PLEASE HELP! SERIOUS PRE-MED ADVICE NEEDED!

[Oolong Wa]

I am soon to enroll in a standard community college in the U.S.A. that, along with the traditional Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters, offers split Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters--Fall A, Fall B, Spring A, Spring B, and Summer A and B. This means I would be enabled, for example, to take Chemistry 1 and Physics 1 during Fall A, and Chemistry 2 and Physics 2 during Fall B. And so on in the following spilt semesters.

Do you see my taking pre-medical classes this way--Fall A and B, and so on--as being a problem? And what if I bulked O Chm 1 and Phy 1 into the A term and O Chm 2 and Phy 2 into the B term--the normal time frame of a standard semester? Would this be too rigorous for GPA success?

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[Navy Corpsman]

First off, if you are only a premed, you should focus on a major that you want to be in, not simply one that has most of premed courses in it, i.e., Biology and the like. I say this because medical schools could really care less whether you have majored in Biology or any other science for that matter. What they do care about are the following: that you have manitained a high GPA--thus taking an easy major would be of great benefit, English being a favorite; have completed your premedical "requisite" courses, which include a year of English, Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics; have a high MCAT score and some clinical experience as a volunteer, worker, etc. Thus, if I were you, I would not bend over backwards trying to complete all of these premed requirements hurting your over all GPA--remember, the key is not to complete requirements only, it's completing them and maintaining a high GPA at the same time. Your best bet is to fit them with an easy major like History or English. That way, you can fit [one] course (e.g., Physics I) within each semester that you are enrolled, thus dividing your requisite courses over the span of four years of college as opposed to only two years, and saving yourself from the undesired burden of taking too many premedical courses at the same time. Hope this helps.

 

[Oolong Wa]

I should add that I have all other classes completed, am older, and need only pre-med classes. Thanks so much too all who will reply!