Advanced Placement classes in high school prepared students for entrance into good universities, but in college, there seems to be no set path to a good medical school.

Upon arriving at Harvard, many first-years are anxious to begin the journey down medicine lane. But armed with only one personal goals--the desire to become a doctor--they don't know how to go about achieving it.

While the majority of pre-med students still choose to concentrate in the sciences, advisors say that more pre-meds make the decision to concentrate in an nonscience fields.

The basic requirements for medical school include a year of: biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry and general physics--all with laboratory. Also, most schools require a year of college English and a year of college mathematics.

While most medical schools prefer the mathematics course to be partly calculus, but for Harvard, Duke, Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Schools, a year of calculus is required. While Harvard offers numerous courses to fulfill each requirement, many first-years are still confused which of the available science courses they should take.

The primary factor for pre-meds to consider when choosing which courses they should take to meet medical school requirements is often their high school background in the respective field.

While some first-years may feel the inclination to sign up for the "more difficult" courses because they will look better on medical school applications, students must also consider whether they can handle the material taught in harder classes.

"I think it's fine to take the so-called easier classes if your interest in these fields is minimal. You only need enough to get by on the MCATs. If you have more interest in in depth knowledge in the field, then you should take the higher level classes," says Mariakarnina Iskandar '99.

But some students say that many premeds tend to take easier classes than they can handle so they can get better grades.

"For the MCATs, you just need the basic level of sciences. It's not like high school where it's better to get a B+ in an AP class. Med schools only look at the final grades," says Monica B. Shah '99.

"I know people who got placed into physics 15 and took physics I so they could get an A. They screw up the curve. Med schools don't give you more credit for advanced level classes like colleges do," she adds.

Perhaps the earliest dilemma confronting pre-meds is whether to take Chemistry 5: "Introduction to Principles off Cheimsitry" and Chemistry 7: "Principles of Chemistry" or Chemistry 10: "Foundations of Chemistry."

While Chemistry 5/7 teaches general chemistry over the time span of two semesters, Chemistry 10: "Foundations of Chemistry" takes up only one semester.

"Chemistry 5 is a good pre-med and introductory class and it's easier than 10," says Roanak V. Desai '00.

But in spite of this incentive, advisors say that pre-meds should consider the difference in difficulty and necessary background knowledge for Chem 10.