Pre-Med Frequently Asked Questions

If you don't take Chem 1A, plan to take Chem 3A, 3B, a biochemistry class (MCB 102 or 100) and a physical chemistry course (Chem130A or Chem 120A). Students tell me that there are enough challenges in Chem 1A at Cal and that P-Chem is very challenging.

In the past, I have cautioned against jumping over Chem 1A unless a person was really, really good at chem. Most find Chem at Cal tough. However, if you do jump, I would plan to take the year of ochem plus biochem and probably pchem just to be sure--four semesters of it.

UCLA for example does not accept AP for its requirements, and you would have to request a waiver. With strong grades in the advanced courses and strong MCAT scores you likely would be fine, but the med schools have their own policies. For most schools, you should be fine if you think you can make the jump.

Math is less of an issue to the med schools; many do not require it. As a math major you will be taking more math than any school requires. Again I caution too large a jump. I have seen many skip to 1B only to find it beyond them. You may be fine and if so, the med schools will not care as you will have far more than they require as a math major. In general, I urge caution the first semester. As the baseball rookie wrote home from spring training, "I'll be home tomorrow; they throw curve balls up here." Berkeley classes throw curve balls. Some are ready; others are not.

Medical School policy on AP credit differs, even among UC schools. Some schools will accept AP towards satisfaction of some or all of their requirements; others will not. Generally, those who wish to offer AP credits in satisfaction of pre-med requirements should take additional work in that field to substantiate the credits and to prepare for the MCAT and medical school. For example, a student with an AP score which satisfies the reading and composition requirement usually will be well advised to take an upper division course with substantial reading and writing, e.g., an upper division English Literature class. Again, school policy differs, and all-inclusive answers are difficult. Coursework at Berkeley likely will be more rigorous than AP courses.

Consult your major or college advisor as appropriate for questions concerning AP credits and major or college requirements. I highly recommend you use our website. Summer session at any other "accredited university or college" is fine. Regarding the kind of English course to take, I recommend you speak with an L&S advisor (113 Campbell Hall) or an advisor in the English dept. They are more familiar with the content of those courses to determine a proper substitute.

The last three each received 2.7; the others received 5.3 each adding up to 29. I think what happened was that 3.3 units were taken off as a duplication of credit likely from when you took R&C. I remember similar instances from years past.

But, you had better check that with the Registrar or L&S to be sure of all of this. Is there a code on your copy of your academic record that indicates such a reduction in credits? I think you are going to have to talk to the Registrar to find out how you should list the credits. As long as your official transcript supports what you show on your AMCAS, you should be ok. You may want to get a copy of your official transcript, it needs to match your AMCAS information.

The medical schools vary in what they require in the way of math. A few require a year, some do not require any calculus. See Medical School Admissions Requirements published each spring by the Assoc. of American Medical Colleges, available in the Career Center Info Lab. The schools also vary in how they feel about AP. Some will accept AP credits, some won't, and some will on appeal. None of this makes your answer 100% clear.

The safest thing would be to take 1A and 1B or go on to a higher-level math class. I advise you to take 1B and then the statistics that will be part of your Psychology major. Would you consider a class beyond 1B and not take 1B? Are you ready for 1B? The reason I ask that is that I have seen many that were advised to jump over 1A because of AP and then who fell flat on their faces in 1B. Math 1A and 1B are not a review of high school math for most of us.

As pointed out in our website, the requirements for most med schools are two years of chemistry, a year of physics, and a year of biology. English (R&C to us) and sometimes some math are additional requirements. I also would refer you to Medical School Admissions Requirements published annually by the Assoc. of American Medical Colleges and available in the Career Center Info Lab. At Cal, most take Chem 1A, 3A, 3B and MCB 102; Physics 8A and 8B, Bio 1A and 1B. Many take the Math 16 series, but another large group takes Math 1A-1B.

You won't move immediately into medical school after your graduation from Cal; many of us follow this plan. Your first goal is to take the coursework necessary to sit for the MCAT exam. It is not necessary to complete all the pre-med requirements by the time you graduate from Berkeley. Many people do some or all of their required work after they graduate through what is called a post baccalaureate program. In such programs you take the courses you need to complete the pre-med requirements. AAMC has a list of these programs. There are many of them, some have different purposes. But, there should be no major problem in finding one to fit your needs.

You can take some or all of your required pre-med coursework at Cal while completing your major and then do whatever pre-med work that is left over after graduation in a post baccalaureate or even graduate program or on your own as a non-degree-seeking student at any Bachelor's-degree-granting institution. It is important to remember that just taking the classes is not enough; it is critical to do well in them. Thus, you want to take the courses at a pace that will allow you to do well.

Basically, no, many schools would not accept a class in lieu of Bio 1B. Most schools say that they want you to have taken a full year of general biology so that you come in recently prepared with a solid foundation. I get the message that the medical schools prefer that you take Bio1A and 1B with a lab. I recommend that you take Bio 1A and 1B so that you fulfill the requirements at most medical schools you may want to apply to.

Most medical schools really want you to have taken General Biology with lab (two semesters) - even if you are taking a bunch of upper division biology classes. The students that have opted out of either 1A or 1B are typically bioengineers; some have been successful in receiving full consideration during the application process. There are medical schools admissions people who tell me there is no equivalent coursework, they really want you to have the basic biology for bio majors with lab, and two semesters of it.

If you have a school questioning your chemistry readiness, please contact our main phone number for a referral to a pre-med advisor.

