Parents telling me to "take it easy" this semester, goes against my gut instinct

[lexington251]

I'm an undergrad sophomore, with a 3.75 cGPA and 3.60 sGPA. Both have been steadily on the rise:

Fall 2014: 18 credit hours (max)
Overall cGPA/sGPA: 3.55/3.13

Spring 2015: 15 credit hours
Overall cGPA/sGPA: 3.80/3.74

Fall 2015: 18 credit hours
Overall cGPA/sGPA: 3.84/3.78

For this semester, I'm hoping to finally attain a 4.0. I was confident last semester, but by the end of finals week I was burnt and had poorly allocated too much time on my earlier finals than my last finals.
Going into this semester I'm still unsure about my schedule. I was on track to an A in physics I, but as I said previously, I dropped the ball on my last final and got an A-. I was planning on taking physics II along with the lab this semester, but my parents advised me not to take physics II because they're worried I won't be able to handle the stress (EC's, research, potentially shadowing, writing course, piano).

The alternative would be taking an advanced psychology course instead of physics+lab. It's an extremely difficult class to get into, and I had recently gotten off the waitlist for it: it sounds very interesting, and has a relatively easy workload, but I don't think it counts as a "science" course, meaning I would only have 1 science course. I've heard medical schools look for at least two science courses every semester, and I don't want to put off physics II until junior year, when I intend to take biochem.

That said, I'm also hesitant because our physics department is going through a transition phase with new textbooks and new professors, and it was rough to say the least.

Would it be wise to listen to my parents and just take the psychology course this semester, or should I go with my gut instinct and take physics II+lab instead? I'm worried about pushing physics until later, but I'm also stressed about making my application competitive (studying to get a high MCAT, aiming for 4.0 from here on out).

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[efle]

First of all take a deep breath! Last year the median cGPA and sGPA for accepted med applicants was 3.70 / 3.64. You are already doing plenty well and can stop beating yourself up over an A- or stressing about 4.0s.

Adcoms aren't going to penalize you for spreading out your science classes, whoever said you must be in two science at all times is misinformed. Some people take only the prereqs, one or two at a time, and have all other credits spent in humanities or other nonscience areas.

You have two more years to take things that interest you, so unless this is a one-time psych class you'll probably end up taking that and the physics both anyways. What you take now vs later should just be whatever fits best in your schedule, which will depend on things like your planned timing for the MCAT, whether you are doing a gap year, going abroad, how many upper level science classes you're going to be in per semester in the future, etc.

 

[lexington251]

Thanks for the advice, it may just be the competitiveness at my school (a lot of people are my major and double majoring in other things, peers are complaining about their 3.9 GPA, etc.)
I'll register for both classes, and drop whichever feels less manageable.
Thank you!

 

[Law2Doc]

If the goal is med school take the prereqs and otherwise just take whatever courses you are interested in that will allow you to get A's. Nobody really cares how intense your schedule is or that you double majored or got a minor or that you challenged yourself. They want to see the prereqs and a high GPA.