Thinking I should quit Pre Med?

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seh5408

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So, I've posted on here before about this same topic. So apologies for that.

I'm seriously non stop in my head about whether or not to quit taking my pre med classes.

I'm a liberal arts major, so I don't need them. I'm really good at my majors; I'm working on writing a research paper with one of my professors and am decently excited for that. I excel in this area.

Math and science, is another story. I took my bio classes for pre med and got A's in both, but I keep faltering when it comes time to take Chem and drop it. I just don't really get it and find it hard to concentrate in it. All my life I just skated through math and science and never really learned or retained anything from it.

Right now, I'm taking my first chem and first physics class. I just did my first physics homework assignment which I'm assuming was to be a really easy algebra review and I had no idea how to do it. Ended up getting a decent grade because I googled everything, but its very disheartening.

I guess I'm just scared. I'm scared medicine isn't for me (I shadowed a surgeon the other day and didn't love it). I'm scared these classes will kill my good GPA, which I'll need for anything else if I don't do med school.

But I'm also scared that if I quit pre med I'll never be satisfied doing anything else. Medicine is a beautiful and pure career that I want to be a part of (and please none of those "why dont you go to PA school posts"). I can't deny this pull I have to being a doctor.

But I'm also scared that I'm scared of just doing my best in my majors and seeign what life has in store for me. Pre med has always sort of been a crutch for me. Instead of trying to improve my current life, I always think "nah, things will be good when I'm a doctor." I think that's probably really unhealthy.. and maybe indicative that I shouldn't go into medicine.

Also, I HATE when i hear people cough. Blood and guts are cool though.

I don't know. Not only am I bad at these science classes, but I can't even pay attention or really devote myself to them which I would obviously have to do. I enjoy dreaming of myself as a studios pre med future doctor but I have yet to achieve that for some reason...

On the flip side, there aren't really any classes this semester I want to take that pre med classes are in the way of. And the classes I'm taking would satisfy a gen ed. So maybe I should take them? I'm not sure. Any advice is helpful.
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Not sure I can offer up any advice, but chemistry was tough for me as well. I love biology on the other hand, but chemistry is just a different way of thinking.
Keep your head up, only you can decide what is best for you 🙂
 
So it's not for you? I can't tell you that. Only you know that. But here's a tip on the chemistry, physics and math. There's no way around it. You have to work with it everyday, do it a lot and get a tutor. I learned during chemistry you learn the basics and work with every problem. No excuses. So go get your physics book since you're up and go do all the examples then go look at some Khan academy.
 
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Try volunteering at a hospital and shadowing another doctor. If you don't enjoy them, don't pursue medicine.
 
Honestly, many premeds hate their science classes, and not liking them doesn't necessarily mean you'll perform badly. My concern here is how unsure you are over whether you actually want to practice medicine. It's certainly a long and arduous path, and will definitely not just "make things better," so unless you are very sure it's what you want to do, why pursue? You can spend that time doing something you enjoy more. I'd say, finish up this semester and get a little more shadowing/clinical exposure, then look deep down and ask yourself if it's really what you want to do. Then you'll have your answer.
 
Chemistry and physics can be tough if you don't have a strong math background, but they are doable. It takes a lot of dedication and practice. I came into college with a very weak science background, buckled down, and did very well. Go to your prof's office hours and make use of study groups.

You told me not to do it, but I think you should really think about why you're interested in medicine. Do you know what it's like? Have you done any shadowing or spoken to any physicians? You need to make sure you have a realistic view and are not romanticizing entirely about this "beautiful and pure career". You can't make this decision because you think better things will come once you're a doctor. Take some time to really think about this, we cannot answer this question for you.

If you really, really cannot stand your science classes, then that may be a problem. You need to do relatively well in these classes and know this material for the MCAT. A lot of people aren't thrilled with chemistry and/or physics, but they do what they have to do. A lack of passion for physics does not mean you shouldn't be a doctor.

You also don't have to love surgery. I've seen a decent amount of surgeries. They were cool, but I didn't love them. And that's okay. In terms of the coughing thing... yes I guess you should get used to that.

Do some shadowing, and take some time to think about why medicine. Good luck.
 
seh5408 said:
I guess I'm just scared. I'm scared medicine isn't for me (I shadowed a surgeon the other day and didn't love it). I'm scared these classes will kill my good GPA, which I'll need for anything else if I don't do med school.

