[beautylicious87]

hiya!!
ok so i have a question for all of you,
but this question most applies to those who have taken PRE-MED or are taking PRE-MED right now!!

i am going to be a PRE-MED student in January 2007 and i have my doubts!!
i am kinda scared about all the work overload and all the science classes!!

can you guys tell me specifically what you would learn in PRE-MED and etc!!
give me tips and suggestions and whatever you can do to cheer me up and give me some hope!!

i heard that people who major in PRE-MED and MEDICAL courses basically have no personal life nor any free time!!
is all this true??

[B0hemian_Sprite]

First of all, Pre-med is not a major; it's a concentration. You can major in ANYTHING: biology, art, psychology even history or english and be Pre-med.

For pre-med, basically you're just taking the prerequisites to apply for med school. Which means, biology courses, general chemistry, physics and organic chemistry. Most students seem to have trouble with organic and physics (organic more...??). You should also think of volunteering in hospitals or doing some kind of work in a hospital setting.

It's hard, and many people go to college with really high hopes and expectations...(coughcough...that would be me...cough cough ...). But if going into med school is your one and only desire and if you're passionate about medicine....do it.

BUT...I would advise you NOT to take all science courses your first semester in college. Maybe take a biology course...or a chemistry course...and all other classes should be gen-ed to help you explore your options. There ARE other careers out there...becoming a doctor is not the only thing in the world (as so many Asian parents seem to think...)

I'm just curious though....were you born in '87? Because you should be a sophomore...or freshman already...

[beautylicious87]

I'm just curious though....were you born in '87? Because you should be a sophomore...or freshman already...

i am a 87' but i went to korea for a year cuz my dad was ill
so i missed out on a year

[babiyujahx33]

I'm plan on doing pre-med as well. what are some good classes to take in your first year of college? how much is enough?

[sake_bomb]

You need to take:
General Biology and some biology lab
General Chem I, II with labs
Organic I, II with labs
Some sort of math preferably calculus
General Physics I,II with labs

I also suggest you take cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry.

[koreanCHICA]

i'm taking pre-med classes right now. they suck, haha. but it's all classes you should have taken in high school ie: gen chem, bio, physics... of course it's harder b/c it's college, but we'll have to deal. i guess if you have good professors it won't be that bad either. personally, chemistry is not at all interesting to me, so i can't wait to be done with chemistry. bleh~

[uandme4ever21]

You need to take:
General Biology and some biology lab
General Chem I, II with labs
Organic I, II with labs
Some sort of math preferably calculus
General Physics I,II with labs

I also suggest you take cell biology, molecular biology, and biochemistry.

I would add genetics, immunology, microbiology, human physiology, human anatomny, and biochemistry lab.

[liljewelz]

Yikes. I used to want to be pre-med b/c I wanted to be a pediatrician, but all the science classes just did it in for me. Plus, I hear it's really competitive to get into med school, so I just decided to go in a different direction. I agree with everyone though, there are a lot of science classes you have to take, but if your good in science, I wouldn't sweat about it. Good luck!

[_poonster_]

even if you're good at the sciences, it's still pretty dam difficult to get into med school *sigh

[DKYang]

Just because you're going to be studying a lot doesn't mean you won't have a social life. It just depends on the person. Just study for a certain amount of hours on the chapter and the rest you can talk to friends and etc. Just get a planner and schedule things out and stick with it.

It depends on which school you go to but usually General Chemistry I is a "weed out" class. Trying to make people drop if they aren't willing to do the work. Also, having a good teacher for a science class is a good thing. Check out ratemyprofessors.com to read some reviews on a teacher. One more thing, teachers do curve grades by a lot or little so it'll help you in the long run if you do ok.

I like Physics more than Chem and Biology so I'm not doing good in Chem right now, but I have a chance to pull it off with a B- in the class because of the curve.

[babiyujahx33]

thanks sake_bomb and uandme4ever21, for the list, you seem really informed, are you pre-med?

[sunshinex3]

Say you wanted to go to a very competitive med school, such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, or Brown.
Are you hopeless if you get one C, and the rest A's?

[sglolligirldd]

im dying...i'm like failing my first bio class already =/

[bong95]

im dying...i'm like failing my first bio class already =/

I actually got accepted into Med School. Don't worry if you fail one class. My major was petroleum engineering (I know totally different field from medicine), and failed my first Chem class because I never went to class. I pulled out some pretty good grades from there on. Your grades are not all that matter. If you do well on stanardized tests (i.e. MCAT) you will be fine. A really good MCAT score will help out an average GPA. I didn't have a 4.0 GPA. I actually graduated with a 3.3 GPA. I studied my butt off for the MCAT and got a 37 and one school accepted me. Just hang in there. Don't study so much that you don't have a social life. A social life is very important in how well you do in school. You need to be happy while you are in school.