Starting college in 2 months(pre dental/pre med)

[AmirTheDoc]

Hey guys, I am starting college(pre dental/pre med) at Rutgers University New Brunswick in the fall, and I need some info. To introduce myself, I am majoring in biology, and plan to go to medical school concluding undergraduate education.
The main question I have is: What does it take to achieve a 3.8-4.0 GPA @rutgers, or any other university. What should my schedule follow? How many hours a day should i study?How do i take efficient notes to comprehend the material fully. What electives should I take? I'll do whatever it takes to achieve a high GPA, even if its disclosing my social life.
Basically, I need a foundation of information on what it takes to get Straight A's as a bio major, and increase my chances to be admitted to medical school/dental school. Taking all advice!
-Thanks in advance!

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[Charles_Darwin]

Hey cool I almost went to rutgers! I didn't have a really high GPA until this past year (went from 3.2ish to 3.7ish) because I had a huge rough patch and made lots of mistakes my first two years. Here's my advice on how to not make mistakes and such:

1- Find out how you study best. Attend any free study sessions your college provides you. I've taught college-funded study sessions for 2 years now and I promise the freshmen who come, even if they're the most uncommitted, get really good grades. You have to stay in group study sessions and such at least 4-7 times for them to become effective.

2- Study ahead as much as possible. In college you'll end up always rewriting your notes. Write your notes from the powerpoint your professor uploads before class, so that when you come into class you already know the material a little bit and it's just further cemented in your mind. This helps 100%. And write those notes neatly! When it comes to final exam season, you'll be ahead of the rest because the material will be well cemented in your head + your notes will be very easy to read. All I did was reread my notes ~10 times starting 1.5 weeks before a final and I usually scored A's.

3- More important than anything is be healthy. Don't get rid of a social life but don't party very much at all. Take care of your physical health; exercise and eat healthy. 30 minutes a day exercising and 1 hour relaxing with friends will never hurt you. You'll study 3x better when you're happy and relaxed, not when you're cutoff from friends and stressed. Take care of your mental health too- never take max credits and never take more than one part-time job if you have to. I held 4-6 jobs and internships per semester my first two years because my family couldn't support me in college, and it was disastrous. I drank ~ 5 bottles of five-hour energy a week.

4- Don't drink caffeine more than once every week if necessary. Don't do it. Don't.


Those four guidelines fixed my whole life. You may need more help or less or you might find someone else's advice more relevant, but that's what worked for me and my semesters are fun instead of stressful now!

Good luck 🙂

 

[JLT223]

Good advice from @AintNobodyGotTimeForDAT . You DON'T need to know if you want to go to medical or dental school yet. When you have the time shadow a physician and a dentist and go from there. Half of the "fun" is figuring out what you truly want to do. Don't let your fellow classmates get to you/scare you that you don't have everything figured out.

 

[AmirTheDoc]

Hey cool I almost went to rutgers! I didn't have a really high GPA until this past year (went from 3.2ish to 3.7ish) because I had a huge rough patch and made lots of mistakes my first two years. Here's my advice on how to not make mistakes and such:

1- Find out how you study best. Attend any free study sessions your college provides you. I've taught college-funded study sessions for 2 years now and I promise the freshmen who come, even if they're the most uncommitted, get really good grades. You have to stay in group study sessions and such at least 4-7 times for them to become effective.

2- Study ahead as much as possible. In college you'll end up always rewriting your notes. Write your notes from the powerpoint your professor uploads before class, so that when you come into class you already know the material a little bit and it's just further cemented in your mind. This helps 100%. And write those notes neatly! When it comes to final exam season, you'll be ahead of the rest because the material will be well cemented in your head + your notes will be very easy to read. All I did was reread my notes ~10 times starting 1.5 weeks before a final and I usually scored A's.

3- More important than anything is be healthy. Don't get rid of a social life but don't party very much at all. Take care of your physical health; exercise and eat healthy. 30 minutes a day exercising and 1 hour relaxing with friends will never hurt you. You'll study 3x better when you're happy and relaxed, not when you're cutoff from friends and stressed. Take care of your mental health too- never take max credits and never take more than one part-time job if you have to. I held 4-6 jobs and internships per semester my first two years because my family couldn't support me in college, and it was disastrous. I drank ~ 5 bottles of five-hour energy a week.