But I'm also scared that if I quit pre med I'll never be satisfied doing anything else. Medicine is a beautiful and pure career that I want to be a part of (and please none of those "why dont you go to PA school posts"). I can't deny this pull I have to being a doctor.
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Do the best you can to anticipate what you like & what is important to you. If you don't want to deal with sick people (they cough, by the way) then take that into account. If you don't like your biology classes as much as you appear to despise chem and physics, then consider that you may not want to do reasonably similar work for the rest of your life.

I put that phrase in boldface because I don't understand what it means.
 
Ace-Co-A said:
Do the best you can to anticipate what you like & what is important to you. If you don't want to deal with sick people (they cough, by the way) then take that into account. If you don't like your biology classes as much as you appear to despise chem and physics, then consider that you may not want to do reasonably similar work for the rest of your life.

I put that phrase in boldface because I don't understand what it means.
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It keeps bothering me, take no offense, but your name reminds me about Acetyl CoA.
 
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Life Sucks said:
Explains a lot. I got it. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go pounder why life sucks.
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This is the second time tonight I've had to pull this out of the bag:
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kevinus said:
Try volunteering at a hospital and shadowing another doctor. If you don't enjoy them, don't pursue medicine.
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I think this is bad advice. I did not enjoy my clinical volunteering because it was very mindless pillow making and asking the nurse if a patient can eat/drink. These are not things that make a difference in the grand scheme of the patients care/health. However, I still wanted very much to be a doctor, precisely because it puts one in a position to make that difference. So I don't think this is where a line can be drawn.
 
This. People have weaknesses and it's ok, but you have to be able to overcome them. It's part of growing!!! But for real, practice, practice, practice...
Life Sucks said:
So it's not for you? I can't tell you that. Only you know that. But here's a tip on the chemistry, physics and math. There's no way around it. You have to work with it everyday, do it a lot and get a tutor. I learned during chemistry you learn the basics and work with every problem. No excuses. So go get your physics book since you're up and go do all the examples then go look at some Khan academy.
Click to expand...
 
shadowing was actually the thing that sold the medical field to me. Keep shadowing and hopefully you will see something that inspires you to do it. Also, medicine is a rewarding field but its insanely difficult to do; things definitely dont get easier. The physicians I have spoken to tell me that this is a field that you should do ONLY if its something you cant live without (they actually wanna quit). You almost have to be crazy to do it. So keep shadowing, keep volunteering, and really evaluate why you wanna do this. Make sure its for the right reasons.

Also, as far as classes go, that just takes practice. Sure, some people will pick up physics and chem easier than you, but in the end it doesnt even matter. You wont extensively use your knowledge in gen chem or physics as a physician. Those are just classes you have to get past. It sucks but that is the necessary weed out process. It all comes down to how bad you want it

In 11th grade AP Bio, I had anxiety attacks cause I couldnt keep up. I thought I would never be a doc if I couldnt get past these easy classes and I let the stress get to me. The following year, I realized that I am more than capable of doing well in these easy classes. I resparked my fuel to be a doc and got my **** together. Came in my senior year HS and murdered AP Chem and Physics. Came to college and easily got an A in my bio class. Its been pretty smooth since then and shadowing has definitely sold me on the medicine game. If you dont have that fire in your stomach, I would say this isnt for you. However, that is up for you to decide
 
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this is a very personal decision, but here are my two cents.

biology and physics are very fundamental courses, and a solid performance in them are essential. these basic courses will come up repeatedly in medical school, and form a basis for what you will need to know to do well on the mcat. if you are having trouble with basic math, i think it might be prudent to take some math courses at a community college over the summer to get up to speed before taking these classes (probably a precalculus course). Also i believe you need one year of college-level calculus for med school as well, so you need to take that course. i think if you solidify your math background it will help you attack chem and physics without worrying about the math. honestly chem and physics become infinitely harder if you are trying to figure out how to do simple math rather than focusing on the scientific principles at hand.
 
