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<p>Wrong. Biochem is ALREADY a pre-req at a half of TX med schools. (And about 25 other non-TX schools.) I fully expect it to be a universal pre-req for those who start med school in 2015 or after.</p>
<p>And as for pre-req changes–many schools have already announced that starting for those entering Fall 2015, you need to meet new requirements. You can’t “hope” pre-reqs won’t change–you need to check the admission webpages every 4-6 months and keep current what’s actually required. Don’t assume your pre-med advisor knows—not all of them know what the heck they’re talking about.</p>
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<p>It’s NOT enough. You still need some research and you still need physician shadowing. Working under a physician is NOT the same as following them thru the day and seeing how they interact with patients, peers and other hospital staff members. Working in the ER dept or on an ambulance crew, you get a very limited view of medical practice. (I know this because my med student was was a working EMT-I [which has a much broader scope of practice/responsibilities than a EMT-B] before she applied to med school. She was told that her EMT experience is all well and good, but NOT a substitute for either research or physician shadowing.)</p>
<p>RE: all work or all research—I have 2 successful pre meds (one is currently a MS3, the other has had multiple med schools interviews already this cycle and has more scheduled) Neither was “all work or all research”. Both had both. </p>
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<p>Risky assumption. Many university research labs–due to liability and funding issues will not permit non-students to work there. (Unless they are full time paid research assts. And without any prior lab experience or specialize lab skills–why would any lab manager want to hire you when s/he could easily find a dozen recent grads who have these? This is not an exaggeration. When younger child’s undergrad thesis advisor posted a single lab asst position, she received more 65 resumes! And from graduates of top schools like Yale, Duke and Penn.)</p>
<p>Also consider if you are taking a single gap year and applying immediately after graduation, you won’t be able to list your lab experience on your application since it won’t have happened yet.</p>
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<p>But to your chief question–splitting up your pre-reqs:</p>
<p>1) some schools will question this, esp if you take pre-reqs during the summers as it looks like you either are: a) trying to avoid hard classes at your home school; or b) cannot handle a really tough workload. </p>
<p>2) the other issue is your retention of the material. There seems to be very little carry-over between Bio 1 and Bio 2. The same is not true for physics, chem or Ochem. Unless you are willing to spend time reviewing and relearning the first semester of material before starting the second, it could negatively impact your ability to score well in the second half of the class.</p>