<p>Thanks for the help Kajon and I know that he still has a while but everything is so exciting and terrifying for the both of us!! We just can’t help but try to figure things out ESPECIALLY financial aid but in the end I am hoping that everything will just work out!</p>
<p>Soze: It isn’t the pre-med courses, it is the double major in biology and economics. The biology major will cover a lot of his premed requirements, but the economics will require at least 18 hours of additional credits, maybe more if it is truly another major and not a minor.</p>
<p>With the way many schools have had to cut back on course offerings, it sometimes is difficult for students in only one major to be able to schedule everything they need every semester to graduate in four years. Two majors, plus a premed sequence would make it a little trickier.</p>
<p>If it were my kid I would encourage the econ major and complete the premed requirements.</p>
<p>Kid will either decide he doesn’t want medicine, or wants more of a research/biology advanced degree (hence lots of bio), or never wants another bio course again.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point in a bio major if he’s going to end up in med school anyway. A double major with pre med means he never gets to take a class in Renaissance History or Linguistics or History of the Supreme Court or Pre-Columbian anthropology or… you get my drift.</p>
<p>So encourage him to do well in HS; encourage him to find his bliss in college but cover off the pre med requirements, and all will be fine. He does not need to specialize so early to have a fulfilling life and career in medicine (or in anything else for that matter.)</p>
<p>Proud_mom: tOSU has an Honors program that we are confident my son can get into and “Honors students enjoy University-Level Priority Scheduling” so hopefully that would be good enough for my son to get into the classes he needs to take.</p>
<p>2boysima is correct that you cannot replace required pre-med classes with AP credits. Also, med schools don’t give a flip if you have double majored at all, they just want a high GPA plus MCAT score and EC’s. It would be more prudent for him to single major in what he loves and spend extra time on clinical/volunteering experience.</p>
<p>If everything works for him and he is able to accomplish this, I think that is great, but for long-term planning, I would plan a little more time, just in case the stars aren’t always aligned right, for two majors and pre-med. Also, he is young, next year he might want to do something else or he might wait until Freshman year to change or he might stay true to these goals. If he is a hard worker, it will all work out.</p>
<p>apatel,</p>
<p>in his freshman year, your son should try to take intro chem with lab and calculus, which will set him up nicely for the bio major and also fulfil premed requirements. He can also take the introductory economics sequence. That will leave room for freshman writing and whatever else he wants to take or that is required by OSU or wherever he goes. In his second year, he can take organic chem and intro bio, then physics in his third year. Of course this schedule isn’t set in stone, but it’s the usual sequence.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from lots of people that premeds should not try to place into higher courses via AP credit. College courses tend to be more in depth, and also your son’s grades in premed requirements are very important.</p>
<p>I apologize for being snarky, but I do think you are jumping the gun and I do think the process should for the most part be driven by the students. (Speaking as a parent who spends way too much time on CC.)</p>
<p>I also would like to say that I think the current mania for double majoring is way overrated. Get A’s in the required pre-med courses and major in what you love. That’s my advice.</p>
<p>I would not rule out the possibility of summer classes so soon. From what I am seeing, many, many of my daughter’s pre-med peers are taking organic chemistry during the summer after freshman year, either at their university’s summer session or elsewhere. This frees up their schedules during the school year and gives them the chance to focus on the one course, or allows them to progress into more advanced courses in their majors more quickly.</p>
<p>@frazzled2thecore
Those students taking Orgo during summer session might be in for a surprise.
There was a poster on another thread who mentioned that she took one of her pre-med courses at Harvard during the summer and some med schools would not accept it because it was not done during the normal academic year – and this was at Harvard for cryin’ out loud!</p>
<p>At the school my daughter attends, organic chemistry during the summer seems perfectly acceptable as an option for premeds. It is the same class (plus lab) that is taught during the year, and in the post-bac pre-med program, when taken at that school. Students who wish to go elsewhere for summer science classes to use as either prerequisites for more advanced classes or as pre-med requirements need to consult with specific departments and pre-med advisors. </p>
<p>This is also the case at our state flagships (UPitt and PSU), where lots of excellent students take science classes during the summer without any apparent impact on their admission to medical schools. </p>
<p>I would add however that many intro science courses have several levels, assuming different backgrounds and goals, even at top schools, and it is important to look past the title of the course and register for the correct level.</p>