@awesomet47: Okay, let us be real here. The professor is doing them a failure. It is actually scary the number of students coming to main who stress “themselves” out because they didn’t review stuff for that stupid GCAT, start it at the very last minute, and barely complete it or do not complete it at all and then decide they’ll take a 3% hit. As for competition…I think people are intense because pre-med is very much about grades. I hear most Oxford courses do not curve (and the grades kind of show it) so the incentive for stereotypical competition levels is limited. Main campus has some courses, particularly the chemistry courses, where there is a curve because of low exam means, and sometimes this can breed a mixture of unhealthy and healthy competition. However, if you have a group of friends take the instructor with you, it won’t be a problem. Another thing about Oxford (as judging by its syllabi) is that science courses are much more than minimally weighted homework and exams. This already eliminates some of the competition and may allow for more group work. Main is much more about prepping for the exam. Usually any other graded assignments are just side-shows and minimally weighted. The only class I can think of where students and instructors take the p-sets they give really serious is maybe ochem and gen. chem. I don’t even know if physics has them anymore, and whether or not p-set engagement correlates with success in biology on main remains to be seen since often the exam format is much simpler.
BTW, if you really like science, you need not be pre-med, there are other options where careful planning and experience in research or internships matter more than grades and cookie cutter EC’s…do not restrict yourself…Being pre-med often means passing up the better and more rigorous instructors to preserve your GPA…by the end of it, you be convinced that you don’t actually like science and just jumped through hoops…just don’t make the mistake of assuming…“liking science=be pre-med”, Furthermore, there are other health related professions and jobs that may allow you to use a scientific background…do not let the environment of “pre-med or bust” at Emory confuse you. As for HS vs. college, you’ll just have to work harder. I’ve seen people change before. Also, some schools are just harder than others so a B at your school could be an A at many. You won’t know until you actually start doing the work. Just know that, in general, gen. chem for example is a very standard college course. Even more challenging professors (like Mulford on main) in it aren’t doing anything particularly special other than making sure you can manipulate equations better than normal. They aren’t asking one to understand challenging applications or anything (even the application level problems are plug and chug cloaked in a word problem: Hopefully if/when the new chemistry rolls out in 2016, that’ll change and students will be asked to solve more relevant or meaningful problems). A challenging biology instructor on the other hand…is doing things that most students aren’t used to (typically more short answer and essay than HS biology exams, more problem solving oriented, more data analysis, and tricky multiple choice).