General premed advice.

<p>This isn’t SAT verbal. You don’t need a large vocabulary. You need good reading comprehension skills.</p>

<p>Piao:</p>

<p>In answer to your PM (your inbox is full):</p>

<p>At Duke, we are told that if any of our subscores are below 10, we should retake the MCAT.</p>

<p>The test is curved, so that there is no algorithm by which you can know your score.</p>

<p>thanks.</p>

<p>and when and how can i try to find the clinical experience? what prior knowledge do i need to have?</p>

<p>how much research do i need to have? like two or three summers? i kno we can also do research during school days. but will that take a lot of time and hurt my gpas?</p>

<p>Check with local hospitals. If you have none, look for a job that requires none - volunteering in the pediatric unit, playing games with kids, etc.</p>

<p>The more you can reasonably fit into your schedule without excluding other things - importantly including your studies - the better. How well you can balance them is really not a decision anybody else can make for you.</p>

<p>thanks.
so, if i major in econ and doing premed. what math class do i need to take in freshman yr? i am pretty sure i got 5 on cal BC ap, and i don’t want to take that again.</p>

<p>It totally depends on your school. Check with them. Usually, after BC Calc comes multivariable calc.</p>

<p>so, i can take macroeco in my freshman yr first semester, right?</p>

<p>i don’t kno why we need to take more math classes (like multivariable cal & liner algebra) besides the required cal?</p>

<p>Again, it totally depends on your school.</p>

<p>And your second question doesn’t make sense. Why would you have to take classes beyond required classes? That’s the definition of not required - is you don’t have to take them. For what it’s worth, any economics department worth its salt will use heavy doses of multivarialbe calc.</p>

<p>in what order and when do ppl usually take the courses required for med school? (chem, orgo, bio, physics, calc)</p>

<p>One possible way to do it:</p>

<p>Year 1: Gen chem, one semester bio, English
Year 2: Orgo, one semester bio
Year 3: Physics</p>

<p>what about if my school doesn’t have animal physiology. is there any other class i can take to fill that gap on mcat?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Animal phys isn’t really a part of the MCAT - you’re supposed to be able to derive everything just by thinking about it. It just helps if you’ve learned animal phys. But what kind of school doesn’t offer physiology?!</p>

<p>You could take Kaplan (;)) to fill in the gap…</p>

<p>I work for kaplan, hence the wink.</p>

<p>Without a wink or without conflict of interest, that actually is what I would recommend.</p>

<p>hey,
there are some new questions come to me recently:

  1. does med school care about the numerical grades besides gpa?
  2. does med school care about the VARIETY of courses we take besides premed requirement and major?
  3. do they care about repeating courses or P/F courses?
  4. can required premed coureses be declared as P/F?
  5. do they care about the couresload and honors program?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<ol>
<li><p>No.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. Most med schools would like to see science majors take a broad range of humanities courses.</p></li>
<li><p>Of course.</p></li>
<li><p>Absolutely not. You should not take any premed prereq. P/F.</p></li>
<li><p>Of course but not as much as they care about your GPA.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>thanks,
i mean, i am not a science major. i major in social science. but for the humanity classes, i was planning to take more psychology and philosophy, but if they care about the variety, i prolly should take some other classes besides taking several psychology and philosophy classes right?</p>

<p>so, i should take one course in each area (preferably) for required liberal arts courses?</p>

<p>I don’t even know what (1) is asking. Is he asking, like, whether medical schools care about a 98% vs. a 96%?</p>

<p>yea, kinda. like do they care about whether you have 99 or 93?</p>

<p>No, I can’t imagine how they would even know that.</p>