Which Classes should I be done with before taking the MCAT?

[698344]

I'm going to be a freshman in college this August. I know I should take my MCAT somewhere during Junior year, most likely during the spring, in order to apply to send out my primary application in June/July. After researching the MCAT "pre-reqs", it appears that 1 year of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, some Biochemistry, and introductory Psychology and introductory Sociology are recommended. How in the world can I finish those classes in time? I essentially have 5 semesters to learn the material. Should I try to take 1 semester of Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Organic chemistry along with Sociology, Psychology and Biochemistry to have a solid foundation, and leave the other semester of those subjects for afterwards, and just study for the MCAT from there on? I would have to absolutely cram my semester with difficult classes to try and finish those on time. I appreciate any help! Thank you very much!

EDIT: As a follow up, what classes should I take after the MCAT to ensure that I take classes that will help me prepare the best for the MCAT before. I'm trying to balance out my schedule so I have adequate time to study for my more difficult classes in order to maintain a strong GPA.

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[698344]

You have your logical flow backwards. It shouldn't be semester limits course completion. It should be course needs dictating semester time. In any event, you can take it at the end of your junior year so after six semester. Additionally, "traditional path" would be freshman year having general bio, general chem, maybe a psych. Sophomore would be organic, maybe physics (though likely junior year) and an advanced bio plus a social science. Junior Biochem

Does a First semester of Biology, General Chemistry, English, and Math sound like too much? The math I would be taking is Pre-calculus, but I've already done both Pre-calculus and Calculus in high school and did quite well. English would be the required, usually easy, English class. Edit: I've been told that the first Biology is very easy as well. Also, I've taken AP Chemistry and Biology in high school. Also, thank you for the prompt reply! I really do appreciate it!

 

[ahoffmann16]

You should be able to complete all those pre-reqs by spring of your junior year. As someone who took the test in April, I would recommend hitting biochem hard. An intro course does not suffice. In addition, upper div bio classes in which reading primary literature on a regular basis is common will really help with reading passages and answering questions on the new MCAT.

 

[GrapesofRath]

1st semester: Bio 1 Gen Chem 1 intro psych
2nd Semester: Bio 2 Gen Chem 2(perhaps include Stats/Calc as there are schools that require them) intro sociology
3rd semester: Ochem 1 more advanced psych class
4th semester: Ochem 2 more advanced social science class upper level bio
5th semester: Biochem Physics 1
6th semester: Physics 2 upper level bio

This is one of a million different combinations. Its just to give you an idea its very doable and really expected of you. You need to be able to juggle multiple sciences classes in one semester.

 

[DrHart]

Here is what I did:
Freshman: Intro Bio I and II, General Chemistry I and II, Intro Psychology
Sophomore: Organic Chemistry I and II
Junior: Biochemistry I, Physics I and II, Intro Sociology

 

[698344]

Thank you all for the replies! How does the following first semester sound?
Gen Chemistry 1 (5 credit hours)
Biology 1 (4 credit hours)
Intro to Psychology (3 credit hours)
Pre-calc (5 credit hours)

Is it a good schedule for a first semester? Or should I take it a little easier on my first semester and save math for a little later? I think I will definitely finish Chemistry 1&2 as well as Biology 1&2 my freshman year along with Psychology and/or sociology intros.

 

[DrHart]

Thank you all for the replies! How does the following first semester sound?
Gen Chemistry 1 (5 credit hours)
Biology 1 (4 credit hours)
Intro to Psychology (3 credit hours)
Pre-calc (5 credit hours)

Is it a good schedule for a first semester? Or should I take it a little easier on my first semester and save math for a little later? I think I will definitely finish Chemistry 1&2 as well as Biology 1&2 my freshman year along with Psychology and/or sociology intros.

17 credit hours will be tough as an incoming freshman but you can do it. Just be prepared to budget your time. Don't fall into the typical freshman habit of going to house parties thursday-saturday. Take the math now. If anything, I would take Psych and Socio later (closer to your MCAT) but either way would be okay. Good luck!

 

[carpediem22]

Thank you all for the replies! How does the following first semester sound?
Gen Chemistry 1 (5 credit hours)
Biology 1 (4 credit hours)
Intro to Psychology (3 credit hours)
Pre-calc (5 credit hours)

Is it a good schedule for a first semester? Or should I take it a little easier on my first semester and save math for a little later? I think I will definitely finish Chemistry 1&2 as well as Biology 1&2 my freshman year along with Psychology and/or sociology intros.

I agree with @DrHart -- save psychology and sociology for closer to your MCAT. A lot of the MCAT psych/soc is terminology and memorization. Trust me, you WILL forget most of what you learned in a first semester psych course by your junior year. I did! Had to re-learn it all for the MCAT.

