High School Preperation for Pre-Med

Speaking of the math/science portions only (since those are my specialties), more important than which courses you take is that you learn them well and retain that knowledge. Learn and remember all of those Bio/Chem/Physics terms, then be able to apply them. Learn Alg 1, 2, and Geometry (with a higher emphasis on Alg, then Pre-Calc). Don’t just memorize the math. Learn it. Be able to apply it. If your teacher tells you to skip certain questions because they are harder than you need, do them anyway on your own. If you’re assigned odds, glance over the evens to be sure you would know how to do those as well. (You don’t have to do them if you’re solid with the others, but if you only “sort of” get it, do them for more practice and brain training.)

Training your brain to pick up new terms and keep them (vs forgetting a month later) and being able to truly understand concepts - able to apply math across to science and being able to do last year’s math easily today or carry on a discussion about various science topics long past when you’ve learned them - will help you far more in college and beyond than just checking off certain boxes of classes taken.

Your goal is to train your brain to retain info and to think - being able to apply what you’ve learned far beyond a simple assignment. Doctors have to do that. The teen years are years when the brain naturally can learn to do such things. Take advantage of it.

Otherwise, if you’re solid with your prep, go through Calc if you can - just to see it and be introduced to it - retaking it in college to be more solid if you don’t feel you are in HS. Take advanced Bio and Chem if available. Be sure you get some sort of Physics in.

As the PP said, beware of any college credits you get in high school because those will count on med school apps. It’s perfectly fine to take college level classes - many students do - just be sure you get As in those classes by putting the work in.

One last bit of advice I’ve picked up from students I’ve seen who have done well (and my own lads) is to try to take a Public Speaking class. The tidbits one learns in those classes about humans and their expectations/reactions plus being able to practice speaking in front of groups are extremely useful regardless of what you end up doing in life. They help with interviews. They help with jobs. They help with being comfortable in all sorts of situations.

Even if you end up deciding not to go pre-med or to med school later, all of these things will be useful in life. Even if you never use the math/science again, your trained brain can reuse that space for whatever path you end up taking.