Pre-Med with Biology Major Course Plan

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This is a general course plan for students interested in attending medical school and who are completing a biology major.  (Pre-med students could also complete other majors such as chemistry or neuroscience).  This plan is designed so that you can complete the necessary coursework to take the MCAT (med school entrance exam) in late spring/early summer after your junior year with the goal of entering medical school the fall after graduating from SLU.  This plan must be personalized for you through discussions with your advisor, allowing for situations like study abroad or not going to medical school directly after graduating from SLU.  Pre-med prerequisites and recommended courses are italicized; other listed courses are biology major and general graduation requirements.

First-Year

Fall

  • General Biology with Lab (Environmental literacy distribution)
  • General Chemistry with Lab (Natural Science with Lab distribution)
  • Intro Psychology (without Lab)
  • FYP

Spring

  • General Biology with Lab
  • General Chemistry with Lab
  • FYS
  • 100 level Sociology course (Social Science distribution)

Sophomore

Fall

  • Organic Chemistry with Lab
  • Physics with Lab
  • English*- writing course (Arts distribution)
  • Statistics (Quantitative reasoning distribution)

Spring

  • Organic Chemistry with Lab
  • Physics with Lab
  • Genetics or Intro to Cell Biology
  • Diversity course

Junior

Fall

  • Upper level Biology course with Lab (suggestions: Microbiology with Lab, Immunology with Lab, Anatomy & Physiology I with Lab)
  • Biochemistry
  • Humanities distribution
  • Health Coaches and/or Foundations of Medicine **

Spring

  • Upper level Biology course with Lab (suggestions: Anatomy & Physiology II with Lab, Research Methods in Cell Biology, Research Methods in Confocal & Fluorescence Microscopy)
  • English*- literature course
  • Diversity course
  • Health Coaches and/or Foundations of Medicine **

Senior

Fall

  • Upper Level Biology with Lab***
  • 3 courses of your choice ****

Spring

  • Upper Level Biology with Lab***
  • 3 courses of your choice****

* Two 200-level English courses, one literature and one writing focused, should be taken.  (The other English course is listed for Junior Spring.)   Intro to Fiction, Intro to Creative Non-Fiction, and Intro to Poetry are recommended for the writing course, while any 200-level literature course is appropriate.

** Health Coaches and Foundations of Medicine are each 0.5 units per semester. If you complete both of these courses this will total 4 units for that semester.  If you choose to complete only one of these, you may choose to take another 1 unit course (total of 4.5).  Discuss with your advisor to determine what the best plan is for you. 

*** Potential course options of interest: Microbiology with Lab, Introduction to Neuroscience with Lab, Immunology with Lab, Research Methods in Fluorescent and Confocal Microscopy, Research Methods in Molecular Biology, Research Methods in Cell Biology.  One semester of SYE could also complete one of these Upper Level Biology with Lab slots.

**** These slots can be filled with courses to complete a minor, conduct an SYE project, or to supplement courses in psychology, sociology, or the sciences.