Pre-med Major/Classics at Arts and Letters vs Science

FightingIrish01 · 02-10-2006, 11:55 PM

Hey guys,

I was reading that to do premed at Notre Dame at the Arts and Letters College, you have to do all the typical premed requirements (2 years chem, 1 year bio, 1 year physics, 1 year English, 1 year calc) PLUSSSS 3 more semesters of UPPER LEVEL science courses. In addition, this is only a supplementary major! You have to do another major in the ARTS which means 2 majors...

1.) How does premed work through the College of Science

2.) Do you find ND's policy of taking 3 additional science courses a bit strenous because usually for any other university, all you have to do is take the MINIMUM premed reqs without any additional courses.

3.) Does anyone know about the Classics major at ND? Any current students in it? Can you give me your scope on this field at ND....

Thanks

nemo2001 · 02-11-2006, 12:07 AM

There is a straight science pre-professional tract with the college of science...and here's some info about the program like you requested:

Here is the link to the staight breakdown of credit hours per subject:
http://www.science.nd.edu/science_un...jor_SUM_02.htm

And here is the link for the "suggested four year plan" (note this is for the average student and it is always possible to modify this...)
http://www.science.nd.edu/science_un..._major_SUG.htm

Now then to address your question, why should you have to take more than the minimum number of required classes. Simple, it makes you look a little more competitive. Most, but not all, end up taking Molecular Cell Biology and vertebrate physiology. 1) because it makes their app a little more strong (or so they think) 2) it helps prepare them for taking these classes in first year med school. I also know people who take Human Anatomy here (note this is a class, there is not a lab associated with it that I know of)

Basically going beyond the minimum only serves to enhance your package. A lot of premed majors end up doing service up here at the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center or try to get involved with a variety of on-campus clubs.

I'll post some info on classics later. One of my roommates one year was a classics major. That and I used Latin as my language requirement up here so I have had some exposure to the dept. Hope this info helps you out.

nemo2001 · 02-11-2006, 12:17 AM

Because you asked about science electives I went and dug up this information for you...try to deal with the fact that whoever maintains this webpage on campus doesn't seem to have kept up with HTML advances as far as coding is concerned....

Anyways this will give you an idea of the commonly available classes that can be used to fulfill the science electives of ALPP or SCPP...

http://www.nd.edu/~preprof/

If you look at the toolbar on the left side you will see the various options to link to other pages....select the "science electives" option. (It's the fifth bullet point). Like I said, unfortunately this page doesn't allow you to be directly linked to the various parts of it.

Hope this helps...

FightingIrish01 · 02-11-2006, 11:43 AM

Hey nemo, thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate it as I plan my schedule at ND. I do have one question about your post above. You said most people take Vertebrate Physiology (Fall sem) and Molecular Cell Biology (Spring sem)..

1.) I thought that to do Mol Cell Biology, a spring course, you need to do Genetics in the Fall. I assume that you meant that these are the 3 most popular upper class electives that people take..

2.) I have read about Molecular Cell Biology and I realize that people use the renowned "Molecular Biology of the Cell" by Bruce Alberts. I wanted to know, especially since this is a 1600 Page book, how much of this book is actually completed.

3.) I tried to go on the site where you can purchase ND books for your semester classes, however, the only textbooks listed were the ones for Spring 2006 semester. Since Vertebrate Physiology and Genetics are both Fall Semester courses, I was wondering if you know what textbooks they use for these classes.

Sorry to bother you about such detailed info but I just wanted to get a heads up on premed at ND.

FightingIrish01 · 02-12-2006, 11:17 PM

Any info? Thanks.

nemo2001 · 02-13-2006, 10:50 AM

1.) In anwer to this, the suggested track is for genetics to be done in the fall and cell bio to be done in the spring. However, after I transferred out of college of science and left Biochem behind after 2 years, I was still interested in taking Mol Cell Bio and did so. So I know you don't have to have genetics as a prereq.

2.) If by "renowned" you mean long-winded and tedious at times, yes we do use that nice large paperweight...We probably used between 1/2 and 2/3 in my class. The Professor jumped around following an order for presentation that he found important, not the order the book presented material in. We probably average a chapter a class meeting, although some of the longer ones he stretched over 2 periods.

3)....I'll work on that...

coneheads · 02-17-2006, 01:08 AM

Preprofessional Studies is changing lately at ND.

I would suggest talking to Jim Foster. His e-mail address is foster.34@nd.edu

Last weekend was the College of Science Open House for Early Admits and he did an excellent presentation on everything you are asking.

Be careful looking at those websites listing courses. They haven't been updated in a while.

The really good news is that ND's Preprofessional Studies is famous for getting an extraordinary high percentage of graduates into medical schools every year.

nemo2001 · 02-17-2006, 01:48 AM

the website course listings while not accurate in terms of reflecting the conversion from 3 digit to 5 digit course codes in later 2004-early 2005, due reflect the accepted pattern of courses suggested for students entering ND from 2004 on and the classes they are required to take. Glad to hear they are in the process of updating and strengthing the Preprofessional program...kinda figured that would be coming after the changes to freshman engineering chem that I have seen in the last several years and the way the College of Science is constantly tweaking how they teach certain classes....

Now if they bother to get the preprofessional website updated and fixed I might be surprised...not saying it couldn't happen. I just happen to have some stories about the preprofessional program from a couple of friends of mine (who weren't preprofessional majors but hard science, who decided to go to med school; you have to deal with the preprofessional office and that can be a mixed bag....)

coneheads · 02-17-2006, 01:59 AM

The preprofessional office is one of the biggest changes taking place. They're even changing the name to Health Professions. Believe me, everyone who ever went to Med School from ND has those stories. The committee helping the College of Science with the changes is made up of ND Alum doctors. I think the changes were slow to come because the office was so successful.