What was your most challenging semester as a pre-med?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
A

appleaday1

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Members do not see this ad.
What semester did you feel the most strain in terms of prereqs, difficulty of classes, EC's, social life, etc? How was the outcome, and how well did you cope? Just curious to see how everyone's rough patches in their journeys differ!

Mine was likely first semester, with Bio, Chem, Calc, and Writing. I was also actively involved in several pre-health organizations trying to figure out what career path to take. Looking back, however, this definitely should have been my easiest- it was probably due to lack of prepartion of what college had in store for me compared to breezing through high school, and the stress of not knowing what I wanted to do with my life.

Keep Truckin' :luck:
 
Took genetics, ochem 2 with lab and physics 2 with lab all in one semester. Dumb idea, had my worst grades for a single semester then. Just really wanted to finish all my pre-req's early to start studying for the MCAT earlier
 
My entire soph year. It was one personal problem after another. You just got to keep truckin'
 
2nd sem freshman year. One word: pledging

Other than that, taking 7 classes + research + two jobs + volunteering + presiding over greek chapter + other ECs in one semester kind of blew too... but not as much as pledging, since they were actually all enjoyable
 
Junior year sucked.
I knew it would be my hardest coming in as a transfer student.

The primary issue is that as a transfer student, the majority (like 75%+) of what I had left to do were all major required courses, which most of them were weed-out courses, such as cell bio and organic.

Organic has caused the most problems for me. It's definitely a time sucker that has screwed with me doing well in my advanced undergraduate courses. I'm still angry that I didn't get As in courses that I could have gotten an A if it weren't for me dealing with time-sucking organic chem.

Now that I'm done with the weed-outs and have better study skills than before, I make As. Having more time is a big factor.
 
glad i study for mcat over the summer, in the schooltime there is just too many things to do

hardest semester was last semeter for me. biochem, genetic and microbiol combine with 8am labs wasnt fun.
 
ponyo said:
2nd sem freshman year. One word: pledging

Other than that, taking 7 classes + research + two jobs + volunteering + presiding over greek chapter + other ECs in one semester kind of blew too... but not as much as pledging, since they were actually all enjoyable
Click to expand...

i was gonna post but mine doesn't even come close to this
 
Going into my junior year, I'm kind of anticipating it being the biggest challenge. Next semester, I'm taking three sciences (Phys I/Lab, Ecology & Evolution/Lab, and Endocrinology), and the semester after that it's gonna be MCAT time.

Last fall was challenging too though, I took an upper level history seminar for my minor which had like, 150 - 500 pages of reading a week in addition to orgo. :scared:
 
hopefully i've already had it but i'll let you know in two years
 
ponyo said:
2nd sem freshman year. One word: pledging

Other than that, taking 7 classes + research + two jobs + volunteering + presiding over greek chapter + other ECs in one semester kind of blew too... but not as much as pledging, since they were actually all enjoyable
Click to expand...

lolwut.
 
Junior year 2nd semester. Actually, 2nd semesters in general. I hate finishing a final in December then realizing in January that oh ****, I'm not actually done, and there's a cumulative final coming up in a few months. Best will be this entire year, because I'm raging straight through to May
 
Taking physics I/II over the summer following first year... As a result, when I was taking ochem, it didn't feel too bad in comparison, almost quite enjoyable. :laugh:
 
This summer session (5 week session)- Gen Chem 2 with lab and Physics 2 with lab. There are less than two weeks left and I have all A's except for an 89 average in Gen Chem 2....I have the last mid-term and final to pull it up. Four A's in a session would be lovely.
 
My entire sophomore year. The next two years should be cake compared to what I just went through. And if I nail my mcat in ~20 days... I'll really be chilling....
 
Anything that involves pure math is a horrible semester.
 
