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mattk42214

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I am dual AA/diploma recipient currently attending the University of Florida as a freshman and currently have 15 credits. My academic adviser has a huge issue with my course load: Organic I, Physics (W/O calc) with lab I, Human Physiology, Economics food issues, and and introductory course to the university.

I was told at orientation to not take organic with physics at the same time but just add it Friday and missed the deadline to drop the physiology course that I realized may be a lot more work than expected. "As a freshman" and in general my course load is supposedly terrible and she is heavily recommending that I drop something, most likely the online physiology course.

What do you all think? I've read course load does not matter for medical school admissions (within reason), instead GPA matters most. I mention that because she also said she sees AA recipients do stuff like this all the time and end up in Academic probation. What should I do?

I've loaded myself in the past (two semesters) and handled it with a 3.86 in the end, but it definitely wasn't enjoyable. I was pretty stressed out and worked constantly.

I'm also scared of getting a W already on my transcript and that I may be "taking the easy way out" - even though I already have some of the University's "worst" courses together in my schedule.

Cliffs:
Taken Orgo I, Physics without calc and lab I, Human Physiology online and two other small courses in the same semester as a freshman who got AA with diploma.
Adviser said she sees dual enrollment transfers like me nearly fail out taking a schedule like mine.
Recommends to drop physiology, scared to get W and that I'm "taking the easy way out".
Physiology course isn't that bad, but she said it will be as I progress in the semester and try to balance everything.
Loaded myself before and got 3.86, but was very stressed for the majority of the time.

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If you're only at 15 credits, will dropping physio drop you down to part time? That's something to consider, especially if you're getting financial aid because that's usually only for full-time students.
 
Skip the physio. You wouldn't even need it honestly. Med school physio is not like undergrad physio. Focus on getting the real pre-req's taken care of.
 
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15 is not a lot of courses.....like at all

That said, you need As.....do whatever it takes whether that is withdrawing or manning up
 
15 is not a lot of courses.....like at all

That said, you need As.....do whatever it takes whether that is withdrawing or manning up

I think it's more about the difficulty of the courses themselves and less about the number of credit hours. I personally wouldn't want to take physics, ochem and physio all in the same semester.
 
If you're only at 15 credits, will dropping physio drop you down to part time? That's something to consider, especially if you're getting financial aid because that's usually only for full-time students.

No not at all, I'd be just at full time (12 credits). I'd have $450 charged to my account to pay Bright Futures back (they have full funding for this year), but that's the only downside.
 
Skip the physio. You wouldn't even need it honestly. Med school physio is not like undergrad physio. Focus on getting the real pre-req's taken care of.

This course is "required" for my major. I put quotes around that because there are other options I can take, I don't know if I'm going to switch to exercise physiology, and I also can take it anytime whereas organic and physics I might wanna get rid of first.
 
15 is not a lot of courses.....like at all

That said, you need As.....do whatever it takes whether that is withdrawing or manning up
This is what I was scared of, that I really just want the easy way out and the least amount of stress each semester. However, I told my academic adviser that and she basically said she's never seen anybody succeed with a course load like mine.

I talked to a bunch of my pre-med friends later and they all said that the advisers just don't know what they're talking about and that I could likely handle a course load like this. And "eventually you'll have to load yourself, it's picking which semester you wanna get screwed on".
 
I think it's more about the difficulty of the courses themselves and less about the number of credit hours. I personally wouldn't want to take physics, ochem and physio all in the same semester.

Physics and Orgo are notorious for being the harder courses at UF, but that being said my instructor did say this physiology course was introductory, even at it's 3000 level (BSC3096). The majority is not difficult more than just time consuming besides the "Justphysiology" portion where I have to create "what-if" scenarios through graphs and adjust the variables of insulin, fasting period, etc. over 5-9 questions. I got really lost trying to do that portion but otherwise the class isn't killer. Even then however, I don't know if this will just overload me as I also try to focus on Orgo I and Physics together, something I may have been better off just waiting separately for this semester. I'm unsure of what to do.

Again, course is "introductory" but the A is a 93.33, but that includes writing a research paper and peer-reviewing others based off the graphs I mentioned above (I think), one midterm and final both worth 20%, and then the rest of the class assignments. I'm pretty sure I will need to invest a lot of time into this course to make sure I don't dip below that, but I really am unsure of what to do.
 
FYI, I may even consider dropping the Orgo I in place of the physiology. That would give me an opportunity to remove the course without setting myself up with the hardest professor in the entire department for spring term, as he is the only one teaching it. That would also have me setup to do Orgo I with Physics II, because taking Orgo II with this professor is supposed to be hell and I really don't feel like doing extra work for a possible worse grade than working with a lighter professor.
 
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