Shaq said:
this is a very personal decision, but here are my two cents.

biology and physics are very fundamental courses, and a solid performance in them are essential. these basic courses will come up repeatedly in medical school, and form a basis for what you will need to know to do well on the mcat. if you are having trouble with basic math, i think it might be prudent to take some math courses at a community college over the summer to get up to speed before taking these classes (probably a precalculus course). Also i believe you need one year of college-level calculus for med school as well, so you need to take that course. i think if you solidify your math background it will help you attack chem and physics without worrying about the math. honestly chem and physics become infinitely harder if you are trying to figure out how to do simple math rather than focusing on the scientific principles at hand.
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Dude, Shaquille is on SDN?!?!
 
emilym said:
Not sure I can offer up any advice, but chemistry was tough for me as well. I love biology on the other hand, but chemistry is just a different way of thinking. Keep your head up, only you can decide what is best for you 🙂
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I'm not sure that I agree with the part in bold. Biology is nothing more than applied chemistry (which is nothing more than applied physics).
 
Shaq said:
Also i believe you need one year of college-level calculus for med school as well, so you need to take that course.
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Most medical schools require a year of college level mathematics. Some require a semester of calculus. Very few recommend or require a full year of calculus.
 
seh5408 said:
So, I've posted on here before about this same topic. So apologies for that.

I'm seriously non stop in my head about whether or not to quit taking my pre med classes.

I'm a liberal arts major, so I don't need them. I'm really good at my majors; I'm working on writing a research paper with one of my professors and am decently excited for that. I excel in this area.

Math and science, is another story. I took my bio classes for pre med and got A's in both, but I keep faltering when it comes time to take Chem and drop it. I just don't really get it and find it hard to concentrate in it. All my life I just skated through math and science and never really learned or retained anything from it.

Right now, I'm taking my first chem and first physics class. I just did my first physics homework assignment which I'm assuming was to be a really easy algebra review and I had no idea how to do it. Ended up getting a decent grade because I googled everything, but its very disheartening.

I guess I'm just scared. I'm scared medicine isn't for me (I shadowed a surgeon the other day and didn't love it). I'm scared these classes will kill my good GPA, which I'll need for anything else if I don't do med school.

But I'm also scared that if I quit pre med I'll never be satisfied doing anything else. Medicine is a beautiful and pure career that I want to be a part of (and please none of those "why dont you go to PA school posts"). I can't deny this pull I have to being a doctor.

But I'm also scared that I'm scared of just doing my best in my majors and seeign what life has in store for me. Pre med has always sort of been a crutch for me. Instead of trying to improve my current life, I always think "nah, things will be good when I'm a doctor." I think that's probably really unhealthy.. and maybe indicative that I shouldn't go into medicine.

Also, I HATE when i hear people cough. Blood and guts are cool though.

I don't know. Not only am I bad at these science classes, but I can't even pay attention or really devote myself to them which I would obviously have to do. I enjoy dreaming of myself as a studios pre med future doctor but I have yet to achieve that for some reason...

On the flip side, there aren't really any classes this semester I want to take that pre med classes are in the way of. And the classes I'm taking would satisfy a gen ed. So maybe I should take them? I'm not sure. Any advice is helpful.
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If you are having difficulty with a class, I recommend that you take it over the summer session so that you can focus solely on that course. You should also be checked for a learning or attention disorder such as ADHD (or whatever they're calling it now). If the latter is an issue, medications may be able to help.
 
knv2u said:
If you are having difficulty with a class, I recommend that you take it over the summer session so that you can focus solely on that course. You should also be checked for a learning or attention disorder such as ADHD (or whatever they're calling it now). If the latter is an issue, medications may be able to help.
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Re-read the post. It does not sound like the poster has a learning or attention disorder.
 
knv2u said:
I'm not sure that I agree with the part in bold. Biology is nothing more than applied chemistry (which is nothing more than applied physics).
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Biochemistry is applied chemistry. Things like evolutionary biology, plant systematics, classification of organ systems, and identification of different cell types in a tissue sample (all fall under the umbrella of biology) are not examples of applied chemistry.
 
baconshrimps said:
Biochemistry is applied chemistry. Things like evolutionary biology, plant systematics, classification of organ systems, and identification of different cell types in a tissue sample (all fall under the umbrella of biology) are not examples of applied chemistry.
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Physiology/cell biology is highly dependent upon chemistry and if you are going to understand the form and structure of organisms (i.e. as medical schools require), then yes it absolutely is applied chemistry. Evolutionary biology, if studied in depth, heavily involves genetics which also is applied chemistry if you want to get down to it.
 
