courses in the fall

[JYim]

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i know it's a little early.
but what courses are you guys taking in the fall?
or planning to take.

i'm planning to take...

general chem
general bio with lab
elementary physics
calculus
and english

is that too much?
haha, i'm a first time freshman.
is that a huge work load?
i'll be going to csuf by the way.

is it a good idea to finish prerequisites for the pharmacy college you want to go to first? then do courses for bachelor's degree?

lalala~

 

[imprecious]

i know it's a little early.
but what courses are you guys taking in the fall?
or planning to take.

i'm planning to take...

general chem
general bio with lab
elementary physics
calculus
and english

is that too much?
haha, i'm a first time freshman.
is that a huge work load?
i'll be going to csuf by the way.

is it a good idea to finish prerequisites for the pharmacy college you want to go to first? then do courses for bachelor's degree?

lalala~

Hopefully your pre-reqs for pharmacy school will also be applicable for your BS degree as well. Whether or not the course load is too much or enough depends on you really. 🙂 I personally took 20 units my freshman year. Some pharmacy schools would be impressed to see you be able to handle a heavy course load and also be able to maintain a high GPA. Just some insight. Good luck

 

[skeksis]

It looks like a fair course load to me - 18 credits right? I've taken 19 credits each semester for the last two semesters, and everything is going well... Generally, pharmacy schools like to see a full load like that as a way of gauging one's capacity to handle rigorous course loads.
~Alan

 

[Diamondeve21]

i know it's a little early.
but what courses are you guys taking in the fall?
or planning to take.

i'm planning to take...

general chem
general bio with lab
elementary physics
calculus
and english

is that too much?
haha, i'm a first time freshman.
is that a huge work load?
i'll be going to csuf by the way.

is it a good idea to finish prerequisites for the pharmacy college you want to go to first? then do courses for bachelor's degree?

lalala~

That is a decent course load... Sure, pharm school wants to see that you can handle a heavy course load but they care more about your GPA!!! Trust me, no one will care how many units you took if ur gpa is bad but if ur gpa is good, ur course load wont matter as much as long as u are full time. My advice is try to take as many classes as you can but make sure you get all A's.

 

[orange_ivy]

If you are a genius that studies nonstop the whole semester you can do well in all of those classes at one time. Since it is your first semester I would not recommend taking all of those at once. You do want to have a little time to relax right? This first semester you will need time to get used to college life and learn how to prioritize time and study properly.
I would recommend general chemistry, english, biology, (if it is an easy class at your school. At my college General Bio is REALLY HARD...it is like a weed out class.) and then either physics or calculus depending on which is a better subject for you. Do physics and gen chem have labs included as well? Labs tend to take a lot of time to do lab right ups. My boyfriend came into college and took General Biology and Organic chem at the same time and ended up getting C's in biology which has come back to haunt him now that he is applying to schools. Good luck deciding, but don't overwhelm yourself!!

 

[penguins429]

As long as you can handle it, do as much as possible ... My first semester of freshman year i took Honors Calc 2, Honors General Chem, Honors Quantitative Chem (lab), Honors English, and Art History, (and a 0 credit frshman seminar thing) ... I thought it would be a breeze after high school taking all honors/AP classes without even needing to study ... I wound up dropping Calc (getting a W), getting a C+ in Gen Chem, an B+ in Quant, an A- in English, and a B+ in Art History ... now I regret taking so much because I feel have to explain myself on why I did so poorly in some of these classes ...
Just be careful, sometimes its better to take your time and do things right than to rush and mess things up ...

