<p>I’m a high school senior who will go to Michigan State University (or U of M, I haven’t heard back from there yet). These are the courses I plan to take during my four years in college. I do plan to take summer semesters. I plan to take the honors option for many of the courses. I understand it’s a heavy workload but I think I can handle it (I’ve worked with overloaded schedules that procured enough credits to graduate high school a year early, but I chose to dual enroll in College and take the one honors class I hadn’t taken yet) (I hope I didn’t sound arrogant)</p>
<p>I was wondering if these courses would be looked upon favorably by medical schools (assuming I obtain 3.5 or higher GPA, have good Mcat, etc…)</p>
<p>I plan to apply to these medical schools: MSU, New York U, U of M, Wayne State, Columbia…</p>
<p>These would be my programs of study:
B.S Human Biology, B.S Physiology, Minor Philosophy, Specialization in Bioethics, Humanities, and Society.</p>
<p>These are the courses (not typed in any particular order) that satisfy the programs of study:
BS 110 Organisms and Populations 4
BS 111 Cells and Molecules 3
BS 111 L Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory
CEM 141 General Chemistry 4
CEM 142 General and Inorganic Chemistry 3
CEM 161 Chemistry Laboratory I 1
CEM 162 Chemistry Laboratory II 1
CEM 251 Organic Chemistry I 3
CEM 252 Organic Chemistry II 3
CEM 255 Organic Chemistry Laboratory 2
PHY 231 Introductory Physics I 3
PHY 232 Introductory Physics II 3
PHY 251 Introductory Physics Laboratory I 1
PHY 252 Introductory Physics Laboratory II 1
MTH 124 Survey of Calculus with Applications I
MTH 126 Survey of Calculus with Applications II
PSL 410 Computational Problem Solving in Physiology 3
PSL 431 Human Physiology I 3
PSL 432 Human Physiology II 3
PSL 475 Capstone Laboratory in Physiology 2
PSL 441 Topics in Endocrinology 2
PSL 442 Topics in Cardiovascular Physiology 2
NSC 495 Capstone in Human Biology (W)
ZOL 341 Fundamental Genetics
CEM 383 Introductory Physical Chemistry I 3
ANT 316 General Human Anatomy 3
PHL 320 Existentialism 3
PHL 340 Ethics 3
PHL 344 Ethical Issues in Health Care 3
PHL 444 Philosophical Issues in Biomedicine 3
PHL 451 Philosophy and the Black Experience 3
PHL 356 Philosophical Aspects of Feminism
PSY 320 Health Psychology 3
ANP 370 Culture, Health, and Illness 3
ANP 435 Issues in Latino Health: Theory and Method in Minority Health Research 3
MMG 451 Immunology 3
ZOL 402 Neurobiology 3
MMG 413 Virology 3
ZOL 408 Histology 3
BMB 461 Biochemistry I 3
BMB 462 Biochemistry II 3</p>
<p>Maybe there is a course you recommend? Maybe a course I should drop because it’s pointless or well…I’m just looking for input from college students. </p>
<p>You know, the required courses for medical school are pretty minimal.
