I must ask you...because i might be going this year i hope so...how was your first premed year? any tips? is biochemistry that difficult to pass as i've been warned it is? oh wait i'm from europe so the system must be a bit different..but still tell me and btw...how did you handle your first dissection? i'm afraid of not fainting...
I'm doing Biomedicine, so it's not quite Premed, but a lot of it overlaps with it (my pal does it). It isn't too hard so long as you have an interest/passion for it. Just keep up with the work set by the profs. The dissection was awesome - our first was a (sheep) heart. Totally get into it! Otherwise it won't sink in, and you'll be disadvantaged. The biochem is a tough part, but yeah, only if you let yourself fall behind. It's a big workload, and good time management surely pays off.
yup biochem will be hell of a load, especially if i didn't take any classes in chemistry in highschool damn
It will probably be pretty stressful and you may have to invest extra time in studying since you didn't take chem in high school, but really what it comes down to is... if you can't do well your first year, you probably won't make it to med-school. The worst part about dissections is really the smell sometimes, but you get used to it. We had to dissect a shark one time and they have an internal fluid composed of urea (equivalent to urine) so we had the smell of the preservation fluids on top of the urea. You probably won't faint, even if you find it grotesque, chances are slim. What you should do is buy a surgical mask and glasses, even if they aren't called for in the class. This will make you feel more comfortable and you'll be able to get more into it. And the rule of thumb for dissections is... if you don't actually do the cutting and prodding, you will not get much out of the lesson, if anything at all. If you want other studying tips or whatever, go ahead and PM me. My age is 19, as you can see, but I've been in college for three years... all in the sciences, chem., bio., physics., env. science. So if you need help with anything, or just tips on how to get through certain subjects, what-have-you, just PM me.