Replace psych with something like English -- or any course that will require a different type of thinking than the hard sciences and will be a bit of a 'break' for you. The worst pitfall freshman pre-meds fall into is biting off more than they can chew and doing poorly in their science classes because of it. Ultimately many of these students drop out of pre-med all together, which is why freshman year is the great weed-out year. College-level science courses are exponentially harder than AP science courses, and even the combination of bio and chem alone in your first semester can be tough. My advice is take it a bit easier your first semester to see what you can/can't handle, and if all goes well add more on in subsequent semesters. College takes a lot of adjusting to.

 

[698344]

I agree with @DrHart -- save psychology and sociology for closer to your MCAT. A lot of the MCAT psych/soc is terminology and memorization. Trust me, you WILL forget most of what you learned in a first semester psych course by your junior year. I did! Had to re-learn it all for the MCAT.

Replace psych with something like English -- or any course that will require a different type of thinking than the hard sciences and will be a bit of a 'break' for you. The worst pitfall freshman pre-meds fall into is biting off more than they can chew and doing poorly in their science classes because of it. Ultimately many of these students drop out of pre-med all together, which is why freshman year is the great weed-out year. College-level science courses are exponentially harder than AP science courses, and even the combination of bio and chem alone in your first semester can be tough. My advice is take it a bit easier your first semester to see what you can/can't handle, and if all goes well add more on in subsequent semesters. College takes a lot of adjusting to.

Should I drop psychology in favor of English 1100? It's the required English class everyone has to take. Or is it better for me to just drop psychology all together?

 

[698344]

17 credit hours will be tough as an incoming freshman but you can do it. Just be prepared to budget your time. Don't fall into the typical freshman habit of going to house parties thursday-saturday. Take the math now. If anything, I would take Psych and Socio later (closer to your MCAT) but either way would be okay. Good luck!

Would I be better off replacing Psychology with a GEC like English then? Or should I just take 14 credits with Bio, Chem, and Pre-calc? I already have a decent background in them as I've taken AP Bio and Chem and finished BC Calculus.

 

[panda16]

My schedule of prereqs/other classes I thought were useful for MCAT (May 22)

Semester 1: Gen Chem 1, Psych
Semester 2: Orgo 1
Semester 3: Orgo 2, Bio 1, Biostats
Semester 4: Gen Chem 2, Bio 2
Summer 2014: Sociology
Semester 5: Physio, Epidemiology, Physics 1
Semester 6: Cell Bio, Physics 2, Biochem

Semester 6 was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to my performance on the MCAT. Having Biochem the semester of taking the test was unbelievably valuable.

Non-prereqs that I found were particular useful for MCAT: Physio, Cell Bio, Epidemiology, Biostats.

 

[698344]

My schedule of prereqs/other classes I thought were useful for MCAT (May 22)

Semester 1: Gen Chem 1, Psych
Semester 2: Orgo 1
Semester 3: Orgo 2, Bio 1, Biostats
Semester 4: Gen Chem 2, Bio 2
Summer 2014: Sociology
Semester 5: Physio, Epidemiology, Physics 1
Semester 6: Cell Bio, Physics 2, Biochem

Semester 6 was ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to my performance on the MCAT. Having Biochem the semester of taking the test was unbelievably valuable.

Non-prereqs that I found were particular useful for MCAT: Physio, Cell Bio, Epidemiology, Biostats.

Thanks! I think i'll take Biochemistry during my 5th semester as I want to take the test in Spring.

 

[carpediem22]

Would I be better off replacing Psychology with a GEC like English then? Or should I just take 14 credits with Bio, Chem, and Pre-calc? I already have a decent background in them as I've taken AP Bio and Chem and finished BC Calculus.

With BC Calc you probably will have no problem in pre-calc, but then again I've heard plenty of math horror stories. At my school, sometimes even really easy math subjects have insanely hard tests. Depends on how hard math is at your school.

College biology and chemistry will be much harder than AP, and will be curved. It's a whole new ballgame. You will be ahead for a few months only before the course starts covering new material. Whether you replace psych with english is up to you. I've never taken fewer than 4 classes so if it were me I'd probably throw in the English class.

Non-prereqs that I found were particular useful for MCAT: Physio, Cell Bio, Epidemiology, Biostats.

I second this! Epi and stats were sooooo useful. Wish I'd taken physio... don't think cell bio would've helped me much though.

 

[698344]

Additionally, I'll have to take Statistics and Calculus at some point. Is it best to save them for my 6th semester ( 2nd half of Junior year) or my senior year? I should be done with Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Org Chem by then.

 

[698344]

With BC Calc you probably will have no problem in pre-calc, but then again I've heard plenty of math horror stories. At my school, sometimes even really easy math subjects have insanely hard tests. Depends on how hard math is at your school.

College biology and chemistry will be much harder than AP, and will be curved. It's a whole new ballgame. You will be ahead for a few months only before the course starts covering new material. Whether you replace psych with english is up to you. I've never taken fewer than 4 classes so if it were me I'd probably throw in the English class.



