time to eat, sleep, and breathe between studying? That's just plain crazy. I could see someone with a non-science major MAYBE doing this, but a pre-med..... no way, unless of course you're a non-science pre-med.

 

[hnbui]

18 CREDITS!!!! That's the max, how the hell are you gonna have time to eat, sleep, and breathe between studying? That's just plain crazy. I could see someone with a non-science major MAYBE doing this, but a pre-med..... no way, unless of course you're a non-science pre-med.

what i meant was take another course that is non science related. Like me. I am planning to take ethics. Maybe you can take english, or some kind of art class. Try asking around for some blow off courses.

for example my classes for the fall will be in the lines of.

general bio
cal I
gen chem I
english
ethics
gen chem I lab

The earliest my classes start is at 10, some days it's 11 or 12. The lastest i get off is around 3, with exception of the lab ofcourse.

I think i will have some time left over for other things, ie. social life, and ec's. I'm also planning to do some club level sports, crew and tennis, join some clubs, and do some research and/or clinical work.

 

[rewindthemovie]

Yeah, there's PSY class available on tuesdays only.

I'm definitely going to do some sports as well (probably soccer and either tennis or crew), depending on if I think I can maintain a 4.0 and do them.

 

[hnbui]

Yeah, there's PSY class available on tuesdays only.

I'm definitely going to do some sports as well (probably soccer and either tennis or crew), depending on if I think I can maintain a 4.0 and do them.

are you planning to take a math or english course?

I'm taking cal I and i took cal ab in hs. I didn't take the ap exam though. I believe that i will have a very basic understanding of most of what will be covered in cal I in college. I was also sure to choose the best and most of the time easy professors.

 

[cokoMD]

Dont take another class....although you may be taking 13 credit hours, the course work you are taking could be exhausting for a freshman. Im not sure how the cirriculum is done at your school, but the biol,phil and UNIV courses I have taking at my school involved a number of lab reports/5-10 essays and chem may (or may not) involve quit a bit of study time. Not to for get all of the partying, distractions, and adjusting you will have to do. I wouldnt recommend ANY freshman taking 17-18 credits. I myself started out with 15 semester credits during freshman year and then progressed to 18 in my sophomore year. I am wondering why you didnt attempt to start you eng or math....just to get them out the way.

 

[hnbui]

Dont take another class....although you may be taking 13 credit hours, the course work you are taking could be exhausting for a freshman. Im not sure how the cirriculum is done at your school, but the biol,phil and UNIV courses I have taking at my school involved a number of lab reports/5-10 essays and chem may (or may not) involve quit a bit of study time. Not to for get all of the partying, distractions, and adjusting you will have to do. I wouldnt recommend ANY freshman taking 17-18 credits. I myself started out with 15 semester credits during freshman year and then progressed to 18 in my sophomore year. I am wondering why you didnt attempt to start you eng or math....just to get them out the way.

that's what i was reccomending. if he takes another course, he should start on his math or english. To get those out fo the way so that he can take higher level courses next year.

 

[cokoMD]

what i meant was take another course that is non science related. Like me. I am planning to take ethics. Maybe you can take english, or some kind of art class. Try asking around for some blow off courses.

for example my classes for the fall will be in the lines of.

general bio
cal I
gen chem I
english
ethics
gen chem I lab

The earliest my classes start is at 10, some days it's 11 or 12. The lastest i get off is around 3, with exception of the lab ofcourse.


I think i will have some time left over for other things, ie. social life, and ec's. I'm also planning to do some club level sports, crew and tennis, join some clubs, and do some research and/or clinical work.

If I were you I would probably drop the ethics class and take it at a later time. Its not really imperative that you take it now, concentrate on your general course work.College is a balancing act that is easier said than done....pace yourself that way you can make sure you actually LEARN (not memorize) information that will lay foundation for your upper-level courses.

 

[TTSD]

That schedule looks cake. I used to be on campus from like 9am to 10pm sometimes, and THEN go to work.

 

[hnbui]

If I were you I would probably drop the ethics class and take it at a later time. Its not really imperative that you take it now, concentrate on your general course work.College is a balancing act that is easier said than done....pace yourself that way you can make sure you actually LEARN (not memorize) information that will lay foundation for your upper-level courses.

the ethics class i want to take, has an open book policy toward test taking. It's all good.

 

[cokoMD]

the ethics class i want to take, has an open book policy toward test taking. It's all good.

alright that sound pretty good.....but please dont let test day be the first time you actually open the book 🙂

 

[rewindthemovie]

I was going to end up taking my math/eng second semester. None of the ENG classes fit into my schedule and math/sci classes are only available on MWF, which as you can see are full on my schedule.

See, I came through on the second to the last orientation weekend, so a helluva lot of the classes are full. I think I'll just stick with what I have.

 

[TheRussian]

For what it's worth I took only 14 credit hours my first semester freshman year and I'm glad I did it. While a lot of my friends that took 18 credit hours were stressing out, I had a lot of free time that allowed me to meet a lot of people and adjust to college life. I recommend to anyone starting college to start out easy because there is going to be an adjustment period and it's easier when you are not stressing out over classes. Just in case you are curious here are the courses I took first semester:

Intro to Chem 4 credit hrs
Chem Lab 2 credit hrs
Victorianism Writing Seminar 4 hrs
Spanish Level 20 4 hrs

If you have a good idea of what you want to do, and it sounds like you do you can accomplish what you want with good planning and without an extreme workload. I was able to complete three majors and a minor with taking 22 credits (that's the max at our school) only once, while taking 14 credits twice and 12 credits once. The other semesters were either 16 or 18 (the average at our school). Of course there was a lot of overlap for two of my majors and a bit of overlap with the third, but still it can be done.

