Course Schedule

[Iain]

I need your help with creating a schedule that I will not overload myself with. I hope to attend Harvard HCP in September. Having done my undergraduate abroad, not only do I have none of the science, but I also need to take a year of Maths, and English.

Here is my proposed schedule:

Year 1
Physics
Chemistry
Statistics (online course)

Year 2
Organic Chemistry
Biology
English (online course)

Year 3 (apply)
Genetics (1 semester)
Microbiology (1 semester)
Biochemistry (1 semester)

Is that too much? I do not expect my online courses to be particularly difficult, and being on a flexible schedule, will make fitting it into my schedule easier. What are your thoughts. I will also be working, on top of this but a standard 9 to 5 job, with an hour to study over lunch!

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[junebuguf]

First off, don't ever assume that a class will be easy. In my experience (of over 220 credit hours at various schools) sometimes the class you expect to be the easiest will become the hardest to do well in. This may be because there is just a lot of work associated with it, or because everyone does well on the tests and the profs set quotas on the number of people to whom they will assign As--so you end up needing to be in the 95th+ percentile to get that A. This happens all the time. I don't know specifically how Harvard is setup, but I would imagine it would be a lot more frequent there, particularly considering the quality of kids who attend and the supposed crackdown on easy As at the ivys.

If you are attending full-time, you should really take Bio in your first year. It may seem like a lot, but not taking it will make your course schedule very light and will raise concerns when you apply. Plus, taking Bio in your first year will enable you to take upper level Bio in your second year. As it is, your schedule is very light in the first two years. You need to justify why you're taking such a light courseload, unless you squeeze English and Math in your first two years, and that would have to be year-length courses in Comp, Literature, Calculus I and II.

Also, be forewarned, Physics w/ Calculus is a waste of time and will confer no benefit on the MCAT and only nominally help when you apply. If you're considering it, stop. The algebra based version is more than enough. There are super-gunners and science geeks on this board who will say otherwise (note the Orgo is essential guy who posted not long ago.) If your goal is to matriculate to med school, then pick the smartest route possible (this is not always the hardest route, btw). Essentially, try to take a full, impressive, courseload in which you are confident you can do extremely well. You should aim for a post-bacc undergrad gpa of at least 3.85+ if you have a poor undergrad record from England.

PS Another reason for scheduling Bio in your first year is that the grades from Genetics, Micro and Biochem will be available when adcoms are reviewing your application--a big advantage. You want to schedule courses such as English and Calc during your third year, since adcoms will be more interested in your Biochem grade than your English Lit grade.

 

[Iain]

I will be an evening/weekends student; I will be working 40 hours a week too. The reason I put physics in first year, as on the course description they recommend having complete the Chem course before taking the biology.

I am not going to be taking the MCAT, as I intend to apply for veterinary school - so I would only need the GRE.

 

[Sundarban1]

I will be an evening/weekends student; I will be working 40 hours a week too. The reason I put physics in first year, as on the course description they recommend having complete the Chem course before taking the biology.

I am not going to be taking the MCAT, as I intend to apply for veterinary school - so I would only need the GRE.

#1: The administration at HES advises you take Chem/Physics year one before you take biology because biology is taught at the molecular level here and very chem/genetics intensive. So do not take bio first.

#2: Doing Chem/Physics/online course/ +40hr job is going to be almost impossible here. The number one reason there is such a high attrition rate here is that students come here and do not realize the amount of time outside of lectures/labs that these two courses require.

Example:
Reading before lecture: Very important! This course is taught straight from the book, so you have to read the chapters to understand lecture and actually do the homework-2 hrs/week.
Physics Lecture Tuesdays 3hrs/weekly
Physics section: 1 hr/week (required)
Physics Lab (every other week) 3 hrs, plus pre-lab assignment completed outside of lab, before lab section--1-2hr (not kidding, some are tough).
Physics homework every week(graded)-expect to spend between 3-5hrs a week on each this, minimum. The professor suggests to do extra problems to get more practice, which is not always possible given the time it takes just to comple the required problems.

Reading before lecture, the book sucks, but again if you do not read the chapters you will miss what is going on in lecture. This guy is great but he talks so fast half the time you don't have a chance to understand everything you are writing in lecture unless you have read the chapters beforehand-1-2hrs.
Chemistry Lecture Thursdays 3/hrs weekly
Chemisty section 1/hr week (required)
Chemisty Lab (weekly!!) 3hrs +pre-lab assignment 1-2 hrs/week.
Chemistry homework due each week -starts off easy, but easily the tougher of the two classes. Again expect to spend 3 hours minimum on each assignment. In addition there are supplement problems (Logan notes) that you must also complete in addition to required homework each week. These are not required, but everyone does them as the book quite frankly sucks and it is the only way outside of homework that you can practice problems.

So, that is almost 35 hours a week ontop of a 40 hr. full time job. Keep in mind that labs/section/lecture/homework all take place in the evening and on the weekend, don't count on your hour lunch break to be able to accomplish much, most of the time it is the only time during the week I have to myself!! Luckily my job is flexable so that I can get in early and leave early to work on things before class. If your job is not flexable, I would seriously consider A.) Not working at all, or B.) Taking less of a courseload over a longer time. After you take bio year two you will not need genetics, unless you actually NEED the class. You can always take classes over the summer at surrounding schools at night also.

It is not as easy as you think. I work full time and luckily I already took chemistry and beleive me physics is more than enough to keep me busy.

I have a few friends who are quite intelligent who are in both chem/physics and do not work at all and are struggling with all the work.

A note about online classes as well...you will have to call the schools you wish to apply to and see if they accept online course credits. Some schools do NOT accept classes taken online, especially if they are requirements for dental/medical/vet school.

PM me if you have any questions about our program.
Good luck.