Premed Preparation During the Summer

[yoona23]

Hey guys, I am currently a high school student starting university this Fall and wish to get into medical school later on. As of now, my high school studies are essentially done as I only take one academic AP course (AP Calc) which ended right now, and I am planning to prepare for university beforehand starting right now to the end of the summer by self-studying university courses. My plan is to self-study:

(1) Calculus by supplementing my AP Calculus knowledge by using Stewarts Calculus;
(2) Biology using a textbook (I took AP Biology before so I think it will be a relatively smoother transition to general biology); and
(3) Chemistry by using a textbook (I also took AP Chemistry so I think it will be helpful to self-study the material).

Knowing that I will have to take the MCAT later on in my university years, I plan to study 1 or 2 more courses on top of these, once I get through these three. My question is: in your guys' opinions, what will be the most useful course/courses for me to self-study on top of these three, considering my university courses later and the MCAT exam? I honestly have no insight on the courses outside of first-year courses, such as the difficulty of them. I am considering between these three courses:

(1) Organic Chemistry
(2) Biochemistry
(3) Cellular Biology
(4) Human Physiology

Which of these four courses would you guys consider to be more helpful for me as a premed later on and in taking the MCAT?

Thank you for your time; I know this post will be completely irrelevant to you guys but I am really in a state of confusion and have nowhere to ask except here. Thanks for your guys' help

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[PapaGuava]

Thread moved to the hSDN forum.

 

[mountainmed]

Hey guys, I am currently a high school student starting university this Fall and wish to get into medical school later on. As of now, my high school studies are essentially done as I only take one academic AP course (AP Calc) which ended right now, and I am planning to prepare for university beforehand starting right now to the end of the summer by self-studying university courses. My plan is to self-study:

(1) Calculus by supplementing my AP Calculus knowledge by using Stewarts Calculus;
(2) Biology using a textbook (I took AP Biology before so I think it will be a relatively smoother transition to general biology); and
(3) Chemistry by using a textbook (I also took AP Chemistry so I think it will be helpful to self-study the material).

Knowing that I will have to take the MCAT later on in my university years, I plan to study 1 or 2 more courses on top of these, once I get through these three. My question is: in your guys' opinions, what will be the most useful course/courses for me to self-study on top of these three, considering my university courses later and the MCAT exam? I honestly have no insight on the courses outside of first-year courses, such as the difficulty of them. I am considering between these three courses:

(1) Organic Chemistry
(2) Biochemistry
(3) Cellular Biology
(4) Human Physiology

Which of these four courses would you guys consider to be more helpful for me as a premed later on and in taking the MCAT?

Thank you for your time; I know this post will be completely irrelevant to you guys but I am really in a state of confusion and have nowhere to ask except here. Thanks for your guys' help

My first suggestion is to not worry about studying too much and enjoy your senior year. Hang out with family, friends, play video games, whatever you want to do before you do any prestudying. Most of those classes aren't too difficult in college.

However, if you still want to, I would suggest Cell Bio or Organic Chemistry. Cell Bio will probably be easier to self study, but I might think that just because I enjoy it way, way more than O chem. I would leacve biochem and phys to once you have a better foundation to understand everything that is going on behind the scenes, so to speak.

Whichever one you start to study, don't stress too much about it. You'll have to take the general chem and biology because a lot of medical schools either don't accept AP credit or want to see additional courses on top of it. Best of luck!

 

[yoona23]

Thanks for the reply! I think I will focus on Organic Chemistry then as I hear that it is a very hard course to study. Sorry but can I ask one more question, for the extracurriculars required for medical school, what do you consider to be good extracurriculars, especially if I want to get into the top medical schools? As of now, I tried to get a head start by applying to immunology/cancer research labs at the university I am attending for volunteer positions, but got rejected for the four labs I applied so far .

 

[mountainmed]

Thanks for the reply! I think I will focus on Organic Chemistry then as I hear that it is a very hard course to study. Sorry but can I ask one more question, for the extracurriculars required for medical school, what do you consider to be good extracurriculars, especially if I want to get into the top medical schools? As of now, I tried to get a head start by applying to immunology/cancer research labs at the university I am attending for volunteer positions, but got rejected for the four labs I applied so far .

Research is good for the top schools and will be helpful for most others as well. Keep trying to join any lab that seems interesting to you because it doesn't really matter what field you do research in. Be willing to do whatever they need including washing dishes, data entry, etc in order to get your foot in the door.
Other EC's include clinical and non clinical volunteering. The rule of thumb is if you can smell the patient, it counts for clinical (obviously don't go around actually sniffing patients). For non clinical, try for people less fortunate than yourself. Again, find things that will be interesting to you so you can keep it long term and have good experiences to talk about come application time.

Mostly, be sure to enjoy yourself as well! College is important, but so is being a regular human as well. Keep a good balance and you'll be great! Let me know of you have any other questions.

 

[Gilakend]

Definitely don’t do any of this. Enjoy your summer, that’s the best way to prepare for UG. You definitely shouldn’t try to study orgo before you’ve even taken gen bio or gen chem. Or biochem before bio, chem and orgo.

This is your best option: don’t study, enjoy summer. When you start school, adjust to the rigors of UG and adjust study strategies as needed. Learn the material in the classes you are currently in as best and completely as you can. Trying to do too many things (such as trying to pre-study for orgo when you’re in gen chem) will only result in you doing 2 things poorly/decently. Instead do 1 thing very well (learning the class you’re in). Do this and MCAT studying will be review and much much easier.

 

[ExplodingUlcers]

Definitely don’t do any of this. Enjoy your summer, that’s the best way to prepare for UG. You definitely shouldn’t try to study orgo before you’ve even taken gen bio or gen chem. Or biochem before bio, chem and orgo.

This is your best option: don’t study, enjoy summer. When you start school, adjust to the rigors of UG and adjust study strategies as needed. Learn the material in the classes you are currently in as best and completely as you can. Trying to do too many things (such as trying to pre-study for orgo when you’re in gen chem) will only result in you doing 2 things poorly/decently. Instead do 1 thing very well (learning the class you’re in). Do this and MCAT studying will be review and much much easier.

This. Plus there are a bunch of online resources available like Khan academy for gen chem/bio/orgo or YouTube videos like Patrick JMT for calculus that makes learning the material as you go along much easier than ever before.

There is a delicate balance between working hard and enjoying life's pleasures. Don't lose sight of that on your journey. Enjoy your summer! You'll be fine.