Mine was easily my first semester of college. I'd missed nearly two years of high school due to a severe head injury, and was entirely unprepared for college, both in terms of the work load and the actual difficulty of intro science courses (while rather easy in retrospect... when you haven't taken a biology class since 8th grade earth science, a giant intro microbiology lecture with no personal attention is damn near impossible). It didn't help that the head injury had damaged my memory such that I had to relearn how to learn. Fortunately, I would say have fully recovered at this point (almost 9 years after the injury... though I'd say I've been fine for 4 years now).

Oh I guess the result was I did rather awfully in everything except an English class. My grades got exponentially better from that point. The injury was what initially got me interested in medicine, so I guess you kind of have to roll with the punches and make the best of things. 24/7 Migraine-like headaches are really awful though.
 
GooseWing said:
My entire sophomore year. The next two years should be cake compared to what I just went through. And if I nail my mcat in ~20 days... I'll really be chilling....
Click to expand...

👍 Because of Orgo + Physics + another lab class

This thread would be good in poll format.
 
Last edited:
Hmm sophomore year for sure. I took Orgo and Bio together and very difficult psych courses with difficult professors. The only problem was that my exams always fell on the same days for these classes. -_- I can't really complain about any of my semesters though. I've been realistic when I create my schedules and always make sure its not way more than I can handle. So for instance now that my core science courses are done I'm getting more into research and I have a job. It's all a balancing act for me. =)
 
Come on guys...math isn't THAT BAD. Differential equations, double/triple integrals, and partial derivatives never hurt anybody.
Click to expand...

What's a derivative? 🙂
 
soph 2nd semester
orgo II + 6 hour lab
molec/genetics + 6 hour lab
physics II + 3 hour lab
chemical analysis class

hardest semester of my life by far. personal issues didnt help as well =/
 
I'm a geology major and my junior spring semester I had to take sedimentary/igneous/metamorphic petrology + optics lab rolled into one. I put more time into this class than Orgo II + Lab, Physics II + Lab and Human Anat/Physio combined. It was murder.
 
Mmm.... x,y,z graphing....multivariable integrals... Hopefully, I will be required to do all this complex math when I am a doctor...


Wait, what?.....You mean, the pharm technicians and the nurses do most of the dirty work....And even then I am always within the reach of a calculator and or wolfram alpha in the real world....

I shall cure cancer with integrals!!!
 
Last edited:
A+ for sarcasm 😀


MeowMeowCAT said:
Mmm.... x,y,z graphing....multivariable integrals... Hopefully, I will be required to do all this complex math when I am a doctor...


Wait, what?.....You mean, the pharm technicians and the nurses do most of the dirty work....And even then I am always within the reach of a calculator and or wolfram alpha in the real world....

I shall cure cancer with integrals!!!
Click to expand...
 
You guys are insane haha. I like Chemistry and Physics math, but stuff like Calculus or Trig, OMG. I hate it sooo much. I sat through my friends Multivar class and 10 minutes into it, I got a major headache.
 
I don't know if other felt this way, but after a really busy, tough semester (for me, it was junior fall...when I was literally studying or working all the time) things seemed much emptier. I'd find myself reminiscing about the long, sleepless nights the semester before and how much I had wished it would be over. At the same time, those moments in college were some of the most fulfilling. Without them, most of us would not be who we are today, imo.
 
Oh god, last quarter of junior year. Science classes and shakespeare and a zillion ECs cut my free time down to about 2-3 hours a week. I was so burned out by the end of it all.
 
first sem as freshman - have to start making new friends and find reliable roomates who i can spend time with
 
I'd have to say sophomore fall... I took Orgo 2, Neuroscience, and Physics I at the same time (all three with lab). This ended up meaning that I had three labs a week and a midterm EVERY week. It was magical, my professors decided to schedule my exams precisely so that I was never not studying for midterms during the entire semester. I have to say, though, I was a better student for having done it.

