What really is Pre-Med?

WayOutWestMom
Sun, 08 Feb 2015 04:14:18 +0000

@CJRonR

These are the required pre-med classes:

2 semesters bio + labs
2 semesters gen chem + labs
2 semesters organic chem + labs
2 semesters physics + labs
1 semester biochem
1 semester statistics or biostatistics
1 semester “college level math” (usually Calc 1–some schools specifically require calc 1)
2 semesters of English composition or other “writing intensive” classes

additional courses needed for the MCAT, and required by some med schools

1 semester sociology
1 semester psych

Some medical schools may have other requirements (genetics, anatomy, human physiology, upper level humanities, Calc 2, medical ethics, etc). You’ll need to check the admissions page of individual med schools for details.

And yes, you can major in any field and still go to med school so long as you complete the required classes. There are a number of posters on this site whose children weren’t bio majors and still were accepted into med school. (Including both of mine.) Their majors include: English literature, classics, physics, computer science, mathematics, chemical engineering, sociology.

Among my older d’s med school classmates are a music theory & composition major, a forestry major, a religion/theology major and a couple of Spanish majors.