You need general chemisty, organic chemistry, general biology, and general physics. A year of English is generally required and some schools want a bit of math.</p>
<p>The rest is gravy.</p>
<p>I honestly do not know if it makes a difference how much gravy you pour on or not.</p>
<p>I’d strip the fat, personally. Seems really bio-heavy w/ some philosophy thrown in. Med schools don’t want bio-student robots. If bio is really your thing, just do a regular bio major and if you want dbl-major add something else outside bio (chem is a common one but I might suggest a bx science like econ or psych; a humanities such as English or history; or an art such as music or “art”). But hey, if that’s what you want and it includes all the gen eds and such then by all means…</p>
<p>Thank you deskpotato. The gravy metaphor was entertaingly clear. Apumic, well I’m going to do bio because I enjoy it and the science major may give me a stable and lucrative backup career in research. The philosophy is a personal hobby and I feel that it gives a humanistic dimension to my application which would otherwise be covered in blood and guts science…if you know what I meen. I will go into college with ap art history and music theory credit so I actually have that under my belt. I’m going to add an English class to this list. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Personally, I think very general 4-year plans are okay, but they tend to be moot because your plans will change as you go along. Some of your interests may change, you may decide (upon taking some of those classes) that you don’t really want to take the rest, certain classes may not be available during a semester, some classes may have teachers who are more trouble than they’re worth, you may find yourself with other time commitments, etc.</p>
<p>Instead of a minor in philosophy, why not just take the philosophy courses that interest you without minoring in it? The requirements for a minor tend to be constraining and you may decide it’s not worth tacking it on to your degree. Med schools don’t care about minors anyway.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is all highly individual and you may end up doing something very similar to your plan, or you may end up doing something entirely different altogether. Just something to keep in mind. As long as it includes the pre-med requirements, you’re good to go. Keep in mind you need a year’s worth of English, so you’ll have to take two English classes.</p>
<p>Our school’s premed adviser says that recently more med schools begin to preper some stats courses taken in college. Personally Im planning to take a biostats course instead of calc, but generally premed students take calc :P</p>
<p>The problem with planning a four year schedule like this is that you do so under the assumption that every one of these classes will be available at the proper semester and at the proper time to make it possible/convenient to do so, and also that it won’t be filled by the time you get to apply. Its good to know what courses you are interested in, but be flexible. It took me four semesters before I was finally able to take one course, and I never did get to take the other.</p>
<p>and to add…there will be classes you’ll eventually want to avoid because the prof sucks, or the class gets taught by a grad student or it’s only available at 8am on MWF (and 8AM classes on a Friday are AWFUL)</p>
<p>Dude I agree, take the Bio classes only if you are interested in them.</p>
<p>IMO, as an undergraduate you should explore other academic disciplines that are not so science oriented. I am a pre-med who plans on majoring in Economics. In medical school, all you are going to be taking are science classes, so why not use your college career to expand your horizons or explore other aspects of medicine (for example, health economics). I plan on concentrating my research, Ecs, and classes in the field of Health Economics, because I am VERY interested it in.</p>
<p>I’m really interested in Philosophy and Biology. I’ve decided to not major Physiology (there are too many chem classes required.) I’m very good with the humanities. I love science. So I’m not sure what to do with myself. I’m thinking that the premed classes pretty much satisfy the human bio major. The thing at the back of my mind is “have a back up plan because you may not get into med school.” I think I science major will let me do research. Right now I’m looking at a humanities major… Basically I’m trying to balence my love of natural science (biology, anatomy) and humanistic disciplines (e.g philosophy, art, literature) While thinking of my professional future… I appreciate responses they are helping me guide my thoughts.</p>
<p>You need to ake the classes that you are interested in and whichever requirements are needed for your major and other premed requirements. If you do not get into med school, then you will need to complement whatever you need for PhD Programs. Don’t go crazy about it. You may change your field of interest 20 times and more.</p>
<p>Yeah I see that. I’m thinking of doing a Humanities Major. It lets me have three fields of study: philosophy, art history, and english. I can take the Premed classes as well. It’s funny that I need only 45 credits in the humanities for the major. The premed classes add up to 57 credits (I’ll still be doing more science than anything! lol) I’ll add a specialization in Bioethics, because it’s fascinating. Thank you guys. I’m going to talk to my pre-med counselor and see how many of his/her successful applicants were not science majors. I know there are plenty of successful non-science majors, but I want to hear it from my counselor And his/her word would be a good reassurance for my parents (lol, you know parents.)</p>
<p>If anything non-science does better than science… however, correlation≠causation. You should know, though, that most premed advisors are about as knowledgeable about getting into medical school as your single older brother is about women (even less-so about medical school itself) – they’ve heard a few rumors about it and have probably read up on it quite a bit; they may even think they understand it but the reality is they don’t actually have a clue.</p>