Pre-med at Northwestern - Page 2

picaro · 04-14-2008, 04:17 PM

heh... two valedictorians rooming together, cute.

So would it be a bit too difficult to do the orgo sequence and the bio 210 sequence freshman year?

asdf11 · 04-14-2008, 04:45 PM

picaro:
if possible, definitely separate orgo and bio. if you are feeling up for a challenge, do orgo and physics freshman year. That's a lot more doable than orgo and bio, because both orgo and bio have really long labs so it ends up taking all of your time.

picaro · 04-14-2008, 05:18 PM

I thought orgo doesn't have lab until 3rd quarter? Or is it really worthwhile to take the 212 one with the ISP kids?

As for physics, hopefully I will get 5's in a month so I can start with waves. I kinda want to take some math first though... how hard is the first year of the MENU thing?

icy9ff8 · 04-14-2008, 05:25 PM

Several Northwestern University students take organic chemistry at Harvard during the summer. I don't know if they do this because it is easier to get high grades, as prep for Northwestern's regular academic year class and/or because they are able to concentrate on just that one class during Harvard's Summer Session.

Sam Lee · 04-14-2008, 05:34 PM

I have heard the following but can't verify:
1. NU used to allow students to take summer orgo at Harvard but they took that option away recently.
2. People who've done it said the orgo at Harvard was easier.

A student at Penn told me the orgo at NU was the most difficult class she'd ever taken (she was home near Chicago for the summer).

RisingSun · 04-17-2008, 03:12 AM

Uhhhh yeah pre-med drop out rate is pretty high. Orgo/Bio is definitely the killer.

If you are considering coming to NU for pre-med, unless you considered NU a safety school, realize that you will probably be dropping pre-med. Just to reflect the statistics. Even if you considered NU a safety school, it will still be a challenge. If you didn't consider NU a safety school, even if you don't drop pre-med, your GPA will probably have suffered significantly.

But a lot of people come here and realize that their parents wanted them to do pre-med more than they wanted to, and find their real passions in life.

So who knows, either become a great doctor or find your true passion! Sounds like a win-win to me. Except for the low-gpa in the true passion department. So... win-satisfied.

rommeltw · 04-17-2008, 03:28 AM

pre-med is not a major, chobo.

rommeltw · 04-17-2008, 03:29 AM

and you will have a lot of fun at orgo, i promise =]

indiejimmy · 04-17-2008, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Uhhhh yeah pre-med drop out rate is pretty high. Orgo/Bio is definitely the killer.

If you are considering coming to NU for pre-med, unless you considered NU a safety school, realize that you will probably be dropping pre-med. Just to reflect the statistics. Even if you considered NU a safety school, it will still be a challenge. If you didn't consider NU a safety school, even if you don't drop pre-med, your GPA will probably have suffered significantly.

But a lot of people come here and realize that their parents wanted them to do pre-med more than they wanted to, and find their real passions in life.

So who knows, either become a great doctor or find your true passion! Sounds like a win-win to me. Except for the low-gpa in the true passion department. So... win-satisfied.

dude no way...shut up...

Sam Lee · 04-17-2008, 04:25 PM

Yea, I think the median grade for our orgo is B- (I was told that's the case but when I saw how many were getting C+/C, I wondered if it was actually C+). Cornell's? B. Look who got grade deflation?!

Quote:

Even if you considered NU a safety school, it will still be a challenge.

That's true for one of my HPME friends who could have gone to HYPS. He got B+ two times in a row; I don't know how he did for the 3rd quarter of orgo. This was a kid who took MCAT out of curiosity as he didn't need to and got a 36 on it.

RisingSun · 04-17-2008, 05:10 PM

Just for clarification, just as grade inflation means a B- gets curved up to a B+, grade deflation means that you get an A-, but so many people got As that your grade actually falls to a B+. In that respect, we don't have grade deflation, simply because the class is so hard that no one will get an A. So... it's not really deflation at all. It's just really really hard :-P

Also, to indie-jimmy - I'm trying to be realistic, but realize that practically a fifth or so of the campus is still pre-med, and many do go to great medical schools from here, so ... yes it's difficult, if you drop out, don't feel stupid, but know that you certainly can achieve here... it's just difficult. Be prepared to sacrifice.

Sam Lee · 04-17-2008, 05:18 PM

Actually I don't really know how they grade orgo now. But regardless, it sounds like it hasn't got any easier since i left.

rommeltw · 04-17-2008, 06:06 PM

my professors graded on absolute scale with no curve. so basically most people got b- and c+ even tho more than half of the people dropped

Sam Lee · 04-17-2008, 06:35 PM

that's orgo? wow...i thought mine was bad!

awesomeness5 · 04-17-2008, 06:36 PM

well, i'm sufficiently worried about going the pre-med route now...

RisingSun - what kind of sacrifice are you talking about exactly?
also, aside from "people who had NU as a safety," what kind of people do you usually see succeeding with pre-med? and those that end up dropping it?