Pre-Med Schedule

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RS10

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Hey guys. I am a freshmen, and I was intrested in asking you guys what I should be taking next semester. I feel that the amount I took this semester is very light

Semester I: General Biology, General Chemistry, and English(It is actually 4 courses, since there is a seperate Chem Lab class(1 credit))
for a total of 13 Credits

What do you guys advise me to take next semester?

I want to take Physics I, Calc I, and 2 electives, for a total of 15 credits. Do you guys think I should take more courses? I want to make sure that the amount of credits I have by the end of my freshmen year is the usual number for most freshmen pre-med students.
Do you guys recommend doing electives now or later? and why?
Also, some of my friends are suggesting I take Pre-Calc first. In the placement exam, I was able to qualify into Calc I. Some suggest I should take Pre-Calc before anyway, because it will help the GPA. What do you guys advise me to do about this?

Thanks alot for taking the time to read this. Greatly appreciate it 😀
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If you think you can do well enough in Calc 1 that you'll be satisfied with your grade (whatever that is for you... A, A-, B+...), then I wouldn't waste time and money taking pre-calc. However, if you're worried about doing well, or have had math trouble in the past, I'd take the pre-calc. As for classes, 15 credits is a good amount, especially if you're working and/or involved in multiple groups on campus. I tried to take 14-15 credits each semester. I would suggest taking one elective each semester, so that even if everything else seems really difficult, there's always one class you are enjoying. Not to mention this will help in fulfilling any distribution-type requirements you may have. Also, if you have math troubles, I wouldn't suggest physics and calc together, especially if it's calc-based physics. If you are doing calc-based physics, I'd wait until you finish calc, but that's just my opinion. You don't want to risk having to use methods/techniques in your physics class that you haven't learned yet, you know?

Anyway, this is all my opinion, so I'd wait and see what others say as well and base your decision on the overall consensus. Good luck! And remember, you're going to school to earn an education, not grades.
 
Are you finishing your first or second semesters of bio & chem this term? If you're in the first classes of the sequences, it would probably be easier on you to take bio II & chem II next semester. If you took calc I or pre-calc along with one of your electives or a required humanities course. That would give you a full schedule. I like the idea of spreading electives across the 4 years, but that's just personal preference.

There are couple of reasons for taking sequential courses one right after the other. Sequential courses usually build on the previous classes. So, if you take the second course immediately after the first, the base knowledge is still fresh. This is more true with chem than with bio. The second reason is that colleges frequently change texts. The sooner you take the second semester, the less chance that you will have to buy a whole new textbook for a single semester.

I really couldn't tell you a "normal" number of credits because your school evidently distributes in a different than schools that I'm familiar with. Here, bio & chem would each be 3 credits w/1 credit labs, for a total of 4 credits each per semester. English would also be 3 credits. Your schedule would only add up to 11 credits in these schools. Here, full time is considered 12 credits. Fifteen credits is an average load. It takes an average of 16 credits/semester to graduate in 4 years with the minimum total credits for a science major, though. Your school may be very different.
 
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RS10 said:
I want to take Physics I, Calc I, and 2 electives, for a total of 15 credits. Do you guys think I should take more courses? I want to make sure that the amount of credits I have by the end of my freshmen year is the usual number for most freshmen pre-med students.
Do you guys recommend doing electives now or later? and why?
Also, some of my friends are suggesting I take Pre-Calc first. In the placement exam, I was able to qualify into Calc I. Some suggest I should take Pre-Calc before anyway, because it will help the GPA. What do you guys advise me to do about this?
Click to expand...

Can you take physics 1 during the spring semester at your school? Both the colleges I have attended only offer physics 1 in the fall and 2 in the spring.

If you think you can handle it, you can probably jump into a cell bio or genetics class. They usually have a prerequisite of the complete general chemistry year, but the first semester is usually more important and if you take semester 2 concurrently then most professors will let you into the class.

I would also suggest taking electives right away that build up your writing and reasoning skills (english, philosophy, logic, literature, history, etc), because they are skills that will provide an immense amount of aid in all your other courses.

Good luck!
 
I am taking
biology 2
chem 1
English 2
pre- cal ( at our school its a pre- req to cal)
humanaties 1

for total of 18 credit hours
 
RS10 said:
Hey guys. I am a freshmen, and I was intrested in asking you guys what I should be taking next semester. I feel that the amount I took this semester is very light

Semester I: General Biology, General Chemistry, and English(It is actually 4 courses, since there is a seperate Chem Lab class(1 credit))
for a total of 13 Credits

What do you guys advise me to take next semester?

I want to take Physics I, Calc I, and 2 electives, for a total of 15 credits. Do you guys think I should take more courses? I want to make sure that the amount of credits I have by the end of my freshmen year is the usual number for most freshmen pre-med students.
Do you guys recommend doing electives now or later? and why?
Also, some of my friends are suggesting I take Pre-Calc first. In the placement exam, I was able to qualify into Calc I. Some suggest I should take Pre-Calc before anyway, because it will help the GPA. What do you guys advise me to do about this?

Thanks alot for taking the time to read this. Greatly appreciate it 😀
Click to expand...