masaraksh said:
Re-read the post. It does not sound like the poster has a learning or attention disorder.
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I don't necessarily think it is a learning or attention deficit disorder, but we cannot rule it out for certain. Sometimes people can do well in a few areas of interest, but yet mild learning disabilities may hinder their ability in other areas. I think it is always wise to be sure.
 
knv2u said:
Physiology/cell biology is highly dependent upon chemistry and if you are going to understand the form and structure of organisms (i.e. as medical schools require), then yes it absolutely is applied chemistry. Evolutionary biology, if studied in depth, heavily involves genetics which also is applied chemistry if you want to get down to it.
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As someone who really couldn't care about determining Ksp (or interpereting it) or calculating the bond strength between two atoms, or the electrical potential needed to precipitate a compound from a solution, etc, I'm pretty well-versed when it comes to unwravelling a signal transduction cascade or predicting the effect of an increased mABP on cerebral flow. Sure, physiology is the study of physical-chemical events as they translate to higher order function, but the approach taken is starkly different from that in classical chemistry.
 
baconshrimps said:
I'm pretty well-versed when it comes to unwravelling a signal transduction cascade or predicting the effect of an increased mABP on cerebral flow.
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Then you should see that none of it makes sense unless you understand the underlying chemistry of say ligand binding and cell membrane physiology. I'm not saying that biology doesn't build upon basic chemistry, but when it comes down to the basics of how everything works at a fundamental level, it heavily dependent upon chemistry and is essentially applied chemistry. If you attempt to divorce biology from chemistry, then you are left with rote memorization and are only "learning" things at an ephemeral level.
 
knv2u said:
Then you should see that none of it makes sense unless you understand the underlying chemistry of say ligand binding and cell membrane physiology. I'm not saying that biology doesn't build upon basic chemistry, but when it comes down to the basics of how everything works at a fundamental level, it heavily dependent upon chemistry and is essentially applied chemistry. If you attempt to divorce biology from chemistry, then you are left with rote memorization and are only "learning" things at an ephemeral level.
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I will concede that a ligand binds a receptor through electrostatic interactions or hydrogen bonding between certain domains of the protein.....but often is the case that you don't need to keep these details even on the back burner to understand what is happening in the signal cascade. Are you an undergraduate science student, I assume?
 
baconshrimps said:
I will concede that a ligand binds a receptor through electrostatic interactions or hydrogen bonding between certain domains of the protein.....but often is the case that you don't need to keep these details even on the back burner to understand what is happening in the signal cascade. Are you an undergraduate science student, I assume?
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I graduated and am thus post-undergraduate. Although I have not pursued a formal graduate program, I do have some training in graduate level biology classes.
 
knv2u said:
I graduated and am thus post-undergraduate. Although I have not pursued a formal graduate program, I do have some training in graduate level biology classes.
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Well, I have extensive graduate training in biochemistry as well as other disciplines of biology, and I can safely say that safe for one lecture at the very beginning of one of my graduate biochemistry courses, the basic tenets of chemistry have never so much as surfaced in any of the other work I have done as a graduate student. Perhaps the only exception I can think of is knowing what makes an acidophillic dye acidophillic, and what makes a basophillic dye basophillic. I also can't recall much "chemistry" beyond the nernst equation in any of my undergraduate biology courses...this level of detail actually may threaten to obscure the take-away message from alot of ones studies...it's great if it works for you, but it is not typically of widespread benefit. I've seen many students wane because they get caught up in superfluous details.
 
baconshrimps said:
Well, I have extensive graduate training in biochemistry as well as other disciplines of biology, and I can safely say that safe for one lecture at the very beginning of one of my graduate biochemistry courses, the basic tenets of chemistry have never so much as surfaced in any of the other work I have done as a graduate student. Perhaps the only exception I can think of is knowing what makes an acidophillic dye acidophillic, and what makes a basophillic dye basophillic. I also can't recall much "chemistry" beyond the nernst equation in any of my undergraduate biology courses...this level of detail actually may threaten to obscure the take-away message from alot of ones studies...it's great if it works for you, but it is not typically of widespread benefit. I've seen many students wane because they get caught up in superfluous details.
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I think we are misunderstanding each other. Saying that biology is applied chemistry is not the same as saying that every biology course will focus on the chemical minutiae of every topic or reaction. It is saying that chemistry is at the root of everything that you will learn in biology and without a solid foundation in chemistry, it will be difficult for you to truly understand what is going on. Hence it is chemistry heavy and almost everything can be broken down into chemical topics. That's why I said it is applied chemistry. Surely there are different levels of analysis of the material. By the time you reach graduate level courses, you already have a solid background in chemistry, but you are taking that background for granted. Without it, I doubt you would have reached your level of education.

