How to be a strong premed student?

Parents Forum
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<p>As I was reading another thread about pre-med here in the Parents section, I thought I should suggest this to my son (current senior, planning on pre-med). From HImom:

Then it occurred to me there are ways to prepare for that freshman year to alleviate the pressure. Can anyone here suggest what else one could do to ease up the stress level of pre-med?</p>

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<p>Finding people with a common major/concentration is nice. I have tons of Pre-Med. friends and I joined AMSA as soon as I could. So perhaps seek out your local AMSA chapter if there is one. I also keep a Pre-Med. journal full of all kinds of things, but mostly it’s where I jot down things I hear/see that may be good ideas for me to pursue later on (different EC activities, class tips, good professors, etc). </p>

<p>Getting good grades definitely helps take off some of the pressure.</p>

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<p>The thing I’ve heard - even from medical school admissions directors - is major in something you really like and get great grades. Of course, you will need to take the pre-requisite science classes but the most important thing is the grades and the MCAT.</p>

<p>I think the auditing idea is great.</p>

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<p>Just a side note - why, oh why are so many bright students afraid of Organic Chemistry? There is nothing scary about it! Me thinks the main reason it is very poorly taught. After bailing out of her Organic Chemistry course at her U, our medical school applicant took Organic Chem at a local community college, and she was stunned how wonderful the course was and how much she liked and understood the material (the course followed the same syllabus and used the same textbook as the one at the U). The instructor (who used to teach at that U) made a huge difference.</p>

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<p>The rote memorization involved with Organic is terrible. That’s the only reason I’ve gotten so far.</p>

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<p>^^If you have to rely on rote memorization so much, it means you have a bad instructor. Organic chemistry is very logical; if you know and can follow the rules, the mechanisms will lead you to the products (unlike inorganic chem. where memorization is the way to go - how does I2 react with HNO3 - quick, you have 3 seconds to answer ;)).</p>

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<p>At my school Orgo seemed to be the classic “weeder” routine. They didn’t follow the book, so we couldn’t do book problems as the class went on. What they gave us to study was a course pack, but the organization was by test, so we couldn’t really start working on it until a week before the test. They didn’t give us answers for it, so we couldn’t tell if we were doing it right. Extremely minor mistakes were massive (generally all, unless the problems were 35 points or something) points off. Making us memorize reactions without teaching us the mechanism (some of them were mechanisms that apparently aren’t even known!). 400 kids in a lecture hall isn’t a very conducive environment for asking questions (Orgo was in the biggest lecture hall in UMich), and discussion sections by people who did undergrad in China and use different notations than used for the class. Generally premeds are smarter than the average person in the Arts and Sciences school (and Orgo was probably 95% premed/pre-dental/pre-pharm etc.) and then they curve the class to a B-, which pushes a lot of people into the C and below range.</p>

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<p>I know that a person can major in what they like, but they have to take some classes that nearly all med schools require. For instance, my son is a pre-med student and this is what his school recommends…</p>

<p>*
Although specific admissions requirements vary, most medical schools require the courses listed below. Most of these courses should be completed in the freshman and sophomore years.*</p>

<p>Courses… Credit Hours…Course Name
BSC 114:115 or BSC 118… 4…Gen bio I or honors
BSC 116:117 or BSC 120… 4…Gen bio II or honors
CH 101 or CH 117… 4 …Gen Chem or honors
CH 102 or CH 118 …4 …Gen Chem II or honors
CH 231… 3 …Org Chem I
CH 232… 3…Org Chem II
CH 237… 2…Org Chem I lab
CH 238… 2 …Org Chem II lab
PH 101, PH 105, or PH 125… 4… Physics, Physics w/ Cal, or honors
PH 102, PH 106, or PH 126… 4… Physics II, Physics w/ Cal II, or honors
MATH 125 or MATH 145 …4 …Calculus I or honors</p>

<p>From the above, it would suggest to me that a student who majors in - say - English - who only takes the above list in addition to the required English major courses, is going to be at a disadvantage when taking the MCAT when students who are - say - Bio, Chem, BioChem, or ChemE majors - have also taken upper division Bio, chem, etc, courses.</p>

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<p>It would appear that way but it is generally believed/accepted that the science actually tested on the MCAT is at a fairly basic level. After the pre-requisite courses are taken, you are good to go.</p>

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<p>Send your pre-med person to the CC premed board to read the sticky notes.</p>

<p>If they are still serious come the end of 2nd year of UG, share the SDN forums with them and they will find many ideas and rampant neuroses!</p>

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<p>Somemom, too funny! You know darn well sending somebody to SDN is just mean. :slight_smile: To me it makes the worst and nastiest CC threads look like kindergarten.</p>

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<p>[How</a> to Get Into Medical School: Pre-Med Course Requirements, MCAT Scores, Volunteer Work, and More](<a href=“Suite 101 - How-tos, Inspiration and Other Ideas to Try”>Suite 101 - How-tos, Inspiration and Other Ideas to Try)</p>

<p>^here it is in a nutshell.</p>

<p>Years ago I remember reading that Music Majors had a very high success rate of getting into Med. school.
[AMC</a> - Research Briefs: Did You Know?](<a href=“http://www.amc-music.com/research_briefs.htm]AMC”>http://www.amc-music.com/research_briefs.htm)</p>

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<p>You may want to spend some time looking at our little site, too.
Helpful inks here.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/377780-premed-forum-faqs-read-first.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/377780-premed-forum-faqs-read-first.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>You may find this one mildly interesting, too. The current app cycle from start to (almost) finished. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/693600-2009-2010-med-school-applicants.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/693600-2009-2010-med-school-applicants.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>True, at least if the free sample on the aamc website is anything like the real thing.</p>

<p><a href=“https://services.aamc.org/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.displayForm&prd_id=179&prv_id=214[/url]”>https://services.aamc.org/publications/index.cfm?fuseaction=Product.displayForm&prd_id=179&prv_id=214&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;