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Organic chem 2, Genetics, and Biochem in one semester?
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A high course load isn't as important as getting the A's, in my opinion. Are you still working? If so, I'd drop something. Organic was a major time-sucker for me....taking 2 other science classes on top of it while also working would have been disastrous.
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It's a good idea to keep a full course load (full-time student), but that doesn't mean all your classes have to be hard science. Since you could really use the A's this semester, I would keep the biochem class and drop either genetics or ochem. Personally, I'd drop genetics, because then you'd have one class where you memorize a lot (biochem) and one class where it's a bit of memorization but mostly problem solving (ochem). Replace genetics with a non-science course.
note: by full course load I do just mean full-time student. Taking 18 over 15 credits will not look more impressive. Good grades are impressive.
note: by full course load I do just mean full-time student. Taking 18 over 15 credits will not look more impressive. Good grades are impressive.
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If you'll still be working, I would drop one of the science courses and pick up something easier. It's obviously possible to get all A's with that workload, but it sounds like you shouldn't take the risk of getting all B's again. You definitely need to put up some solid grades this semester, so focus on 2 of the 3 science courses while still maintaining a full workload.
If you won't be working, then you can take all 3 courses. As long as you put in the time studying, you should be able to get A's.
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You're crazy as balls if you think you're going to take all those classes at once. Screw your counselor. He's a college counselor FFS. He wasn't even good enough at planning to work his way out of that gig. Not being full time won't murder your chances at med school, but bad grades will. Only do what you can handle while getting As.
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This is tough. How necessary is it for you to take Genetics and Biochem prior to transferring? If you can help it, I would highly highly recommend putting off those two courses until you transfer. It seems as if you've taken most, if not all, of your pre-reqs at a community college (considering the fact that you're contemplating taking Orgo 2). Taking all your pre-reqs at a community college arguably puts you at a disadvantage from the ADCOMS point of view. To offset this "disadvantage" you would need to take upper-division science courses at a university (Genetics and Biochem) to prove that you can handle the rigors of such courses. Of course you would need to do well in these courses as well (B+ or higher).
It's your call on this one. How did you do in orgo 2? Orgo 2 is easier or just as easy (or just as hard, depending on how you see it) as orgo 1 so expect to put in the same amount of time into orgo 2 as you did in orgo 1. Genetics is easy and biochem will also take time but not as much as orgo. Take all that into consideration.
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I agree with this. Also, at my school Organic II was a prerequisite for biochem; your school's biochem class might be different, but I would have some concern about it. Also, genetics was time consuming at my school and was considered "hard" by most of my peers (but in fairness that is probably because of the professor and not necessarily the subject matter).
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I generally received As, but had Bs as well. I had similar workloads during multiple semesters but also held multiple jobs throughout undergrad that were undoubtedly the cause of several Bs. If you don't have to work, you should be able to manage the workload. As others have said, studying in medical school is substantially more time-consuming than undergrad, so it'll prepare you for med school as well.
I took those the same semester, as well as neuroscience and a sociology class. Getting A's is doable with a load like that, but you've got to have good time management skills. If not, it will be awful (as it was for a friend who wound up with a 3.0 that semester with a similar schedule). Proceed accordingly.
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I had organic chem/lab, physics/lab, cell biology/lab, and a religion course all in one semester. No denying it was a lot of work. BUT, I thought of it as, "well if I can't handle this, there is no WAY I'll survive medical school". I studied my butt off and did well. You can do it too, just stay on top of everything.
And senior year will be biochem/lab, physical chem/lab, genetics/lab, and some liberal arts credit. Looking forward to that!! Seriously though, if I can do it you can do it.
And senior year will be biochem/lab, physical chem/lab, genetics/lab, and some liberal arts credit. Looking forward to that!! Seriously though, if I can do it you can do it.