Conceptually, at a basic level, basic and organic chemistry are very useful in thinking about upper level biology classes and that's why I said that I wouldn't say that the topics are divorced as some posters would leave others to believe.
 
Alright sounds like you need to decide if medicine is actually for you, and this will be done by doing more shadowing/maybe some clinical volunteering. Next is the issue that you haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg as far as pre-reqs go; you haven't touched general chem, physics, or orgo. Bio I and II are the easiest pre-reqs by a significant margin in my opinion, but you still have all the hard ones left.

It sounds to me like you are nervous about not being able to complete the hard pre-reqs, which is why you keep dropping. You need to confirm whether medicine is for you 100% by shadowing. Then you need to go ALL IN with school if you feel medicine is for you, and if not just avoid the pre-reqs and move on. Right now you are half assing it and not committed to anything. That is a bad and dangerous place to be in honestly. If you decide medicine is for you go all in on school! Not to be too blunt, but I know fellow students who have shadowed/gotten clinical experience and want to be a doctor but they can't get the grades in the pre-reqs. These are people that wanted medicine BAD, but they were unable to get the grades in the pre-reqs/MCAT scores so they didn't make it. You have a lot to find out about yourself, one being whether medicine is something you want to pursue. And second whether you have the ability/drive to succeed in the course work required to be a doctor. Just deciding medicine is for you is easy, its actually getting done what is necessary to achieve the coveted MD. Im not doubting you--its just there are people who want medicine BAD but they still can't make it. You are unsure of whether you even want it. So figure out if its for you and give it everything or find another career!
 
seh5408 said:
I just did my first physics homework assignment which I'm assuming was to be a really easy algebra review and I had no idea how to do it. Ended up getting a decent grade because I googled everything , but its very disheartening.
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Stop. You need to think about what you're doing here. I'm not speaking of ethics or academic integrity, but to you on a personal level. If this behaviour is indicative of your performance, you will not succeed. You may be a bright student, and you may certainly outperform your peers, but once you begin stepping down a path in which you begin to complete assignments as such, you will quickly find yourself lost. This behaviour will do nothing but hurt you, and likely hurt any patients you will encounter. Consider this in your decision.
 
Thanks for the feedback, I certainly enjoyed the debate on the role of chemistry in cell biology.

A lot of you questioned my saying that "medicine is a beautiful and pure career." I'm well aware of the bull**** in the medical field. What I meant by that is that it is a career fundamentally founded in helping people, and there aren't many like that.

I think the best advice given was just to get to work and apply myself. I do NOT have ADHD. I know for a fact I can get A's in these classes if I put in the work.

Seeing as how these classes are required for my major, I'm going to take them and just work hard. Best case scenario I realize this is what I want to do. Worst case I'm closer to graduating but didn't get to party as much this semester. Big deal.

So thanks for your replies I always thoroughly enjoy the sincere advice.
 
I think that like many "pre-meds" in college who have lived in a bubble of home and academia you are not aware of the BREADTH of careers available out there.

Btw, c'mon farming helps people. Law enforcement helps people. Business helps people. FFS, charities and non-profits help people, so please stop with the "medicine is the only pure and noble career" it makes me (and probably many others) puke.
 
seh5408 said:
Thanks for the feedback, I certainly enjoyed the debate on the role of chemistry in cell biology.

A lot of you questioned my saying that "medicine is a beautiful and pure career." I'm well aware of the bullcrap in the medical field. What I meant by that is that it is a career fundamentally founded in helping people, and there aren't many like that.

I think the best advice given was just to get to work and apply myself. I do NOT have ADHD. I know for a fact I can get A's in these classes if I put in the work.

Seeing as how these classes are required for my major, I'm going to take them and just work hard. Best case scenario I realize this is what I want to do. Worst case I'm closer to graduating but didn't get to party as much this semester. Big deal.

