Premed undergrad and rigor?

[Anonymous]

Curious how many pre-req kids at rigorous schools are taking per semester? I sometimes wonder if mine should take less and breathe a little more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Sounds exactly like mine at Penn, and all their premed and bioengineering friends. Hours upon hours of work each day have gone into her mostly As. They all seem to have fun clubs plus premed clubs plus lab research that take up time. They love it except for the midterm weeks get very intense. They do socialize but more like one weekend night of going out, usually after all day studying, maybe a second if it is early in the semester.

Unpopular opinion but this just sounds like college in general. Ivy parents discovering their kids have to work hard in college comes up every year as if it’s revelatory. Colleges isn’t about baby feeding you information

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious how many pre-req kids at rigorous schools are taking per semester? I sometimes wonder if mine should take less and breathe a little more.

Mine hardly takes any. Takes pre reqs for physics major but otherwise is in upper division courses. He’s breezing through at Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious how many pre-req kids at rigorous schools are taking per semester? I sometimes wonder if mine should take less and breathe a little more.

what do you mean by prereqs? do you mean all the courses that count for med school, ie 2 semesters genchem unless allowed to place out, 2 sem orgo, 2 sem bio, cell bio, bichem, genetics, stats, 2 sem physics, 2 sem calc?

Non-engineering premeds at my kid's ivy are encouraged to take no more than 2 stem classes out of their 4 classes each sem of freshman year(ie two of the above, most commonly chem and calcBC or multi to start) then 3 of the 4 classes can be stem later if they handle it well.
Mine is doing 3 of 4 stem now because they got a 4.0 first semester and clearly can handle it.
Engineering premeds, about 1/3 of which are premeds there, take 3 of their 5 classes as stem, usually Chem physics calcbc/multi to start as freshman, and by sophomore year have 4 of 5 classes as STEM. Engineering kids are built different. Their schedules seem insane to regular premeds.

The school's advising will help them map out a slower plan if freshman year does not lead to a 3.3+. They say 95% acceptance rate for those with 3.5+ when they apply, which is a below-average gpa there.

The problem with taking less is it will be hard to get to biochem and the rest of the courses on the mcat by the spring of junior year, meaning gap year or two will be needed and/or a slowdown can mean summers have to be used for classes so they fall behind peers as far as research and volunteering and clinical hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Sounds exactly like mine at Penn, and all their premed and bioengineering friends. Hours upon hours of work each day have gone into her mostly As. They all seem to have fun clubs plus premed clubs plus lab research that take up time. They love it except for the midterm weeks get very intense. They do socialize but more like one weekend night of going out, usually after all day studying, maybe a second if it is early in the semester.

Unpopular opinion but this just sounds like college in general. Ivy parents discovering their kids have to work hard in college comes up every year as if it’s revelatory. Colleges isn’t about baby feeding you information

Nah college is not hard everywhere and it is relative to the kid. Kid at JMU and kid at UVA. Both did similarly in high school one got off the uva WL one did not. The schools are night and day. The JMU"honors" is a joke and the school is EASY to get a 4.0 with reportedly simple regurgitation tests compared with sibling working much harder at UVA to get 3.8. Majors are similar. An ivy kid probably would find UVA easy, because UVA kid has friends who were made to choose it over T15, had 150 points higher on the SAT, and they find it much easier than uva kid who go in off the WL busting tail to keep the 3.8. Person at work has a kid who has straight Cs at JMU, is a senior, has said it is way too hard. Completely different high school background and an 1100 SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Sounds exactly like mine at Penn, and all their premed and bioengineering friends. Hours upon hours of work each day have gone into her mostly As. They all seem to have fun clubs plus premed clubs plus lab research that take up time. They love it except for the midterm weeks get very intense. They do socialize but more like one weekend night of going out, usually after all day studying, maybe a second if it is early in the semester.

Unpopular opinion but this just sounds like college in general. Ivy parents discovering their kids have to work hard in college comes up every year as if it’s revelatory. Colleges isn’t about baby feeding you information

Nah college is not hard everywhere and it is relative to the kid. Kid at JMU and kid at UVA. Both did similarly in high school one got off the uva WL one did not. The schools are night and day. The JMU"honors" is a joke and the school is EASY to get a 4.0 with reportedly simple regurgitation tests compared with sibling working much harder at UVA to get 3.8. Majors are similar. An ivy kid probably would find UVA easy, because UVA kid has friends who were made to choose it over T15, had 150 points higher on the SAT, and they find it much easier than uva kid who go in off the WL busting tail to keep the 3.8. Person at work has a kid who has straight Cs at JMU, is a senior, has said it is way too hard. Completely different high school background and an 1100 SAT.

