I literally made an account here to ask about this here because this morning I was thinking happily about my courseload and then I started to panic when I realized how much I have to do.
I am a freshman at UMich and attended orientation recently, where I signed up to take Calc I, a Perspectives on Women’s Health class, English, a health sciences class (which involves a lot of guest speakers and job shadowing) for a program I’m in, and a difficult workshop for Calc that I was invited to. I love my schedule. I’ll have 15 credits, I’ve heard good things about the professors, and I’m done with classes at 4:00 every day and 11:00 on Friday. However, I was really disappointed that I couldn’t take the Physics class I wanted (to get working on that pre-med track) because everything was closed. I was advised to wait to take Bio until my AP scores were posted, and I tested into Orgo but there’s absolutely no way I could have taken the lecture, the discussion, the lab lecture, and the lab and still have some not-science courses like English. Anyway, I’m looking at med school requirements and I’m worrying. A lot.
I have absolutely no science this semester, and my advisor was fine with it and said I have a great schedule. But I’m reading about people taking two science courses with labs a semester, and here I am sitting around and trying to take care of some skills and distribution requirements for UMich (hence the Perspectives in Women’s Health, an SS course, and English). Am I screwed before I’ve even started? How is it even possible to graduate and have all your pre-reqs completed?
I’d see my advisor for pre-health but I don’t have one yet. If nothing else, my first term is useful in that it’s just fulfilling university requirements for my degree.
Sidenote: If I get a great score on my AP Bio test should I still take the class I’d tested out of with the score?
Thank you!
Do you have a major? Why are you taking the Calc workshop? Are you on a waitlist for Physics, it’s only June, you might still get it. The only acceptable AP exam score would be a 5. If you get a 5, move on, don’t retake subjects you’ve already learned, there’s so much more.
Why?
I don’t have a major, possibly ID Physics. I am on the waitlist for physics but if i get in I have to drop another course because freshman are not allowed to take more than 18 credits their first term. And I will need the other courses at some point for distribution requirements. I am quite confident in my AP scores but I guess we’ll have to see. It was just the way the lecture for the orgo lab fell. I’m in a learning community and the only time the community offers their required course is also the only time the lecture for the orgo lab is offered.
Talk to the people here: http://lsa.umich.edu/advising/academicplanning/prehealth Your schedule doesn’t really sound like an issue to me right now. If the UMich pre-med advising agrees then don’t worry about it.
You are worrying needlessly. The pre-med requirements aren’t going to take 4 full years to complete. You can do them all in 3 years or less. And a less demanding schedule in your first semester of freshman year would be a good idea, just so you get the lay of the land and end up with the kind of GPA that med schools expect to see.
There are two separate goals for premeds - one is to prep for MCAT2015 and the other is to complete premed required classes to meet the medical school requirements before they graduate. Usually the students are expected to meet the MCAT prep requirements ahead of graduation which forces them to finish those classes before they even apply to med schools or graduate. This is true for anyone applying after 3rd year of college.
You should probably be taking a chemistry. psychology or sociology class instead of the health classes (unless these classes meet the sociology requirements). Starting with orgo would be a bad thing but despite any AP credits, it is important to take all needed chemistry requirements in college to have a better foundation for your MCAT.
Your goal should be to complete as many classes as you need for MCAT prep and aim for an MCAT date 2 to 2.5 or latest 3 years from now.
Looks like IWBB did your research for you. There is a link in there with expected course prep which seems to list some of the courses you are enrolled in at the bottom. These may not be needed for MCAT though.
http://lsa.umich.edu/advising/academicplanning/prehealth/academics/premedicineacademics
Personally, I think the course requirements listed by your college should be your guide since they will be certifying those classes as meeting the requirements for most medical schools when they send the transcripts. These are the classes you should be aiming to complete.