Tough Courseload?

[mojo]

What do you guys think about this? Is Organic I, Physics I, and Microbiology do-able? I feel (and those I have spoken to) that it would be awesome preparation for the MCATS and a sneak-peak at how tough the courseloads are in medical school. I like to challenge myself, but would this be too much? Thanks in advance, all!

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[kutastha]

That should be fine if you're ready. I changed majors and had to condense the full O-Chem, Biochem, P-chem and their labs all into one year and did all right. And if I can do it, I'm sure Tony Clifton can. Just don't burn out - I did third quarter and it's a smudge on a pretty good year.

Andrew

 

[mojo]

Originally posted by ajr:
•That should be fine if you're ready. I changed majors and had to condense the full O-Chem, Biochem, P-chem and their labs all into one year and did all right. And if I can do it, I'm sure Tony Clifton can. Just don't burn out - I did third quarter and it's a smudge on a pretty good year.

Andrew•

Wow, that's even heavier in my opinion. P-chem and O-chem... dang! What I'm doing seems possible, but I need to make time for a life outside of classes too. College is so tempting with the social life, but the courseload of pre-med curricula always seems to counteract it. Thanks for the encouragement! Good luck in your studies.

 

[AtYourCervix]

Geez, that sounds pretty tough. Since I decided to be premed my sophomore year, I had to cram Orgo and Physics together during my junior year. I had a pretty rough year with the workload, but it was doable. As for Microbio, some recommend it for the MCAT, but I never did it and wouldn't recommend doing it with Orgo and Physics. I had one semester of Intro Bio and did Kaplan and got a 13 on the BioSci section of the MCAT, so go figure.

 

[JenniferC15]

Last year I took o-chem, p-chem, biochem, and physics all in one semester and still had time for a social life. As long as you use your time wisely, it'll be fine.

 

[AtYourCervix]

From the replies so far, it seems that it will matter where you are for undergrad. At Duke, you cannot take P-Chem or Biochem without Calc II or Organic, respectively. Basically, only a REALLY small handful would try to do more than two tough premed courses a semester, and our normal courseload is four classes total per semester.

DukeGirlie

 

[mojo]

Great, so it is possible to take all those classes and still be a social whirlwind

 

[Mossjoh]

I had Genetics (5 cr. class), Organic I, Physics I and some other classes all in the fall semester last year. Then in the spring I had Human Physiology, Organic II, Physics II, and studied for the MCAT.

You'll make it TonyClifton!!

Mossjoh

 

[Smoke This]

As long as we're bragging, I took organic I, physics II, calc III, matrix theory (I'm a math major), and a junior-level psych class fall semester sophomore year. I went out more that semester than any other time so far!

Go get 'em Tony.

 

[leorl]

Tony, it's quite doable and you'll have a life too. It's tough stuff, but it's not impossible. At my school, it's actually kinda standard for that particular combination in sophomore year. Molecular cell bio is a prereq for bio majors, and so is ochem I during sophomore year. And a lot take physics then too so they can get a year of fysix over for the MCAT.

 

[star23]

Iave had worse - it is very doable. I don't think I would compare it to med school though.

 

[Sm00th13]

It's do-able as long as you keep up w/ the work and have a study group too. BTW, don't forget, have a social life while you're at it, or you'll burn out.

 

[mojo]

Originally posted by Sm00th13:
•It's do-able as long as you keep up w/ the work and have a study group too. BTW, don't forget, have a social life while you're at it, or you'll burn out. •

You guys give good advice. I think of it this way: Calculus-physics will probably be my toughest out of the lot and Organic chem. Compared to those two, Microbiology is fun. To the dood who is doing that math major- now that's my definition of tough. I wanted to do a dual major (math included), but I won't have the time for it.

 

[different strokes]

Originally posted by DukeGirlie:
•From the replies so far, it seems that it will matter where you are for undergrad. At Duke, you cannot take P-Chem or Biochem without Calc II or Organic, respectively. Basically, only a REALLY small handful would try to do more than two tough premed courses a semester, and our normal courseload is four classes total per semester.

DukeGirlie •

Pchem was tougher than all the pre-med courses together. Good thing Pchem is not a pre-req for med school.

 

[different strokes]

Originally posted by star23:
•Iave had worse - it is very doable. I don't think I would compare it to med school though.•

Pchem and all those advanced level math classes were so much more work for me than medicine.

 

[orestes1]

I took that exact course schedule, plus an english course and played varsity football, so it can be done but I don't even remember who my roomate was that semester.

 

[AJM]

Originally posted by different strokes:
•Pchem and all those advanced level math classes were so much more work for me than medicine.•

Dude, P-Chem was HARD! I had to take it because it was required for my major, but I put it off until the last quarter of my senior year, and I took it pass-fail. I still had to work my a$$ off in that course. My med school classes were SO much easier than that horrible, horrible class! (Although the volume of material was way higher in med school, but that's another story...)

 

[saimabean5]

I'm taking Extended Physics II (5cr), Systems Physiology, and Genetics (4cr) and a religion class. Also im doing a lot volunteering and research. Plus ill be studying for the april mcat. I hope thats do-able in that i can get an A in all those classes and still have somewhat of a social life, and not get burned out. To those who took a lot of sciences classes did u get A's and how did u get them along w/ studying for mcats?

 

[Smoke This]

Originally posted by saimabean5:
•I'm taking Extended Physics II (5cr), Systems Physiology, and Genetics (4cr) and a religion class. Also im doing a lot volunteering and research. Plus ill be studying for the april mcat. I hope thats do-able in that i can get an A in all those classes and still have somewhat of a social life, and not get burned out. To those who took a lot of sciences classes did u get A's and how did u get them along w/ studying for mcats? •

I did pretty well in my science classes. If you want A's, you have to put in the study time. I was in a similar situation to you in that I did a lot of extracurricular stuff at the same time. The secret is learning to budget your time. If you can do that (and this is a personal thing which only you can do, i.e. looking at your schedule, deciding when you have time to spare to study, etc), then I think you'll be okay. I'm a math major as I said, and personally I think that the premed sciences are much easier than math classes. If I could choose between straight memorization (premed science) and math, I would take the science stuff any day. That's not to say that the sciences weren't challenging; I found ochem and biochem pretty tough because of the amount of material and to some extent the problem-solving involved.

Another thing you should do is study a lot (at least as much as you need to, and I prefer to know the material as thoroughly as possible). Especially for ochem, I would start studying two weeks before the exam, and I would study a lot. I mean a lot, like five or six hours at a time, usually in the evenings, and this was a typical amount of studying for me. If you cram, not only is it harder to do well on exams (at least for me), but you don't retain the information well and this may come back to haunt you (i.e. at MCAT time).

Speaking of the MCAT, I didn't take it during the school year; I took it the summer after my sophomore year. I did this for two reasons: I had just finished organic and so it was fresher in my mind, and for the reason that I could devote much more time to studying for the MCAT. Unless you're superman with a 12 credit load, I don't see why any sensible person would take the MCAT in April while attempting to balance MCAT studying with studying for premedical sciences (assuming, of course, that the student isn't studying precisely what the MCAT tests at the same time that (s)he's covering it in school)