Suggested Courses for “Pre-Med” Computational Biology Majors
Carnegie Mellon University offers a “Health Professions Program” (HPP) for undergraduate students who are interested in entering medical school upon graduation. We have several majors who are currently preparing for MD or MD/PhD programs, and we look forward to watching them become the doctors of the future, as they combine their extensive computational ability with medical education.
Please consult the HPP homepage and the HPP student advisor for current course requirements, as well as for information about additional programs such as dentistry, podiatry, and pptometry. Below, we indicate some suggested coursework for computational biology majors interested in the Allopathic and Osteopathic Medicine program (i.e., what is often called “pre-med”).
The following courses are required for both the HPP program and the computational biology major and will automatically be completed by students completing the major.
- 02-261 (Quantitative Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory)
- 03-121 (Modern Biology)
- 03-231 or 03-232 (Biochemistry)
- 09-105 (Introduction to Chemistry)
- 21-120 (Calculus I)
- 21-122 (Calculus II: Integration, Diff Equations & Approximation)
- 33-121 or 33-141 (Physics I)
- 76-101 (Interpretation & Argument)
The following required HPP courses should be taken to count as an elective for the computational biology program.
- 85-102 (Introduction to Psychology) or 85-241 (Social Psychology): counts as a “Category 1” (Cognition, Choice and Behavior) Humanities & Arts elective
- 76-XXX: Any English course at the 200-level or higher that falls in the acceptable menu of “Category 3” (Cultural Analysis) Humanities & Arts electives
- Introduction to sociology: counts as a free Humanities & Arts elective. Students may consider taking this for transfer credit.
- 09-217 (Organic Chemistry I): counts as the required biology elective for computational biology majors.
Finally, the following courses will be unique to the HPP program and should be taken as free electives by computational biology majors.
- 42-202 (Physiology)
- 09-106 (Modern Chemistry II)
- 09-207 (Chem Lab: Techniques in Quantitative Analysis)
- 09-218 (Modern Chemistry II)
- 09-208 (O-Chem Lab: Techniques for Organic Synthesis & Analysis)
- 33-122 or 33-142 (Physics II)
- 33-100 (Physics Lab: Basic Experimental Physics)