I think the title kind of speaks for itself, but, hello there! I’m a (6th year) senior at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and I’m graduating in the spring with a psych/TESOL minor (English teaching, basically) degree. I met with a premed adviser yesterday and found that I’d have to essentially get another four-year degree in Bio with a chem minor. While I don’t mind taking pre-med classes, I thought it would just be a basics like bio,chem, O chem, physics, micro and possibly some calc. I saw some post-bacc programs in IL (which are the closest ones to me)
but am wondering if I can just take those classes at my current school after I get my degree? Any thoughts would be quite welcome and glad I’m glad I discovered this site.
Your advisor is incorrect. You do not need another degree. Med schools do not care what your undergrad degree is as long as you have completed (and done well) in the pre-reqs. Most schools require one year of general chemistry w/labs, one year of organic chemistry w/labs, one year of physics w/labs, and one year of biology w/labs as a minimum. Some schools require biochemistry, calculus, statistics, or microbiolgy, but not all. I would say that calculus and biochem are the most likely to be required after the pre-reqs.
As to whether or not you can take those at your current school, I’m sure you can, but you’ll probably need to talk someone in the registrar’s office about how to enroll. Are you going to enroll as a degree seeking student or a non-degree student? What are the advantages/disadvantages or both at your school (i.e. in terms of being able to register, financial aid, etc).
Hey! I’m a super senior at the U of M in Minneapolis. I could have graduated in the spring but, after studying communications and Spanish for four years, I decided to take the plunge and study medicine. There’s NO WAY I’m picking up another major! I have two-and-a-half or three years of pre-reqs to do, but that sure is better than four! Good luck!
Also, I’m from New Richmond. 