So thanks for your replies I always thoroughly enjoy the sincere advice.
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As the above poster said, there are many many careers that help people. Heck I would say being priest is the most pure and beautiful career since all you do is help people with no pay (at least I think so). Work for a non-profit and don't get paid for it is also "beautiful and pure". I don't think an answer like that will be sufficient for medical school interviews. I strongly advice you analyze yourself because medicine (like any other careers) require most of your life's commitment. Shadowing and hospital volunteer as other posters have mentioned are great environments to figure this out.
As for doing well in the sciences, I was told by my chemistry teacher back in high school that I was too dumb for the math and sciences. Well I proved him wrong in college. Doing well in science courses doesn't require a lot of "passion" but it does require time and if you truly do want to get into medical school then putting in that time shouldn't be a problem.
 
seh5408 said:
Thanks for the feedback, I certainly enjoyed the debate on the role of chemistry in cell biology.

A lot of you questioned my saying that "medicine is a beautiful and pure career." I'm well aware of the bullcrap in the medical field. What I meant by that is that it is a career fundamentally founded in helping people, and there aren't many like that.

I think the best advice given was just to get to work and apply myself. I do NOT have ADHD. I know for a fact I can get A's in these classes if I put in the work.

Seeing as how these classes are required for my major, I'm going to take them and just work hard. Best case scenario I realize this is what I want to do. Worst case I'm closer to graduating but didn't get to party as much this semester. Big deal.

So thanks for your replies I always thoroughly enjoy the sincere advice.
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Teaching
social work
nursing
politics
law
finance
accounting
banking
food service
retail
The above are just a very small sample of the many, many careers "fundamentally founded in helping people." Obviously, many of them are quite far in practice from their "fundamental" foundation. Medicine is ideally about helping people, but ideally, so is every career I listed. All of them, medicine not excluded, have a great deal of BS involved that gets in the way of doing your job, and makes your job sometimes far removed from helping people. You need a lot more reason to pursue medicine than the belief that it is "a beautiful and pure career" or you will become extremely jaded and bitter as soon as you spend any time working in an actual healthcare environment working with actual patients.
 
You need a lot more reason to pursue medicine than the belief that it is "a beautiful and pure career" or you will become extremely jaded and bitter as soon as you spend any time working in an actual healthcare environment working with actual patients.
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Ok, reasons like what?
 
knv2u said:
Most medical schools require a year of college level mathematics. Some require a semester of calculus. Very few recommend or require a full year of calculus.
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Aaaaaand thank goodness for that! Whoo!
 
Oso said:
story of my life

EDIT: baconshrimps I wanna eat you so bad right now
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Jesuschrist, I'm not a salmon. I'm a shrimp. You would literally have no change in hunger upon consumption of me or any of my constituents.
 
knv2u said:
Then you should see that none of it makes sense unless you understand the underlying chemistry of say ligand binding and cell membrane physiology. I'm not saying that biology doesn't build upon basic chemistry, but when it comes down to the basics of how everything works at a fundamental level, it heavily dependent upon chemistry and is essentially applied chemistry. If you attempt to divorce biology from chemistry, then you are left with rote memorization and are only "learning" things at an ephemeral level.
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Here's how much chemistry there is in medical school:
 
notbobtrustme said:
Here's how much chemistry there is in medical school:
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If there is no chemistry in medical school, then why is biochemistry a required course in medical school? Are you telling me that there is no chemistry whatsoever in pharmacology?
 
knv2u said:
If there is no chemistry in medical school, then why is biochemistry a required course in medical school? Are you telling me that there is no chemistry whatsoever in pharmacology?
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Well there is probably more memorization, legal problems and liability in pharmacology for med students than there is actual chemistry
 
This kid needs to spend some time around sick people to see if he can handle it. I'm all for the shadowing. It isn't nearly as good as a clinical position, but t least he can start to get a better feel for whether medicine just isn't his thing or not.

If your doubts are this big I don't think your chances
Shaq said:
this is a very personal decision, but here are my two cents.

biology and physics are very fundamental courses, and a solid performance in them are essential. these basic courses will come up repeatedly in medical school, and form a basis for what you will need to know to do well on the mcat. if you are having trouble with basic math, i think it might be prudent to take some math courses at a community college over the summer to get up to speed before taking these classes (probably a precalculus course). Also i believe you need one year of college-level calculus for med school as well, so you need to take that course. i think if you solidify your math background it will help you attack chem and physics without worrying about the math. honestly chem and physics become infinitely harder if you are trying to figure out how to do simple math rather than focusing on the scientific principles at hand.
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I read all of that in Shaq's voice.
 
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