Wow, looking at some of you guys having Genetics at the same time as these other classes, if I had had Genetics, Physics, and Orgo at the same time that would have been DEATH! At least Neuroscience is a little lighter than Genetics. And also so much fun 😍
 
I've had 3 fairly tough ones, for different reasons:

  • took part-time classes the semester I gave birth to my son. Luckily he was born in March, so it wasn't that bad.
  • Finished last semester with a raging case of Dengue fever after returning from Haiti. Life tip: never take an exam with a 104 F fever. You won't make sense. I promise.
  • 10 credits while working slightly more than full-time was probably worse than all of that, considering it was all upper level. yecch.
Strangely, when I look back, when I'm the busiest and most stressed is often when I do the best, performance-wise (though perhaps not mental health-wise:meanie:)
 
epsilonprodigy said:
I've had 3 fairly tough ones, for different reasons:

  • took part-time classes the semester I gave birth to my son. Luckily he was born in March, so it wasn't that bad.
  • Finished last semester with a raging case of Dengue fever after returning from Haiti. Life tip: never take an exam with a 104 F fever. You won't make sense. I promise.
  • 10 credits while working slightly more than full-time was probably worse than all of that, considering it was all upper level. yecch.
Strangely, when I look back, when I'm the busiest and most stressed is often when I do the best, performance-wise (though perhaps not mental health-wise:meanie:)
Click to expand...

🙂
 
Second semester freshman year:

Gen Chem 2 + lab
Physics 1 + lab
Linear algebra
Calc III
Computer science + lab
Skiing (yay!)
Prep course for abroad trip (easy!)

It was a verrrrrrry long finals week.
 
Sophomore year. I got hosed.

I took organic 1, physics 2, biology 2, honors history, weight lifting, intro to clinical medicine, an EMT-basic class, weekend volunteering at a hospice and started working in a research lab. 21 credits. Mondays and Wednesdays went from 8am to 10pm with fairly minimal breaks, not including the half hour commute on both ends. Sometimes Tuesdays were the same.

I wouldn't recommend it, but it worked out well for me. The next semester was very easy, so I got in pretty good shape physically, and then I took the MCAT that summer and got that out of the way early.
 
That's boss. I don't think my University would even allow that many.
 
Thinking about what I have to do next semester is pretty damn challenging.
 
LOL some of you guys are nuts for taking the schedules you did. My hardest semester was my first semester, because I needed to develop my work ethic after not doing great in high school.
 
postbacpremed87 said:
Come on guys...math isn't THAT BAD. Differential equations, double/triple integrals, and partial derivatives never hurt anybody.
Click to expand...

Differential equations = crack for me. But the deeper I got into pure math, the harder it became for me to go on (Especially when I go to Taylor Series) since what I was doing didn't have any immediate real-life applications. That's why I'm a Physics buff.

typicalindian said:
Please somebody make him stop :scared::scared::scared::scared:
Click to expand...

Cheer up sport!
 
Differential Equations are different than derivatives 🙂. I think you're talking about derivatives. Taylor series is a Calc 2 concept. DE's are more advanced than Calc 2.

ElCapone said:
Differential equations = crack for me. But the deeper I got into pure math, the harder it became for me to go on (Especially when I go to Taylor Series) since what I was doing didn't have any immediate real-life applications. That's why I'm a Physics buff.



Cheer up sport!
Click to expand...
 
postbacpremed87 said:
Differential Equations are different than derivatives 🙂. I think you're talking about derivatives. Taylor series is a Calc 2 concept. DE's are more advanced than Calc 2.
Click to expand...

I think we went over the very basic rudiments of differential equations in AP Calc, like applications of Newton's law of cooling and the logistic function. Those are DE's, right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Advice on First-Semester Course Selection for Pre-Med at Case Western
Replies
4
Views
1K
LizzyM
LizzyM
AnatomyAndAnonymity
What books should every pre-med read?
Replies
23
Views
2K
nobadwaves
N
S
Advice on pre-med activities?
Replies
1
Views
1K
unumsolum
unumsolum
R
What secondaries to prioritize prewriting as a Ca ORM reapplicant?
Replies
1
Views
470
PickaGodnPray
PickaGodnPray
J
Pre Med advisor
Replies
3
Views
2K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top