Pre-req Order

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hello everyone, I hope you are all as excited about D.C. as I am!! Okay, so I had a pretty fantastic morning because I submitted my


application to the University of Colorado at Denver for admission beginning fall '08. I am so excited. Anyway, I have been attending a community college in Denver for the past 3 semesters and am planning on integrating my pre-reqs for med school into my bachelor’s degree requirements. My question is, does anyone know of a good resource to figure out the order which is best for taking your pre-reqs? Is this something that a CU advisor should be able to tell me once I’ve been admitted? For example, I went on CU’s website to look up course descriptions and it says that I need to take chemistry before biology, but then I’ve heard somewhere that certain classes are


easier if you take everything in the correct order. If anyone has some advice on resources or if you happen to know from experience a good pre-req order, it would be greatly appreciated.


Taryn

2

Congrats, Taryn. I would think that an adviser at CU might be your best resource for recommendations on the best order at CU. Many schools have the first quarter/semester of chemistry as a pre-requisite for biology. (Ohio State has this pre-req) The rationale I heard was that they want you to have a basic understanding of chemical structures so that you more easily understand the concepts of sugar molecules and the other molecules that are involved in the structure of DNA. Plus, you obviously need gen chem before you can take organic, at least at most schools. So, gen chem is a good place to start. Other than that, I don’t think there’s necessarily any real advantage or disadvantage. As long as your math skills are up to par, physics can be taken anywhere along the path.



3

Hi Taryn…Some schools require GenChem before Bio and Ochem. Other schools require Bio first. Physics seems to be something that people can take in any order they want. See what each department deems necessary as a pre-req for each of these courses.


Cheers,


Judy

4

Thanks Emergency and Judy. I appreciate the help.

5

JCE,


You might want to ask the pre-med counselors at your school for some inside tips on what would be the best order to take your prerequisites. Maybe they know a particular order where students succeed most in.