Official Rutgers Pre-Med Guide

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BUMPPP

Any premeds at rutgers starting this fall?
 
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i go to rutgers newark. anyone know if it is harder to get into a prestigious school from newark than from brunswick because of the lack of extracurricular activities and research opportunities in newark? also, will having a good gpa, research, and moderate extracurriculars in newark allow me to go to a better school than umdnj? can anyone with experience in rutgers newark shed light on this topic?
In response to the one who commented on rutgers newark, I agree that the education is high quality and the teachers are good. However, i have a feeling that adcoms think of r-newark as sort of a community college because its reputation is so horrible
 
(never going to reply to a post when i am falling asleep, lol. I do apologize for the bad reply)

You asked if its hard to get into a prestigious school from Ru-Nwk, and I dont think it is. The quality of education is good in certain depts, for example thru experience and from what Profs have told me the Chem dept is very good, it excels the one in NB. I also know friends that are in research in Psych, and Bio as undergrads however the research positions are competitive basis, just as the TA positions are.
I am not sure how many ppl can comment and tell you if you can get into a better school than UMDNJ but your best bet would be the PreMed advisor, its really hard to find that sort of info. I know I didnt provide the besr answer but then again it is hard to answer that question.
I am new this forum, I just read around and alot of ppl have said it comes down to gpa and mcat.
 
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I am a fourth year at Rutgers-NB. My words of advice:
don't take sys phys - the professor does not speak english. she pronounces "bisect" biscuit, and "transit" traan-zi-ke. Rutgers gen physics didn't teach me a thing though I got As both semester. So try to go beyond what is required in gen physics and get the stuff down. then we will have less trouble studying for mcat physics. gen chem at rutgers was very thorough and well-taught. Orgo was taught well.

I took other advanced bio classes: parasitology, human genetics.... they were okay.

HPO is good for only one reason: they usually have good candies.
Don't rely on their advices. My friend with 3.0 GPA in her 3rd year with minimal ECs was advised to volunteer at St Peters. Well volunteering is good but the problem was that she was not given a realistic, practical advice.

to be honest, i can't wait to get out of rutgers.
 
Rutgers alumni here! Graduated from NB in 2007! lol but the HPO office is just a pain in the butt most of the time. They did me no favors. :p
 
chiapet874 said:
Your post actually made my head hurt
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+1. Not the most convincing post especially when you are trying to defend the reputation of a program.

I'm not sure why one chemistry department would be considered better than the other. I know one is generally easier than the other although I won't comment either way. All I will say is when an Orgo exam has a fill in the blank section (i.e.: _______ rule states that the most stable alkene will form in a dehalogenation elimination reaction :smack:)... there's no reason not to get an A. I would've preferred that over 10+ step synthesis problems.
 
OMGitsME said:
I am a second yr at RU-NWK, and NWK has a few things that go with it, it has a rep for having a hard (if you take lab113/114, you'll see why) and Chem dept, its better than NBs
Out Bio isnt as good as NBs but their Chem isnt as good as ours.

I'll edit my post more later on, as I have lab in the morning and i need to my sleep. (All ready feeling sleepy)

btw what yr are you ?
Theirs alot of psych research that goes on, also TA options.
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Had to do it
 
I am currently finishing my last semester at County College of Morris. I have most of the pre-med requirements completed except for physics 1 & 2 and Calculus 1. My current GPA is 3.0 which isn't great. I am also currently taking an EMT course and volunteering at a local hospital. I want to continue with these extra-curricular activities while at Rutgers. I would appreciate anyone's input with the steps I would have to make at Rutgers, to have a better chance to get into medical school. Which upper level classes should be taken? Does Rutgers help students with the MCAT's or due you have to take prep courses? The opportunities for research widely available? Thanks! :)
 
Ramo said:
I am currently finishing my last semester at County College of Morris. I have most of the pre-med requirements completed except for physics 1 & 2 and Calculus 1. My current GPA is 3.0 which isn't great. I am also currently taking an EMT course and volunteering at a local hospital. I want to continue with these extra-curricular activities while at Rutgers. I would appreciate anyone's input with the steps I would have to make at Rutgers, to have a better chance to get into medical school. Which upper level classes should be taken? Does Rutgers help students with the MCAT's or due you have to take prep courses? The opportunities for research widely available? Thanks! :)
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Step 1: Stop everything you have to (EMT course, volunteering, etc.) to maintain a 4.0 for the next few semesters. Numbers are king and a 3.0 community college GPA is far far far far from cutting it. Sorry if the response seems harsh or curt. You need to raise your GPA .5 while going from the community college to the university level. And you've already lying in the bed you made with respect to your prereqs.
 
