Freshman Year Schedule

[anperry]

This will be my second semester as a freshman, and I am planning to take the following:

Bio I w/ lab
Physics II w/ lab
Chem II w/ lab
Elementary Spanish

This amounts to 16 credits, plus 1 credit for undergraduate research.

Is this too full a schedule to do (including research), along with volunteering roughly 10 hrs/week? Or should I cut out, say, Phys II for now?

I have typed up a prelim. schedule that seems to work, but I'm curious to hear how many credits successful students have taken while doing research/extracurriculars/etc.

Do med. schools look at the rigor of the course load you take each semester? Or should I drop a class, and put more time into volunteering?

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[Catalystik]

L

This will be my second semester as a freshman, and I am planning to take the following:

Bio I w/ lab
Physics II w/ lab
Chem II w/ lab
Elementary Spanish

This amounts to 16 credits, plus 1 credit for undergraduate research.

Is this too full a schedule to do (including research), along with volunteering roughly 10 hrs/week? Or should I cut out, say, Phys II for now?

I have typed up a prelim. schedule that seems to work, but I'm curious to hear how many credits successful students have taken while doing research/extracurriculars/etc.

Do med. schools look at the rigor of the course load you take each semester? Or should I drop a class, and put more time into volunteering?

Labs are a huge time-sink. Consider cutting to two labs and five volunteer hours per week, since you'll be doing research too. Adcomms don't expect freshman to manage a rigorous schedule, as they're usually still figuring out how to get great grades with a faster learning pace.

 

[anperry]

L

Labs are a huge time-sink. Consider cutting to two labs and five volunteer hours per week, since you'll be doing research too. Adcomms don't expect freshman to manage a rigorous schedule, as they're usually still figuring out how to get great grades with a faster learning pace.

So, perhaps I could cut physics for now?

 

[DoctorSwagger]

Wow three labs that's a lot


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[Catalystik]

So, perhaps I could cut physics for now?

Or just the lab, if it's separate from the lecture. What will you replace it with, if your semester hours would be below full-time requirements?

 

[anperry]

Or just the lab, if it's separate from the lecture. What will you replace it with, if your semester hours would be below full-time requirements?

My school requires that labs and the corresponding lectures be taken concurrently--so I would need to drop both. I'm thinking of taking an intro to psych, or into to socio. in place. Do you think those courses are worth the time in prep. for the MCAT?

 

[Turkishking]

I would stick with two science courses.

 

[james11]

My school requires that labs and the corresponding lectures be taken concurrently--so I would need to drop both. I'm thinking of taking an intro to psych, or into to socio. in place. Do you think those courses are worth the time in prep. for the MCAT?

Not really... psych/soc concepts are remarkably simple and prep for the MCAT consists of memorizing a bunch of terms, so it's easy to do that on your own.

I don't think three science classes is terribly unrealistic... frankly, if you can't handle a bunch of science at once then med school is gonna be hard for you... and this way you can prepare to take the MCAT earlier, which I strongly recommend if you don't wanna do a gap year

 

[wut?]

I'm not 100% sure about this but I've read that when med schools receive your grades, they don't see what classes you took together and in what year you took them. The most important thing to focus on is whether you can get the best possible grades with the schedule that you have now. If you see that it's not possible, you can always withdraw from the class and take it later. This would be the best option because you do not want to spend the next few semesters trying to repair your science gpa.

 

[UberUdder09]

if you can't handle a bunch of science at once then med school is gonna be hard for you...

Agreed.. but at your second semester in college you still have time to develop that work ethic. Two science classes may be a lot of work for a relatively new student and three should warrant caution - particularly at the grades expected of pre-meds.

prepare to take the MCAT earlier

Don't prepare too early! Maybe late sophomore/early junior year would be a better time to take the MCAT seriously.

Just a thought..

 

[anperry]

This semester, I'm also teaching piano to multiple students and have a weekend job, so I'm thinking--just to be on the side of caution--that it may be wisest to drop Physics II and take into to socio (even though it seems to be a easy-to-self-study class for MCAT, it can't hurt!). I agree that I will need to be able to handle multiple science courses at once, but I also don't want to overload and then kill my GPA (I have a 4.0 now, and would like to keep it!).

 

[UberUdder09]

but I also don't want to overload and then kill my GPA (I have a 4.0 now, and would like to keep it!).

Careful and wise. If you find that it was easier than expected, you can add more courses later.

 

[ciestar]

My school requires that labs and the corresponding lectures be taken concurrently--so I would need to drop both. I'm thinking of taking an intro to psych, or into to socio. in place. Do you think those courses are worth the time in prep. for the MCAT?

I took the old mcat so i can't comment on psych/soc for prep, but I can say I very much enjoyed my psych classes through undergrad. My major required psych I (intro, whatever you wanna call it) and I thought it was just an overall interesting, slightly easier course to break up the rest of my schedule.

 

[Catalystik]

My school requires that labs and the corresponding lectures be taken concurrently--so I would need to drop both. I'm thinking of taking an intro to psych, or into to socio. in place. Do you think those courses are worth the time in prep. for the MCAT?

Either is a good option, as would be any general education requirement.

 

[Catalystik]

I've read that when med schools receive your grades, they don't see what classes you took together and in what year you took them.

The year by year GPA and credit summary doesn't list specific coursework, but your complete transcript (which you enter, and which is verified) is also provided to med schools by the application service in case a micro-analysis is desirable. The latter gives course name, department and identifying number, credits, and term taken.

 

[Nucleophile1]

Personally, I would drop Physics and switch it out for something like English or History (one of your gen eds). Labs take up a lot of time and you want to focus on getting good grades rather than loading your semester full of science.

 

[ScaryName]

Let me hijack this for a second. I'm a freshman as well. Does my year look a bit ambitious (in a bad way)?

Genetics
Calculus I
Chemistry II/lab
Anthropology
Grad Biology class/lab (just microscopy)

I'll be volunteering at minimum 10 hours a week, along with two research projects. I was able to get an A in all my lecture classes last semester except for math (unfortunately).

 

[anperry]

So, I decided to take

Bio I
Chem II
Intro to sociology
Elementary Spanish
Undergrad research elective

Is this a rigorous enough schedule w/o being too much (like with physics)?

 

[aprilfools]

So, I decided to take

Bio I
Chem II
Intro to sociology
Elementary Spanish
Undergrad research elective

Is this a rigorous enough schedule w/o being too much (like with physics)?

Lol don't worry about having a "rigorous enough" schedule. Do well in your pre-reqs, major in something you're interested in, take classes you like.

This schedule is fine.

 

[Catalystik]

So, I decided to take

Bio I
Chem II
Intro to sociology
Elementary Spanish
Undergrad research elective

Is this a rigorous enough schedule w/o being too much (like with physics)?

Looks good.