<p>It’s doable, especially if you choose the easier bio electives like most biology majors (at least the pre-meds which is most of the bio majors). The only issue with pre-meds are the chemistry classes for most of them. Chemistry courses normally require different skills than those emphasized in most of the biology classes taken by pre-meds (which are mostly catered to people with your skills, kind of “applied memorization” and be obedient type thing. Arguably, classes that require more than this are usually better and teach more skills relevant for the MCAT, which is why chem classes are useful). I would worry about developing legit problem solving skills, which can be done by your pre-med chem. requires where often a little creativity may be involved in understanding or approaching some problems. Critical thinking is key for many chem. professors ,especially organic. Unlike most schools, Organic with most profs. here are not “memorize the rules and slightly apply them” oriented. To get A’s (or A-'s) you have to get the difficult applied problems (often problems only seen in grad. classes or advanced undergrad. courses at other elite peer institutions) and “good study habits” are usually not sufficient for this. An imagination and some curiousity in addition to daily studying can go a long way in these courses. Same for non-“cookie-cutter” (follow the rules and make at least a B+) biology classes, and you’ll want at least a few of these “non-cookie cutters” to develop your problem skills in biology and to expose yourself to more actual (as in primary literature) science (which MCAT passages will have lots of) as opposed to text book science with no experimental or mechanistic emphasis. </p>
<p>Worry about your GPA and classes that allow you to simply follow the rules and score well, but also keep the MCAT in mind. Often less “rule” based classes help more for this. Learning tons of content only goes but so far (may help you on stand-alone questions). Too many pre-meds are tricked into thinking that taking a class with content supposedly on the MCAT is enough. In reality, whether or not the class actually helps depends on how it is taught and how examinations are conducted. If it is nearly pure memorization and simple multiple choice, the course is not very useful. Also, biology courses with only exams and quizzes also tend to be less useful as there is no more engagement with the material than prepping or cramming for each individual test. You should sometimes take a bio class with a project or problem sets (optional or graded). Don’t let a workload scare you away (if anything it helps because the exams are not the only thing weighted in the grade).</p>