Whats the suggested premed courseload for their sophomore year?
 
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Hey, I am an upcoming sophomore at Rutgers- NB now. I am considering applying for the 7 year bs/md program with UMDNJ-RWJ during my sophomore year and was wondering if any of you knew what acceptance statistics are. Also, what kind of ECs do successful applicants have? Thanks!
 
CC student here. Hoping to transfer to RU NB for spring 2012. Did all of my prereqs here at CC but will take some upper level courses at RU.

good luck everyone.
 
I'm a junior at RU-Newark. If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me. I don't think the Newark campus should be bashed. The social atmosphere is not like New Brunswick but there are still great opportunities and good programs here.
 
If you completed undergrad at Rutgers, whcih biochemistry/ genetics/ a& p courses which you recommend?

How about non-science courses that are great to take at Rutgers?

If you know some great courses and professors, please recommend.

Fell free to PM me.
Thanks!
 
Hello fellow Rutgers students,

I am a rising senior at rutgers (newark campus), finishing up a minor in Spanish (major: Biology). I have a 3.95 GPA, and realized that besides from the Spanish department, I haven't heard anything regarding honor societies and the like. Not that I am insistent on decorating myself with all possible prestigious awards, but I was wondering how someone becomes eligible for things like Phi Beta Kappa and the like? Or if anyone with a previous Bio major knew of any other opportunities/distinctions I haven't heard about while my head was buried in the books :oops:
 
Hey guys.. I have my interview next Tuesday with Dr. Vogell. What types of questions do they ask during the interview? Also what are the types of current healthcare issues we should be knowledgeable about? Thanks.
 
pharmacist7 said:
bump
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some-men-just-want-to-watch-the-world-burn.jpg
 
since I'm new, this might get unforgivably long, and I apologize profusely.

rising sophomore in biomedical engineering at rutgers soe [honors], probably tissue engineering track. would like some pointers for good bio classes that engineers can take, or just premed equivalents in general.

self: came in with a few credits from school ap's (bio and calc bc), finished calc3 and diffeq's - so you see already as a premed I'm not doing spectacularly. I took the hard courses, did them reasonably well, and ruined my gpa with genchem2 for engineers because I wasn't watching my back[side].

plans for fall semester: introBME(required), Engineering Mech - Statics(required), Genetics, Essentials of CBN, maybe a Soc elective. schedule still up in the air somewhat, but I'm trying to move orgo1 offseason.

incidentally, any engineers on this thread: is taking orgo2+introbiochem in fall of junior year going to be a problem? I bet it is :(
introbiochem was mostly meant as prep for MCAT2015, btw. hoping to move some 3rdyr fall engineering core to this year's spring.

really worried about taking MCATs in or at end of the year of engineering core, so planning to take old MCAT next August, and MCAT2015 afterwards.

tips, suggestions, pointers?
pointers for Kaplan courses also very welcome. don't know whether to take the course before the old MCAT or the MCAT2015.
 
I can answer any questions. I will be a senior at RU NB. I actually am happy to see us represented well on this site. I am applying right now.
 
Blackxp said:
As for the prep courses I would head over to the MCAT forums to double check but I do not think it will change drastically. Right now we have a Physical, Verbal, and Biological section. Basically they are only going to add a sociology/psychology section and tweak the other sections to include a little biochemistry I believe. So the content will not be very different. I would suggest taking sociology and psychology before you take it though. When I took the MCAT they had a trial section which I believe simulates what will be on the new MCAT section. You would have a very difficult time without taking psychology and sociology courses.
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Thank you very much for your reply. I took 2 psychology courses last year as one of my Hum/Soc upper/lower requirements. I have sociology lined up for either this semester or the next. It's good to know the content won't change much. Then, I guess, I may as well try to take the Kaplan course this year, if I can.
 
BMEpremed said:
Thank you very much for your reply. I took 2 psychology courses last year as one of my Hum/Soc upper/lower requirements. I have sociology lined up for either this semester or the next. It's good to know the content won't change much. Then, I guess, I may as well try to take the Kaplan course this year, if I can.
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I would make sure you really want to do engineering. Engineering and medicine really are two different careers. I understand many people (I've noticed many asian indians at rutgers) do this (specifically BME) as a backup plan in case med school falls through. Don't forget you will be taking harder classes and expecting to maintain the same gpa and same mcat score. They will not feel bad that your major is harder than the bio majors. Just keep that in mind. ;)
 
deanthedream17 said:
I would make sure you really want to do engineering. Engineering and medicine really are two different careers. I understand many people (I've noticed many asian indians at rutgers) do this (specifically BME) as a backup plan in case med school falls through. Don't forget you will be taking harder classes and expecting to maintain the same gpa and same mcat score. They will not feel bad that your major is harder than the bio majors. Just keep that in mind. ;)
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I know exactly what you mean. I applied to BME as a backup at first, before I realized there wasn't a chance I'd let med school fall through. I applied everywhere early, but it wasn't until after the interviews and applications and essays were all submitted that I realized I was being an idiot and medicine was the only way for me. I know what I'm doing, but always a little too late.