I guess, but I’ve had people on this forum talk endlessly about how much harder Harvard or Princeton is compared to Berkeley, and I just don’t see it. Mind you. I’m a Princeton alum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I started my 1st sem med school pre-reqs at my T10 and bombed, so I took summer 2nd sem classes at my state flagship and got easy As. Did that for the rest of the pre-reqs every summer.

T10 tests were a beast -- short answer and essay and drawing cycles from memory, while state flagship tests were easy -- matching and multiple choice with maybe one short answer.

I ended up choosing a different health profession, and my interviewer told me they were excited to have someone from [my T10 university].

So maybe consider other health professions if med school isn't in the cards.

I have no clue how things compare, but can say my child at a supposed inflation Ivy is working their tail off in pre-req. One B so far, the rest are A’s but comes with tons of effort and hours in the library, and not prioritizing a social life. This is a kid that picks things up easily, it’s HARD. The exams are very intense and classmates are all very smart.

Sounds exactly like mine at Penn, and all their premed and bioengineering friends. Hours upon hours of work each day have gone into her mostly As. They all seem to have fun clubs plus premed clubs plus lab research that take up time. They love it except for the midterm weeks get very intense. They do socialize but more like one weekend night of going out, usually after all day studying, maybe a second if it is early in the semester.

Unpopular opinion but this just sounds like college in general. Ivy parents discovering their kids have to work hard in college comes up every year as if it’s revelatory. Colleges isn’t about baby feeding you information

Nah college is not hard everywhere and it is relative to the kid. Kid at JMU and kid at UVA. Both did similarly in high school one got off the uva WL one did not. The schools are night and day. The JMU"honors" is a joke and the school is EASY to get a 4.0 with reportedly simple regurgitation tests compared with sibling working much harder at UVA to get 3.8. Majors are similar. An ivy kid probably would find UVA easy, because UVA kid has friends who were made to choose it over T15, had 150 points higher on the SAT, and they find it much easier than uva kid who go in off the WL busting tail to keep the 3.8. Person at work has a kid who has straight Cs at JMU, is a senior, has said it is way too hard. Completely different high school background and an 1100 SAT.

I guess, but I’ve had people on this forum talk endlessly about how much harder Harvard or Princeton is compared to Berkeley, and I just don’t see it. Mind you. I’m a Princeton alum.

I was an undergrad at one of HYPS, and did my grad degree and taught at another T20. The T20 has a reputation of being a grind, and it was. However, although the volume of work at the T20 was greater and the classes were curved lower, the intellectual level of the classes was just a bit lower and the pace was just a little bit slower than my undergrad institution. I've never been to med school so I didn't know I'm practice what this would mean for doctors in training, but I definitely noticed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious how many pre-req kids at rigorous schools are taking per semester? I sometimes wonder if mine should take less and breathe a little more.

what do you mean by prereqs? do you mean all the courses that count for med school, ie 2 semesters genchem unless allowed to place out, 2 sem orgo, 2 sem bio, cell bio, bichem, genetics, stats, 2 sem physics, 2 sem calc?

Non-engineering premeds at my kid's ivy are encouraged to take no more than 2 stem classes out of their 4 classes each sem of freshman year(ie two of the above, most commonly chem and calcBC or multi to start) then 3 of the 4 classes can be stem later if they handle it well.
Mine is doing 3 of 4 stem now because they got a 4.0 first semester and clearly can handle it.
Engineering premeds, about 1/3 of which are premeds there, take 3 of their 5 classes as stem, usually Chem physics calcbc/multi to start as freshman, and by sophomore year have 4 of 5 classes as STEM. Engineering kids are built different. Their schedules seem insane to regular premeds.

The school's advising will help them map out a slower plan if freshman year does not lead to a 3.3+. They say 95% acceptance rate for those with 3.5+ when they apply, which is a below-average gpa there.

The problem with taking less is it will be hard to get to biochem and the rest of the courses on the mcat by the spring of junior year, meaning gap year or two will be needed and/or a slowdown can mean summers have to be used for classes so they fall behind peers as far as research and volunteering and clinical hours.

Yes. That’s what I meant, maybe my terminology is off. The required classes for med school application.