General Chemistry 2
General Biology 2
General Psychology
Calculus 1 (NEVER take pre-calc unless it's a prerequisite. Take one semester of statistics and calculus each and you meet the math requirement for all medical schools)
 
Next semester I am taking, Orgo1, Bio1, Quantitaive chem lab, calc 1... I might take a 3 hour elective like mens health promotion, not too sure yet. All of these will give me 15 hours, or I might be inclined to not take the elective and only have 12... It could depend on what you are planning on majoring in?
 
I dont have any more experience in college than you do, but maybe my schedule can help you see what other kids are taking.

First semester I have 5 classes (17 credits) but no labs, easy semester.

Next semester I plan on doing the following:

Statistics
Psych (not sure which one in particular, I took intro 101 this semester)
Honors Seminar (writing intensive, it's a seminar about a particular topic)
Bio 1 + Lab
Gen Chem 1 + Lab

I've never taken a lab in college yet, so I'm not really sure what to expect, but I need to get Bio 1 and Gen Chem 1 done now so I can have all my reqs done before the second sememster of junior year (ie before I take the MCAT).
 
RS10 said:
Hey guys. I am a freshmen, and I was intrested in asking you guys what I should be taking next semester. I feel that the amount I took this semester is very light

Semester I: General Biology, General Chemistry, and English(It is actually 4 courses, since there is a seperate Chem Lab class(1 credit))
for a total of 13 Credits

What do you guys advise me to take next semester?

I want to take Physics I, Calc I, and 2 electives, for a total of 15 credits. Do you guys think I should take more courses? I want to make sure that the amount of credits I have by the end of my freshmen year is the usual number for most freshmen pre-med students.
Do you guys recommend doing electives now or later? and why?
Also, some of my friends are suggesting I take Pre-Calc first. In the placement exam, I was able to qualify into Calc I. Some suggest I should take Pre-Calc before anyway, because it will help the GPA. What do you guys advise me to do about this?

Thanks alot for taking the time to read this. Greatly appreciate it 😀
Click to expand...

I have found calc and pre-calc to be very different. The only benefit I think you get out of pre-calc is learning trig identities...
 
I have found calc and pre-calc to be very different. The only benefit I think you get out of pre-calc is learning trig identities...
Click to expand...

I go to a CC and here pre- Calc is a pre-req to Calc. So every one has to take it.
 
I think the wording in TechMed's statement should have been "most" medical schools.

You know, it all depends on what undergrad degree you're going after, too. Here, 1 semester of stats that's specifically for Life Science coursework & 1 semester of elementary Calc that includes topics from I-III, is all that's needed for a Bio degree. Chemistry & Biochem degrees, OTOH, require the regular calc courses, along w/a semester of stats.

Hey, I just looked up Hopkins & Duke. One semester of each meets their requirements. I'm not about to look up all 125 schools, though.

I looked those up more for your benefit than my own, but had a happy surprise while I was at it. Hopkins is one of those schools which require 24 hours of humanities, social & behavioral sciences. At first I thought, "Ugh!" Then I realized that I'd have more than that I'd already exceed that next semester, anyway. It wasn't bad as I'd thought. Always nice to find out that what you were doing, anyway, is what you were supposed to be doing.
 
Aha! I found one! Harvard states that one full year of calculus is required. It specifically states that statistics does not meet this requirement. In addition, the HST program requires a calculus course including differential equations, plus one year of of calculus based physics.

They also recommend 16 hours of the humanties and social/behavioral sciences, independent research, and familiarity with computers.
 
HumidBeing said:
Aha! I found one! Harvard states that one full year of calculus is required. It specifically states that statistics does not meet this requirement. In addition, the HST program requires a calculus course including differential equations, plus one year of of calculus based physics.

They also recommend 16 hours of the humanties and social/behavioral sciences, independent research, and familiarity with computers.
Click to expand...
Looks like my no-shot-in-hell GPA won't keep me out of college, but rather the lack of differential equations. I'm sure we covered them, but I know I did not take the formal course for differentials. Oh damn...:laugh: I guess its a good thing too, considering I'd go skiing in the upper northeast and probably have a horrible accident. Thanks HMS!
 
I think I got you beat boys...

Organic 2 with Lab
General Physics 1 with Lab
Calculus 2
English
Religion

17 hours
 
luv2sd said:
Calculus 1 (NEVER take pre-calc unless it's a prerequisite. Take one semester of statistics and calculus each and you meet the math requirement for all medical schools)
Click to expand...

I'm not certain that I agree with that. I think physics would have been SO much easier, had I ever taken trig or pre-calc. Because of that, I decided to take a trig course next semester, even though it's not required, before I take physics II. I'll be taking the calc course at the same time. I hope that makes physics II easier. Even if it doesn't, I'll have the trig course out of the way so that I can take the regular calculus sequence, if I decide that need/want it in the future.

What I'm not intending to do is to take 20 credits again next semester and have 2 lab courses in there, because I need (want badly) to be able to be in the research lab full-time. I had it pared down to 13 credits, but then decided to add a philosophy course and a medical terminology course. Philosophy, because it's interesting. Med. terminology, partly because it should be easy, but mostly because it's a prereq for the phlebotomy course. It would be nice to have a skill that might enable me to get a higher paying part-time job while I'm in school than baking pizzas. I may not know exactly what I want to do with my life, but I've worked enough as a teenager to know that one goal is to NOT ever do fast food kitchen work again.:laugh:

If I'm getting nothing else from college, I'm getting experience in juggling near-term plans and long-term goals

ahaydt, did you read sully's comment before this one? I'm waiting for your infamous quote.😉
 
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