By then I'd gotten sucked into the whole Engineering way, though. I firmly believe, for some reason, that if you're a surgeon (for example) with an engineering background, you are in a better position to do research in your field and defend your conclusions. And my internship is a blessing, really. My mentor is very supportive of my engineering plans and gave me an assignment to write up a presentation based on his research, which involves quite a bit of engineering material I'm not at all familiar with yet.

But yes, I must be at least a little crazy.
 
BMEpremed said:
I know exactly what you mean. I applied to BME as a backup at first, before I realized there wasn't a chance I'd let med school fall through. I applied everywhere early, but it wasn't until after the interviews and applications and essays were all submitted that I realized I was being an idiot and medicine was the only way for me. I know what I'm doing, but always a little too late.

By then I'd gotten sucked into the whole Engineering way, though. I firmly believe, for some reason, that if you're a surgeon (for example) with an engineering background, you are in a better position to do research in your field and defend your conclusions. And my internship is a blessing, really. My mentor is very supportive of my engineering plans and gave me an assignment to write up a presentation based on his research, which involves quite a bit of engineering material I'm not at all familiar with yet.

But yes, I must be at least a little crazy.
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If you enjoy it then by all means go for it. My father is a surgeon and I asked him a similar question about doing BME. His response was it doesn't matter what major it is just get into medical school. Anything you learn now you will forget by the time you want to practice surgery. Hell, by the time you start medical school. Surgery takes technical hand skills and also strong communication skills. Improve on that through other ways.
 
Hopefully some rutgers students are still monitoring this forum. Has anyone ever taken the physics course via the online section? The regular sections filled up and i got the short end of the stick and had to register for the online one. Does this online section at rutgers fulfill medical school physics requirements? I'm at NB by the way.
 
Bumpity bump bump. I started out as a post bac but now I'm registered as a second degree-seeking student and can't wait to get started next week! I'm at the Newark campus. I took the Concepts in Biology course this summer and now I'm trying to finish all my medical school pre-reqs by Fall 2016 so I can have all of Spring 2017 to study for the MCAT and apply for linkage. I am banking on the linkage still holding strong by then. Anyone have any experience with Rutgers's new linkage program (to NJMS)? So far, they have told me that only 3 people applied for the linkage program since the start of the program (2012), so one applicant for each year. Only 2 out of 3 have gotten in.
 
matchmeifyoucan said:
Bumpity bump bump. I started out as a post bac but now I'm registered as a second degree-seeking student and can't wait to get started next week! I'm at the Newark campus. I took the Concepts in Biology course this summer and now I'm trying to finish all my medical school pre-reqs by Fall 2016 so I can have all of Spring 2017 to study for the MCAT and apply for linkage. I am banking on the linkage still holding strong by then. Anyone have any experience with Rutgers's new linkage program (to NJMS)? So far, they have told me that only 3 people applied for the linkage program since the start of the program (2012), so one applicant for each year. Only 2 out of 3 have gotten in.
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Well with the Rutgers/UMDNJ merger I can only see it strengthening your chances as a rutgers student. A new research building is under construction right now on the undergrad campus at newark and I hear they're planning on having some medical school faculty move into the building there by fall of 2016.
 
Hey guys I need some help. What biochemistry course did you take at rutgers? I'm a life science major.
 
As an incoming freshman, I'm thinking to take calculus, expository writing, chemistry with lab, and biology with lab. Contrary to the HPO office of recommendation, should I take chemistry with lab during the summer and psychology instead, in order to decrease my course load and possibly increase my chances of getting high grades?
 
MR1998 said:
As an incoming freshman, I'm thinking to take calculus, expository writing, chemistry with lab, and biology with lab. Contrary to the HPO office of recommendation, should I take chemistry with lab during the summer and psychology instead, in order to decrease my course load and possibly increase my chances of getting high grades?
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Gen Chem and Intro to Experimentation (the lab) are two separate courses. You don't have to take them at the same time. In fact, most people I knew took Intro to Exp Spring semester of their freshman year (my case) or sometime their sophomore year. They also have changed Biology and its lab for awhile now. You have to take Biology 115 before being able to register for Bio Lab 117
 
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