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[Techmed07]

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Well I, just finished my first semester of undergrad at Texas Tech.
I did very well did not receive a B.
But this next semester I am upping my hours from 12 to 14
last semester I took

Anthropology
Intro Chem
Adv Rhetoric
Trigonometry

This next semester I am taking

Gen Chem I
Gen Chem Lab
Physics I
Physics Lab
Art Appreciation
Statistics
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I really need help form you guys in if this is the right move from me. I kind of feel more at home here already than on the pre-allopathic forum. They make it hard to ask for advice, without getting attacked for being cocky or something else (and besides they are currently absorbed in the AA threads). I am trying to get my sciences out of the way before the MCAT. I will be taking Biology I my sophomore year and was advised to take it with a light load. If I do not take physics and take something else like political science instead I will have to take Orgo II the first semester of my junior year. A time where I should be studying for the MCAT....Will this be ok?

Which is a right move?

 

[LovelyMD]

Before I answer your question, I want to make sure I have your proposed schedule correct:

Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab, Phys I with lab

Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Phys II with lab
Spring: Bio I with lab, Orgo I with lab

Junior:
Fall: Bio II with lab, Orgo II with lab

Is this what you're proposing?

 

[Techmed07]

Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab, Phys I with lab

Freshman Summer: SMDEP *hopefully*


Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Bio I with lab
Spring: Bio II with lab, Orgo I with lab

Sophomore Summer:
Phys II with lab, Orgo II with lab

Junior:
MCAT
Apply to Medical School
Gen Ed/Biology Classes

Junior Summer:
Research!
Gen Ed requirements

Senior:
Gen Ed requirements
TA

It is fixed now our biology I isn't available in the spring.

 

[LovelyMD]

Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab, Phys I with lab

Freshman Summer: SMDEP *hopefully*


Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Bio I with lab
Spring: Bio II with lab, Orgo I with lab

Sophomore Summer:
Phys II with lab, Orgo II with lab

Junior:
MCAT
Apply to Medical School
Gen Ed/Biology Classes

Junior Summer:
Research!
Gen Ed requirements

Senior:
Gen Ed requirements
TA

It is fixed now our biology I isn't available in the spring.

Your freshman and sophomore year schedules sound doable, but your sophomore summer sounds intense. It's difficult enough to do orgo II with lab during the summer, let alone orgo II AND phys II at the same time (unless you're orgo II in one half of the summer, and phys II in the second half?).

If your schedule means that you're taking orgo II and phys II at the same time during the summer, I would reconsider. You may want to take either orgo II or phys II in the fall semester in your junior year. I know you are concerned about the time it takes to study for the MCAT, but taking one of those courses during the fall will not hurt your studying. In fact, you can treat your studying for those classes as part of your MCAT studying. I know plenty of people who were actually taking either orgo II or phys II during the spring semester of their junior year while they were studying for the MCAT, so it's totally doable to take one in the fall.

For me, orgo II was one of the most difficult classes of my college career, which is why I'm making this suggestion, but perhaps someone else wants to weigh in.

 

[MSKalltheway]

I agree with Lovely in that taking both Orgo and Physics II during the summer is crazy. Actually let me repeat and emphasize...CRAZY! DONT DO THAT!!!!! I've had friends take Orgo II during the summer, my gf included, and boy did she work (and boy did i help tutor a lot too!). Taking only one I think is fine, but both will be too much, unless you plan on studying >6hrs a day and arent working. If you have received straight A's so far, don't make any schedules that would change that significantly.

I would suggest taking one of them during your junior year as well, like Lovely suggested. Orgo II is a different beast than Orgo I, and is definitely more challenging (I liked it better and did better in it though). Physics II is also more challenging, but is also far different and doesnt build on Phys I like Orgo II does on Orgo I. You could get away with pushing phys II back a bit also (meaning its not a concern if you go all of sophomore year without it).

My stance on MCAT prep is that you should work hard during your undergrad pre-reqs so that you know your info well enough to not concentrate on course material while youre studying...meaning youre just doing passages and questions most of the time as opposed to pounding genetics and gen chem all day (my biggest regret was re-studying the material mostly as opposed to practicing more passages). Most of the info you need is all in the passages, so most of your time should be spent learning how to take the test, not reviewing the course material, IMHO.

Also, when you get used to undergrad a bit more, see if you cant take a semester with ~17 credits, but only if you can handle it! Med schools like to see that you can do well with a large courseload, for obvious reasons. The way people generally do that is to take 2 (3 if you love studying that much ) science courses and the rest is filled with classes 'easier' than the science classes you take. I was a bio/psych double major, so I often took two psych classes and some kind of (honors) seminar along with the 2 science classes. If you feel like your grades will slip if you try this and you can only handle 15 at a time, I dont think anyone will penalize you for keeping a 4.0 or near it. Bigger courseloads only get you bonus points, its not a requirement by any means.

I hope that helps! Back to psych/psychopharm 😴

 

[Techmed07]

Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab, Phys I with lab

Freshman Summer: SMDEP *hopefully*


Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Bio I with lab
Spring: Bio II with lab, Orgo I with lab

Sophomore Summer:
Orgo II with lab

Junior:
Phys II with lab,
MCAT
Apply to Medical School
Gen Ed/Biology Classes

Junior Summer:
Research!
Gen Ed requirements

Senior:
Gen Ed requirements
TA



or


Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab,
Freshman Summer: SMDEP *hopefully*


Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Bio I with lab
Spring: Bio II with lab, Orgo I with lab

Sophomore Summer:
Phys I with lab,Phys II with lab


Junior:
Orgo II
MCAT
Apply to Medical School
Gen Ed/Biology Classes

Junior Summer:
Research!
Gen Ed requirements

Senior:
Gen Ed requirements
TA

It is fixed now our biology I isn't available in the spring.