I second this! Epi and stats were sooooo useful. Wish I'd taken physio... don't think cell bio would've helped me much though.

As someone else has suggested, I think I'll save Psychology and Sociology so I can take them closer towards my test date.

 

[panda16]

Additionally, I'll have to take Statistics and Calculus at some point. Is it best to save them for my 6th semester ( 2nd half of Junior year) or my senior year? I should be done with Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Org Chem by then.

Personally, I would take Calc and Stats earlier rather than later. I took Calc 1 and 2 freshman year and Stats as a 1st semester sophomore, and it worked well. Calc is pretty much only useful for physics, but having stats knowledge early on will be good for any research you eventually wanna do later on. Additionally, Calc is usually just a chore so you might as well get it done sooner!

 

[carpediem22]

Additionally, I'll have to take Statistics and Calculus at some point. Is it best to save them for my 6th semester ( 2nd half of Junior year) or my senior year? I should be done with Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Org Chem by then.

Why do you need both stats and calculus on top of pre-calc? You do know many schools accept BC Calc for the calc requirement, right? (If you got a 5 on the AP exam). Particularly true for the top schools.

IMHO, taking Calc again is useless unless you really need it for your major/general requirements. It can help marginally with physics but most pre-med physics is algebra-based. Stats is very useful for both the MCAT and life in general 😛.

Regardless, when you take them shouldn't matter much. Stats might be good to take pre-MCAT.

 

[698344]

Personally, I would take Calc and Stats earlier rather than later. I took Calc 1 and 2 freshman year and Stats as a 1st semester sophomore, and it worked well. Calc is pretty much only useful for physics, but having stats knowledge early on will be good for any research you eventually wanna do later on. Additionally, Calc is usually just a chore so you might as well get it done sooner!

Alright! Here's what I have for my second semester:
Chem 2 (5 hours)
Bio 2 (4 hours)
Calculus (5 hours)
Easy Literature class ( 3 hours)

Does that sound okay in terms of difficulty! I really intend on putting in my full effort!

 

[698344]

Why do you need both stats and calculus on top of pre-calc? You do know many schools accept BC Calc for the calc requirement, right?

IMHO, taking calc again is useless unless you really need it for your major/general requirements. Stats is very useful.

Regardless, when you take them shouldn't matter much. Stats might be slightly helpful on the MCAT.

Taking Calculus is required to graduate with a B.S. as a Biology Major for me. I've heard from many people that Stats is very helpful, I think I'll take it 2nd year along with Org Chem and Physics.

 

[panda16]

Alright! Here's what I have for my second semester:
Chem 2 (5 hours)
Bio 2 (4 hours)
Calculus (5 hours)
Easy Literature class ( 3 hours)

Does that sound okay in terms of difficulty! I really intend on putting in my full effort!

Why on earth are your Chem and Calc classes 5 hours?? My Calc was 4 hours because of tutorial and Chem was 4 hours with both tutorial AND lab...

 

[carpediem22]

Taking Calculus is required to graduate with a B.S. as a Biology Major for me. I've heard from many people that Stats is very helpful, I think I'll take it 2nd year along with Org Chem and Physics.

Ah, well then yes take Calc. That sucks. So useless for medicine in my opinion...

Just be sure to block out a lot of time for Orgo 1 and Physics. That's a bit of a killer combo -- usually the two classes most pre-meds have the greatest difficulty with. Orgo 1 in particular takes a lot of time, even if it's not conceptually that hard.

 

[698344]

Why on earth are your Chem and Calc classes 5 hours?? My Calc was 4 hours because of tutorial and Chem was 4 hours with both tutorial AND lab...

Chem is with Lab. Calculus 1151 is 5 credit hours according to the school website. I believe Bio will be with lab as well. I go to Ohio State by the way.

 

[698344]

Ah, well then yes take Calc. That sucks. So useless for medicine in my opinion...

Just be sure to block out a lot of time for Orgo 1 and Physics. That's a bit of a killer combo -- usually the two classes most pre-meds have the greatest difficulty with. Orgo 1 in particular takes a lot of time, even if it's not conceptually that hard.

I guess there's no avoiding hard and stressful work schedule as a pre-med. If I really want it, I gotta work for it! Did you feel that statistics was particularly difficult, in that, will it be very difficult along with Org. Chem and Physics?

 

[carpediem22]

I guess there's no avoiding hard and stressful work schedule as a pre-med. If I really want it, I gotta work for it! Did you feel that statistics was particularly difficult, in that, will it be very difficult along with Org. Chem and Physics?

These are probably better questions for pre-meds at your school than for SDN. Course difficulty varies widely by school.

 

[698344]

These are probably better questions for pre-meds at your school than for SDN. Course difficulty varies widely by school.

Alright haha. Thanks for all the help anyways! Now I know I'll be taking Bio, Chem, and finishing Calc my first year at least! Thanks again!