4- Don't drink caffeine more than once every week if necessary. Don't do it. Don't.


Those four guidelines fixed my whole life. You may need more help or less or you might find someone's else advice more relevant, but that's what worked for me and my semesters are fun instead of stressful now!

Good luck 🙂

Great Info! Keep the advice coming!

 

[CubsFan44]

Ditto what the others have said. Also remember that even though you will have to work very hard, still make time for fun and enjoy the moment! Most of the pre-med and pre-dentals at my school are pretty good about that, and the ones who are constantly stressing themselves out about grades don't seem to be doing any better than us grades-wise. So pace yourself stress-wise. Becoming a doctor/dentist is a long process, so the worst thing you could do is burn yourself out during the relatively easier undergrad years.

 

[meeshii00]

Rutgers is a huge school so don't become just a number. Definitely build a good relationship with your professors so you will be able to have great recommendation letters for when you apply! It's difficult to tell you the best way to study because everyone is different. But just stay motivated and try different methods until you find what works for you. Work smarter not harder.

 

[derbear]

Step 1. Breathe

 

[iloveadentist]

Hey cool I almost went to rutgers! I didn't have a really high GPA until this past year (went from 3.2ish to 3.7ish) because I had a huge rough patch and made lots of mistakes my first two years. Here's my advice on how to not make mistakes and such:

1- Find out how you study best. Attend any free study sessions your college provides you. I've taught college-funded study sessions for 2 years now and I promise the freshmen who come, even if they're the most uncommitted, get really good grades. You have to stay in group study sessions and such at least 4-7 times for them to become effective.

2- Study ahead as much as possible. In college you'll end up always rewriting your notes. Write your notes from the powerpoint your professor uploads before class, so that when you come into class you already know the material a little bit and it's just further cemented in your mind. This helps 100%. And write those notes neatly! When it comes to final exam season, you'll be ahead of the rest because the material will be well cemented in your head + your notes will be very easy to read. All I did was reread my notes ~10 times starting 1.5 weeks before a final and I usually scored A's.

3- More important than anything is be healthy. Don't get rid of a social life but don't party very much at all. Take care of your physical health; exercise and eat healthy. 30 minutes a day exercising and 1 hour relaxing with friends will never hurt you. You'll study 3x better when you're happy and relaxed, not when you're cutoff from friends and stressed. Take care of your mental health too- never take max credits and never take more than one part-time job if you have to. I held 4-6 jobs and internships per semester my first two years because my family couldn't support me in college, and it was disastrous. I drank ~ 5 bottles of five-hour energy a week.

4- Don't drink caffeine more than once every week if necessary. Don't do it. Don't.


Those four guidelines fixed my whole life. You may need more help or less or you might find someone else's advice more relevant, but that's what worked for me and my semesters are fun instead of stressful now!

Good luck 🙂

Really inspiring keep it coming!

 

[bwc]

You don't need to major in biology. You should major in something because you like it and can do well in it, not because you feel obligated to. Also, you will see that MANY people in the freshman population (possibly up to half, I'm not even exaggerating) will go in saying that they are pre med. However, only a very small portion will end up applying to medical school. A good number of people drop out either because they find another field that they are more interested in, or they find out that they don't have the ability to succeed in medicine through the prerequisite courses.

Your GPA will definitely want to achieve at least a 3.6, but of course as high as you can possibly manage, but in the end you want to be able to present yourself with extracurricular activities that demonstrate your interest in medicine or dentistry. When it comes to applying to these kinds of schools, there is no such thing as a safety school, unlike when you were applying to colleges. For these kinds of schools, even outstanding grades and test scores will not let you come close to guaranteeing you admission somewhere. Having high grades and test scores, but then only being able to say that all you did is school will not help your application.

Getting a 3.8+ in college is not even close to being as easy as getting a 3.8+ in high school. You are going to be with people who performed at a similar level to you academically in high school.

 

[Polkadotfan]

On studying....
Seriously just relax. Make sure when you study you STUDY. Not half-study by reading for ten minutes then ten minutes of phone time. Set aside some time. I had to go to the library (or a coffee shop) to study because I get distracted at home.
Also don't freak out about GPA too much. One B wont kill you. Do not sacrifice your health and don't be "that guy" who is a jerk over grades.