 

[45408]

That just doesn't make sense though. I already know all that stuff, but they gave us sheets that showed ACT math scores and their correlation to people's actual grade in the class and the first A didn't show up until a person with a 26 math act score. I had a higher score than this, and a MUCH MUCH MUCH higher science score (which i think would matter more) so I decided to take this anyway. Why would your class be so much more easy than this? Did you score a really high ACT?

I will continue to look through the schedule just in case I find something that will fit in (a core class would be nice.... like getting my theology course outta the way).

The ACT won't predict jack squat for your college career. I know a girl who got a 31, but she never applies herself, and I know a girl who got a 22, but has a 3.85 after taking most of her pre-pharm prerequisites (organic, gen chem, a semester of physics, etc). I got a 29, but my science reasoning was the weakest (a 26), because my HS had no lab sciences. I bust my ass, and I get good grades - that's really all there is to it.

18 CREDITS!!!! That's the max, how the hell are you gonna have time to eat, sleep, and breathe between studying? That's just plain crazy. I could see someone with a non-science major MAYBE doing this, but a pre-med..... no way, unless of course you're a non-science pre-med.

Just wait, man. I took 21 last fall - an EMT-Basic course, organic 1, physics 2, biology 2, honors history, intro to clinical medicine, and weightlifting - and I still made the Dean's list. Don't start out too slow, or you're going to be working doubletime your upperclassman years.

My freshman first semester, I took 16 - gen chem, calc, Spanish and an honors humanities course. I also worked ~20 hours a week. It was fairly straight-forward.

 

[rewindthemovie]

Just wait, man. I took 21 last fall - an EMT-Basic course, organic 1, physics 2, biology 2, honors history, intro to clinical medicine, and weightlifting - and I still made the Dean's list. Don't start out too slow, or you're going to be working doubletime your upperclassman years.

My freshman first semester, I took 16 - gen chem, calc, Spanish and an honors humanities course. I also worked ~20 hours a week. It was fairly straight-forward.

OK. So when I was looking at the comp while the counselor was making the schedule for me and I saw the "(maximum 18)" at the bottom, does that just mean a max for a freshman, or a max for every year (my school is different?)?

 

[youngin]

What's the most number of science classes that can be taken a semester while being able to get the same grades as you would normally get? Sum ppl say i shud only take 2 w/ labs at most but then again I hear ppl who take just science courses all semester.

 

[aunaturel]

At my school the max is 18. However, you can petition the school and get an extra class I think. I seriously don't know why anyone would ever want to take more than 18 hours though.

 

[45408]

At my school the max is 18. However, you can petition the school and get an extra class I think. I seriously don't know why anyone would ever want to take more than 18 hours though.

If you needed to get something done, you'd do it. And if I can, why not?

Anyways, you can take 21 at my school without too much trouble, but what I actually did was attend two schools that semester (got my EMT-B at a tech school).

 

[rewindthemovie]

If you needed to get something done, you'd do it. And if I can, why not?

Anyways, you can take 21 at my school without too much trouble, but what I actually did was attend two schools that semester (got my EMT-B at a tech school).

do you have any friends?





😍 j/k

 

[hnbui]

at tulane the min you can take is 12 and the max i believe is 21. Inorder to take over 18 credits i believe that you need to have obtained atleast a 3.5 the previous semester.

 

[hnbui]

alright that sound pretty good.....but please dont let test day be the first time you actually open the book 🙂

yeah i will be sure to do that.

Also the english i want is taught by a really cool and might i say easy teacher. 🙂
Plus i have already taken cal AB in highschool, so i believe that i will know the basic of the principles of cal I when i take it in college.

 

[45408]

do you have any friends?

Nah, they're overrated.

To be honest, my social life was kept to a minimum, but I didn't really mind that much. My girlfriend also goes to school out of state, so I didn't really see her much either.

 

[rewindthemovie]

here's my new schedule, i just added a PSY class called "Career Desicion Making" for one extra credit, shouldn't be a big deal. GPA booster maybe? 😀

 

[akpete]

But is the Career decision making class really something you're interested in? If you're gonna take another class, try to get the ones that will complete your gen eds. Does that class fulfill anything? Remember that there are often music and art classes that are only 2-3 credits and aren't as much as an effort, and they break up the monotomy of science. Try to mix your gen eds in with your pre-med stuff as much as possible so you don't get burnt out.

Also, if you plan on graduating in 4 years, you'll need 15-16 credits per semester, depending on your school. If you don't mind going 5 years or taking summer classes, then don't worry about it.

The best thing I ever did in undergrad was as a freshman, I listed out all the classes I needed to take for my major, and also what classes I wanted to take to fulfill my gen eds. Then I made a spreadsheet for my 5-year plan. I actually changed majors my sophomore year, and even changed schools, but that spreadsheet plan helped keep things organized. I just deleted out the classes I didn't need, and added in the new ones. I also looked up the times that the classes were offered because that tends to stay about the same year to year, so I could make sure I wouldn't get stuck the semester before graduating with 2 required classes being only offered at the same time.

I hope this helps you, and good luck!!

 

[hnbui]

have you registered for your classes yet?

here's mine if you want to check it out 🙂

http://scheduler.mytulane.com/scheduler/step3/?sch_selected=11431,17329,11689,18565,14200,11719