 

[Robinbird]

I agree with orange_ivy and diamondeve21. My first semester I tried to start out with 16 hrs (which isn't that extreme but isn't light either), and I ended up dropping a class (because of several reasons including all the stress and high expectations I had for myself). At one of my interviews (where I was accepted) I was asked what the heaviest course load I took was, and I told her 17 hrs. She then asked how I did, and I said that I did ok. When she asked what "ok" was I told her As and Bs. She kind of gave me a funny look and asked if I ever had a C and I said no so I think she thought As and Bs for 17hrs was pretty good. They do want to know that you can handle a heavy load, but I usually average 14 hrs a semester and come out with As and Bs. The one semester I made straight A's I only had 14 hrs, but I took Organic, Physics, their labs, calculus, and psychology together.

So, your schedule is doable, but I personally wouldn't recommend taking all that your first semester. I would suggest 16hrs or less and get a feel for school and the difficulty level before you decide to take such a heavy load. Those hours and classes don't really leave much room for a life and/or work, but you might be one of those lucky people who don't really have to study and can still make really good grades. I wouldn't base that on highschool experience though.

Oh and chem, bio, and physics all have labs, and you only get 1 hr for them, but you're normally in lab a lot longer than that. At my school our labs are scheduled for 3 hrs, but we always got out of bio lab early (and in organic we stayed in lab for about 5 hrs ).

 

[JYim]

thanks for all the advices. i think i'll go with orange_ivy and robinbird. they've got a pretty good point too 🙂


thanks thanks

i'm a first time freshman, i feel like such a newbie

 

[LiliaKT]

well i think you already got ur share of advice, but i want to add in my two cents anyway, hehe.

GPA GPA GPA!! those things are so important. since you have 4 yrs to complete all the pre-reqs, why rush it? take it slow and mix it w/ different types of classes. that way you wont burn out and you get to experience and hopefully enjoy a variety of things. and when you're happy, most likely you'll do well, and thus, higher gpa, therefore, admin comm would look more favorably on u. thou make sure you finish the hard sciences (and hopefully ace them) before you apply, that way schools know that you can handle the curriculum when they look at ur apps.

props to u, knowing what to do so early on is a GREAT thing. you'll have a clear goal and the leisure to plan things out.

 

[ginephre]

it also depends on how much homework each class has, which you might be able to find out by asking current students. i had a buttload of homework in my physics and calculus classes and probably would have had some issues if i had taken them at the same time. my physics lab wasn't too hard but with gen bio, gen chem, and physics (if yours has a lab) not only is that a lot of credits, but a LOT of lab time!

 

[JustTiff]

i know it's a little early.
but what courses are you guys taking in the fall?
or planning to take.

i'm planning to take...

general chem
general bio with lab
elementary physics
calculus
and english

is that too much?
haha, i'm a first time freshman.
is that a huge work load?
i'll be going to csuf by the way.

is it a good idea to finish prerequisites for the pharmacy college you want to go to first? then do courses for bachelor's degree?

lalala~

I'm not even a first time freshman and this isn't my first quarter (not on semsters here, which is a pain in the butt when hoping to get into a semester school who has all prereq's laid out in semester hours) but I am worried about the load of classes I plan on taking this fall also. I'm taking Chem, Physics and Calculus. Then in the Winter Chem, Physics and A&P. The amount of lab and homework is what I'm worried about. I know it can be done, it will just take focus and time management. I don't work, thankfully, but I have 2 little ones and they are a full time job and more.
Good luck!!

 

[Snowcat]

GPA is very important. The idea of blazing through the prereqs in as little time as possible is tempting and impressive, but it also leaves very little room for a life outside of the library (unless you're one of them geniuses). There's even less room for dropping behind in classes, even for a day or two. Labs, homework, Math homework!, and part-time jobs can also eat up a lot of time.

I try to limit myself to two math/science classes a quarter, and the rare three. I tried four once - G.Chem, G.Bio, C++ Programming II, and Calculus - and for that quarter, it was madness.

 

[iheartpandp]

I would probably drop physics or calculus. I think physics would be easier after taking calc personally so I would probably drop physics. I think that would be too much of a load after high school. College is a totally dif. story unless you took super intensive AP or IB classes.