 

[LovelyMD]

Both of those schedules look fine to me. I personally would probably opt for the first schedule since I'd rather have less to do during the summer after my sophomore year. The stuff you learn in physics II doesn't necessarily build upon physics I (the two semesters tackle different topics entirely), so you don't need to take them one right after the other. Either way, doing orgo II during the summer means you should be prepared to work hard that summer. Or, you may want to switch up orgo II and phys II in that first schedule if you feel like you're pretty strong in physics and wouldn't mind an accelerated summer course.

The second schedule is good if you're trying to ease yourself into the sciences. But since you've taken an intro chem course already, I think at this point you can probably handle both Gen Chem I and Phys I at the same time. It's up to you really, but both schedules work.

 

[Techmed07]

Both of those schedules look fine to me. I personally would probably opt for the first schedule since I'd rather have less to do during the summer after my sophomore year. The stuff you learn in physics II doesn't necessarily build upon physics I (the two semesters tackle different topics entirely), so you don't need to take them one right after the other. Either way, doing orgo II during the summer means you should be prepared to work hard that summer. Or, you may want to switch up orgo II and phys II in that first schedule if you feel like you're pretty strong in physics and wouldn't mind an accelerated summer course.

The second schedule is good if you're trying to ease yourself into the sciences. But since you've taken an intro chem course already, I think at this point you can probably handle both Gen Chem I and Phys I at the same time. It's up to you really, but both schedules work.

I love your reasoning, thanks alot!

 

[njbmd]

I always advise my pre-med students NOT to take any of the pre-med courses during the summer for a couple of reasons. First, summer courses move very fast. You need to have a good solid knowledge base for the MCAT that you can apply to problems. With the speed of the summer courses, many students just do not get much time to really understand the material. You may receive an "A" in the course but most undergraduate courses test regurgitation and the MCAT is far from being a test of regurgitation.

The second reason is that many people just burn out from the summer pace and the extreme amount of material to be mastered. This "burnout" can seriously affect your next semester's coursework.

If you must speed things up, take something less rigorous such as English or History but leave the pre-med coursework for spring and fall semesters even if it puts your application back a year. It is far better to slow down, do quality work and be successful than to rush and not get either the grades or the knowledge base that you need.

 

[Techmed07]

I always advise my pre-med students NOT to take any of the pre-med courses during the summer for a couple of reasons. First, summer courses move very fast. You need to have a good solid knowledge base for the MCAT that you can apply to problems. With the speed of the summer courses, many students just do not get much time to really understand the material. You may receive an "A" in the course but most undergraduate courses test regurgitation and the MCAT is far from being a test of regurgitation.

The second reason is that many people just burn out from the summer pace and the extreme amount of material to be mastered. This "burnout" can seriously affect your next semester's coursework.

If you must speed things up, take something less rigorous such as English or History but leave the pre-med coursework for spring and fall semesters even if it puts your application back a year. It is far better to slow down, do quality work and be successful than to rush and not get either the grades or the knowledge base that you need.

Its only one course.

 

[MSKalltheway]

Its only one course.

While that may be true, I see what njbmd is saying, and I agree with her. I took summer and winter courses almost every interm, but it was never a pre-req. The most challenging one I took was biochem I during the summer...it moved so fast, I decided not to take biochem II during the 2nd summer session and took psych stats instead

I one of my college roommates took both organic chems during the summer, and he was miserable. His day was literally class, lab, meals, studying, and an hour or two to swim everyday. He got an A- and a B+ or something, but he had no job, no parties or a lot of down time really...pretty rough if you ask me. He kind of regretted his decision because he felt like he would have done better if it was during the semester when it was slower, probably would have too, one of the hardest working guys I know.

On the other hand, I took the MCATs in the "old days" when they were only twice a year, so there was less temptation to take it before everything was done (August after sophomore year was too early for the vast majority of people at the time).

So I dunno, if you so must, go for it, but I think nj is actually on an adcom, so that advice is money; I'd give it serious thought, esp since most (if not all) of the orgo you see on the MCAT is from orgo II.

 

[Techmed07]

Freshman:
Spring: Gen Chem I with lab, Phys I with lab
Freshman Summer: SMDEP *hopefully*


Sophomore:
Fall: Gen Chem II with lab, Bio I with lab
Spring: Bio II with lab, Orgo I with lab

Sophomore Summer:
Phys II with lab


Junior:
Orgo II
MCAT
Apply to Medical School
Gen Ed/Biology Classes

Junior Summer:
Research!
Gen Ed requirements

Senior:
Gen Ed requirements
TA



So is this better? Is it better to take three preqs at the same times than to take one in the summer?

 

[MSKalltheway]

Taking only one pre-req over the summer is better than two, and is probably a good option for you if 3 at the same time is too intense. If later on you decide you dont want to take any science classes during the summer, taking 3 in a semester may not be so bad after getting a couple of semesters behind you. I looked back at my old transcript and did it one semester, so I know anyone can 👍

I like this schedule better though, but you must remember, its only one man's (and two wise women's!) opinions, you know whats best for you in the end.

This is a question I probably should have asked before, but when exactly do you plan on taking the MCATs junior year?

 

[Techmed07]

I think I will take the April of my junior.