Normally, you likely don't need any letter to be sent from the Career Center. List Chemistry 1a and 3a as NON organic or general chemistry with lab. You may or may not recall that the beginning of 3a is general chemistry and then you get into organic chemistry concepts and yes, you CAN write down the name, which is Chemical Structure and Reactivity. To list a year of organic chemistry with lab, most Cal students list Chemistry 3b and the MCB 102 (or other) biochemistry class they have taken (even if they did not take a lab with the biochemistry class). Medical schools have been fully considering Cal students who have completed this sequence since this curricular change was made in 1991.

The medical schools have made it crystal clear that they do NOT want to get any letters regarding this topic. Only get the letter and send it IF someone questions your chemistry readiness. This sequence of 1a/3a/3b and biochem has been accepted by medical schools since 1991 and there is no reason to appear nervous by sending in extra paper. In four years the pre med counselors have seen only one medical school question our chemistry sequence (it was a Texas school), and they ended up being fine with our sequence in the end.

You likely don't need any letter to be sent from the Career Center. List Chemistry 1a and 3a as NON organic or general chemistry with lab. You may or may not recall that the beginning of 3a is general chemistry and then you get into organic chemistry concepts and yes, you CAN write down the name, which is Chemical Structure and Reactivity. To list a year of organic chemistry with lab, most Cal students list Chemistry 3b and the MCB 102 (or other) biochemistry class they have taken (even if they did not take a lab with the biochemistry class). Medical schools have been fully considering Cal students who have completed this sequence since this curricular change was made in 1991.

The medical schools have made it crystal clear that they do NOT want to get any letters regarding this topic. Only get the letter and send it IF someone questions your chemistry readiness. This sequence of 1a/3a/3b and biochem has been accepted by medical schools since 1991 and there is no reason to appear nervous by sending in extra paper. In four years the pre med counselors have seen only one medical school question our chemistry sequence (it was a Texas school), and they ended up being fine with our sequence in the end.

I am going to assume that you have taken Cal classes in Chem: 1A, 3A, 3B and then MCB 100 or 102. If so, you list Chem 1A and 3A as NON organic. You may or may not recall that the beginning of 3A is general chemistry and then you get into organic. If you must list a year of organic chemistry, Cal students list 3B and the MCB biochem class they have taken (even if they did not take a lab). But to answer your question, MCB 102 is typically used to satisfy schools that insist on students having four full semesters of chemistry, but it does not fulfill the inorganic chemistry requirement ("bio" = organic).

The pattern of chemistry/biochemistry that you have taken is the one that most Cal pre-meds have taken these last 10 years. You should be fine in terms of meeting the med school requirements. If you have to say which courses met which requirements I would say 1A and 3A for general Chem and 3B and 102 for Organic Chem. I do not think 102 would in anyway be general chem. Most of the medical schools know our sequence. If you get asked about it you can get a letter from the Career Center that explains it.

While it is not necessary to have finished your requirements (e.g., English) prior to applying, it would be nice to be able to show the schools that you are good in reading and writing from your grades on R&C courses, a strong Verbal Reasoning score and a good Writing Sample score. But, it is not critical that the English be taken--just nice. They, for the most part, want to see good skills in this area. Admissions people vary in their views with one more interested in ochem and another interested in your Verbal Reasoning.

It is not necessary to take Spanish, and I doubt it is a major factor in admissions. It certainly is good to know Spanish, and I would recommend it. I do not think a vast majority of our students have taken Spanish in college. Many likely have had it in high school.

It would be in your best interest to take the English/humanities courses for a letter grade. In the MSAR, some schools are vague about what they want to fulfill their pre-medical requirements. So a letter grade will serve you well. I'm assuming you'll so well in these courses, i.e. A to B+ grades.

If you look at what the medical schools say about their math requirements in Medical School Admissions Requirements, USA and Canada (it is the basic pre-med handbook and available in the Career Center Info Lab), you will see all sorts of different things. Some want a year of calculus, many do not require calculus. If you take 1B and a statistics course you should be fine for most medical schools. Some would take what you have. Some take AP; others do not. So, 1B and a statistics course should satisfy most. Be sure to check with your intended major about its math requirements.

One of the only schools that requires stats is UCLA. This is an extremely tough school to gain entry to; if you consider yourself in the game for UCLA and it is your dream school, plan to take statistics. Most med schools do not require stats; some recommend it as it is helpful as you critically read the medical literature.

Medical schools probably won't be very concerned about the timing of your physics class. However, if you are planning on taking the MCAT before you take physics 8B, you may find yourself at a disadvantage. In other words, the timing of when you take 8B will probably not affect your application, but it may affect your MCAT scores.

If the courses that you took were the ones that the junior college (JC) listed for those going into a biology major or for those intending to be pre-med they should be ok. I would look at the catalog/website of the JC in question and see what is listed for those two fields. The courses do not need to be the ones listed for potential physics majors or engineers. Cal has a sequence like that, and most pre-meds do not take it. If they were classes intended for those not in the sciences or "watered down" courses for limited purposes they would not work.

Check out the website of Cal's physics department to begin your research; you may need to take a course description to the Department of Physics and have it evaluated as to content. Does it look like our Physics 8A and B? If you are majoring in fields that have physics as a requirement such as MCB or IB they can tell you if the courses meet their requirements. If so, you should be fine.

All medical school requirements do not have to be met before you apply--just before you enter. The more that remain unfinished the more of a problem there is. However, with a good science record, the lack of a requirement when you apply should not be a serious issue. You show on the AMCAS application what you plan to take in the future. It is best to complete physics before taking the MCAT.

It usually is advised to take pre-med requirements in the US. But, I see no problem in you taking a course while in EAP that is the equivalent of our 8B as long as you have a strong science record here at Cal. The issue is this--you want to leave no doubt in the minds of the med schools that you are well qualified in the sciences; they will not know the work somewhere else as well as they will know ours. If the course you plan to take is required by your major you should be sure the course is ok with your major department.