Advising Course Plan - Health Sciences Major - Medical School Interest
Medical School Interest (MD & DO)
As minimal preparation for medical school, you should complete the following: Biology I & II (BIOL 141P & BIOL 142P); General Chemistry I & II (CHEM 141P & CHEM 142P); Organic Chemistry I & II (CHEM 201 & CHEM 301); Biochemistry I (CHEM 204; College Physics I & II (PHYS 121P & PHYS 122P) or University Physics I & II (PHYS 141P & PHYS 142P - which are calculus-based); a Statistics course; Psychology (PSYC 101S); Sociology (SOCI 101S); FSEM 100; and another writing course (generally, another English course). In addition, make sure you satisfy all the Health Sciences (HLSC) major requirements listed in the course catalog (the plan below should allow you to do this, and it includes the courses listed above).
If your course scheduling/planning permits and you have another area of interest, you may wish to pursue a related minor, such as Chemistry, Public Health, or Psychology, for example.
Students will apply to medical programs using the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS):
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/amcas/
or the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM):
http://www.aacom.org/become-a-doctor
Most MD programs expect at least a 3.5 GPA, with many targeting a 3.7 in order to be a competitive applicant.
Most DO programs expect at least a 3.3 GPA, with some accepting students with GPAs closer to 3.1.
The key is to begin working on maintaining a strong GPA from the beginning. It becomes more and more challenging to bring up lower GPAs as time progresses in your undergraduate career.
Requirements may differ from the ones below; depending on the medical program(s) in which you may be interested, so please make sure to look at various program requirements for different universities. We highly recommend you begin looking at universities’ requirements during your 1st year as an undergraduate to better prepare you for medical programs.
Option 1 (Premed with Minor in Chemistry):
This track is ideal if you are planning to take the MCAT during the summer following Third Year and is recommended for academically strong students.
If you believe taking both BIOL and CHEM in Year 1 is too challenging, then consider option 2.
Students interested in applying for medical school may consider a minor in Chemistry as they will have to take 5 chemistry courses. Therefore, they may benefit from taking one more 200-level CHEM course and minoring in Chemistry, in addition to a common core of prerequisite coursework (*).
| First Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Units | Spring | Units | ||
| BIOL 141P1,* | 1 | BIOL 142P1,* | 1 | ||
| CHEM 141P* | 1 | CHEM 142P* | 1 | ||
| FSEM 100 (unless transfer student)1 | 1 | MATH 141Q (required for Chemistry minor)2,* | 1 | ||
| HLSC 119V | 1 | General Education requirement1 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 4 | ||||
| Second Year | |||||
| Fall | Units | Spring | Units | Summer | Units |
| MATH 141Q should be taken during the fall if it has not been taken in First Year. | HLSC 2021 | 1 | Take the MCAT exam in preparation for medical school applications - by the end of summer before Fourth Year. *Recommendation: Study for MCAT during Third Year and take it no later than July 31st. Also aim to have completed your medical school applications during the summer before Fourth Year. | ||
| HLSC 2011 | 1 | CHEM 301 (counts as HLSC elective)1,* | 1 | ||
| CHEM 2011,* | 1 | General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)1 | 1 | ||
| BIOL 301 or 3023,* | 1 | PSYC 101S1 | 1 | ||
| SOCI 101S (or General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course))* | 1 | ||||
| 4 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Third Year | |||||
| Fall | Units | Spring | Units | ||
| Junior Seminar must be taken during this year. | HLSC 4981 | 1 | |||
| PHYS 121P or 141P* | 1 | PHYS 122P or 142P* | 1 | ||
| Elective | 1 | BIOL 243Q | 1 | ||
| Junior Seminar1 | 1 | HLSC 375 (HLSC elective; recommended)1,* | 0.5 | ||
| CHEM 204* | 1 | General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)1 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 4.5 | ||||
| Fourth Year | |||||
| Fall | Units | Spring | Units | ||
| HLSC 4991 | 1 | HLSC 411 or PHIL 316V (HLSC elective; or other Personal & Social Responsibility course (R, E, W, D, J course))1,5 | 1 | ||
| HLSC 411 or PHIL 316V (HLSC elective; or other Personal & Social Responsibility course (R, E, W, D, J course))1,5 | 1 | General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)1 | 1 | ||
| Chemistry minor requirement: CHEM 200+ level course4,* | 1 | PUBH 377 | 0.5 | ||
| PUBH 140V | 1 | Elective | .5 | ||
| PUBH 376 | 0.5 | ||||
| 4.5 | 3 | ||||
| Total Units 32 | |||||
- 1
Required for HLSC major.
- 2
- 3
- 4
PHIL 316V or equivalent counts as an HLSC elective; or may take another Personal & Social Responsibility course (R,E,W,D,J course).
- *
Common core of prerequisite course work.
Useful resources for Biochemistry when preparing for the MCAT, if you take Option 2 with Biochemistry after the MCAT exam:
http://www.wikipremed.com/resource_links.php
http://www.stetson.edu/artsci/pre-health/medicine.php
An important note regarding Biochemistry content of the new MCAT:
- Biomolecules have unique properties that determine how they contribute to the structure and function of cells, and how they participate in the processes necessary to maintain life.
- Highly-organized assemblies of molecules, cells, and organs interact to carry out the functions of living organisms.
- Complex systems of tissues and organs sense the internal and external environments of multicellular organisms, and through integrated functioning, maintain a stable internal environment within an ever-changing external environment.
- Complex living organisms transport materials, sense their environment, process signals, and respond to changes using processes that can be understood in terms of physical principles.
- The principles that govern chemical interactions and reactions form the basis for a broader understanding of the molecular dynamics of living systems.
These concepts are addressed in the Intro BIOL and CHEM courses, as well as Organic Chem. In addition, some upper-level BIOL courses cover some of these concepts. Examples of such courses include General Physiology, Molecular Biology, Cancer Biology, and (less so) Developmental Biology. We recommend you take at least one of these courses as an elective.