College courses pre-med? page

[echoyjeff222]

Hi! I just finished signing up for courses for next year -- I'm a freshmen in college now! I just had a quick question about my classes. I'm planning on going pre-med.

My classes are roughly:

Honors Chem, Honors English class, Introduction to Honors (1 credit class)

I was thinking about throwing in a Psych 101 to up my credits from 11 --> 16 credits. I'm wondering if Psych 101 is a good class to take for a pre-med related path, and if there are any better classes that I should consider. Thanks!

[jammies]

For the MCATs and admission to medical school you will also need physics (preferable calculus based physics). Do you have a math and physics plan?

In addition to your academics, if possible you may want to start very early with a research lab if you are somewhere you can find one as well as some volunteer work, both of which are good for med school applications.

[echoyjeff222]

I'm already done with calculus (I did a running start program) and I'm getting AP scores for physics back soon. If I pass, then it will fulfill an ENTIRE YEAR of physics! And I heard that physics on the MCAT is easy, so I probably won't take it again.

[echoyjeff222]

also, psychology vs. sociology?

[jammies]

Other than the requirements you need for admissions and to prepare for the MCAT, the rest of the classes you take aren't really THAT critical (as long as you don't major in basket weaving or something like that). I suggest exploring a bit and finding what you really love and are interested in. Having a passion and doing REALLY well at it will make you look like a great candidate for medical school.

If you have an interested in psychology, sociology, anthropology - chase it and enjoy it! Just keep that GPA super high and develop a close relationship with a couple of your favorite professors or mentors to get good letters.

[JoeyA]

Don't pick your electives to try to appeal to medical school.

Focus on completing your premed/STEM (science technology engineering math) courses with As and getting good interships/lab/volunteering positions (demonstrate you actually know what you're getting into. Become an EMT/be around blood).

The biggest factors in medical school applications are:

Premed/STEM GPA
Total GPA
MCAT
Resume/internships/recommendations

They probably aren't going to base their decisions on something as small as whether or not you took Psych 101 as a freshman. You're better off picking classes you'll be interested in so that you can get As (this doesn't mean pick an easy major to get As). As far as I remember when I was considering applying, they don't care much what your major is, but you can do your own research on that.

[adkatsim]

Agreed that you should take classes you will get As in, but also try to think about any area distribution requirements that you may need to fill. Sometimes they can come out of nowhere when you think you're close to graduating! Also, I second times a million that you should start trying to work in a lab/do research/do something related to science outside of classes as soon as possible