In addition, looking back even at HS (yeah 4 yrs flies by, can't believe I graduated in 2009!) I remember when I was a junior I was taking an Advanced Chemistry class for two semesters and I aced that class so easily that it seemed like it was a joke. So when I got to Lyman Briggs at MSU I didn't think Chemistry was gonna be that difficult until I realized that the teacher had a higher expectation for us and that my Adv. Chem class in HS was actually a complete joke compared to college chem. Every class you take in college will be MUCH more challenging than it's HS equivalence for you, well at least that is how it was for me. My HS was not the most top notch of the area, but again Oakland County has the best education in the state of Michigan and we were in the middle of the pack
My advice would be during your Freshmen year at college (when the time comes) to look at EVERY major option your school offers. Talk to past students who took these majors, if your school has one of those "rate your professor" sites that a lot of people use, then use it! For example, had I actually done this I would have realized I picked the hardest Natural Science major Lyman Briggs of MSU offers instead of taking the road most traveled and less stressed. And even try to look at the major requirements before you even attend your first day of class at college. So maybe, once you get accepted into your college of choice look at their academic booklet and see what classes you have to take. Because at your Orientation program you will have advisors who are paid by your college giving you advice on how to start your "4 year plan" but what they don't tell you is that they purposely help you so that 4 yr plan is never just 4 yrs. My theory, they get paid by the college, if the Natural Science college has 1,000 extra 5yr seniors enrolled then the college makes more money, thus the college can pay the advisors a couple grand more per year b/c they advised every student to take an elective their first 2 semesters of college forcing you to become a 4.5 or 5yr college student. Yeah, sounds like a lot of rambling b/c it is, but it is also the truth that your college will never tell you.
Before your orientation (at MSU we call it A.O.P) look at all the Biological and Natural Science majors that are offered. Pick out a good 4 that you think would interest you or something on that line. Print out the degree requirements on those 4 majors. Go over each major and see which ones have classes that interest you, the HS you! My advice would also to look at the numbering system of the class. Say one major requires you to take PSL 431 & 432 and BMB 461 & 462 (each class 3cred) while another major only requires you to take PSL 250 & BMB 401 (each 4 cred). Which one do you think would be the smarter choice? Take the one that is two semesters of hell of a much higher number or take the one that is one semester and a lower number? I hope you guessed correctly, it is the second choice. This was my mistake, I didn't read carefully enough. Don't slack off like the rest of your HS buddies once you get accepted too. You have enough time on your hands to do this research. It would take at most one night to just print out the top 4 choices and analyze them. Get Excel spreadsheet and list off what degree requires what and notice the major differences. If I had done this 2yrs ago I would be graduating this upcoming Spring with a much higher GPA than I will probably graduate with next Fall.
