question about premed courses

[soon2beadoctor]

hey guys this is my first post in the forum. I am a rising freshman and will be starting school in the fall. i needed some help in choosing classes. i currently have signed up for gen chem 101, bio 114(principles of bio), english 101, and music 121(fine arts requirement). do you think i would be overloading my self with 2 science classes in my first term in college? im majoring chemistry and minoring biology. also what other classes would you guys recommend i take my first year?( mainly science related)

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[argonaute]

congrats on taking your first step in a very long journey!

2 science classes will hopefully not be too overloading, since you, as a premed and a double science major, will be taking MANY science classes over your college career- you'll probably have 2 science classes a semester on average. but of course, it varies from person to person, and your college's gen bio/chem classes might be ridiculous and be the weeder classes.

Those 4 classes are definitely more than enough for your first semester- you really shouldn't take more than 4 classes a semester.

But in terms of other classes for other terms, it varies from school to school, but I would say stick with chemistry and biology, and perhaps english for the entire year, and have your last class be a breadth or fun class.

 

[soon2beadoctor]

thanks. i had another question. does it matter where you do your premed undergraduate studies? I am asking this because I am going to a state school rather than a higher ranked private school(RPI) which i was also accepted to. The reason i chose to go to the state school was because at RPI i wouldve been miserable because a) i cannot stand the cold. been to the north 3 times and have been extremely sick ever time. b) classes at RPI wouldve been taught differently and would have been much harder. Would a 3.4 from RPI be rated higher than a 3.8~ from a state school?

 

[STAT EKG]

3.4 from a high-ranked private school definitely won't outweigh a 3.8 from a state school. From what I understand, the GPA inflation from "harder" programs (if any) is much more marginal than that.

Secondly,

Two science courses is standard. Expect to be taking two or more per semester every semester as a pre-med. I don't know your aptitude, but I'm assuming it's high if you were accepted to a highly ranked private school; if so, general bio and general chem in the same semester should be no sweat at all.

maybe if you had a schedule like:
general bio
general chem
calculus
general physics
english

^^^ A schedule like that would be bordering on too much, but lots of people out there are taking schedules like this and making A's.

 

[soon2beadoctor]

thanks. last question i promise! I've heard that organic chemistry and advanced bio courses shouldnt be taken at the same time. is there any truth to this? is organic really the big hard class?

 

[MacdaddyDaniels]

If you are looking for another class that you might find interesting and is relatively easy, look into nutrition or psychology. I took both freshmen year.

 

[vickpick]

thanks. last question i promise! I've heard that organic chemistry and advanced bio courses shouldnt be taken at the same time. is there any truth to this? is organic really the big hard class?

I took Bio 2 and ochem 1.. got a's in both..
i guess bio 2 is not a high level bio..
but i'll be taking organic 2 and cell next semester + physics..


I think its doable.. but I'll be quitting my job since it'll be a 18 credit hr course load for me...

 

[TurkSurg]

hey guys this is my first post in the forum. I am a rising freshman and will be starting school in the fall. i needed some help in choosing classes. i currently have signed up for gen chem 101, bio 114(principles of bio), english 101, and music 121(fine arts requirement). do you think i would be overloading my self with 2 science classes in my first term in college? im majoring chemistry and minoring biology. also what other classes would you guys recommend i take my first year?( mainly science related)

make sure to take physics and calculus classes early because I'm also majoring in chemistry and most upper level chemistry classes require physics prerequisite, and physics require calc prerequisite ...

my 3.1416 cents

 

[ArkansasRanger]

hey guys this is my first post in the forum. I am a rising freshman and will be starting school in the fall. i needed some help in choosing classes. i currently have signed up for gen chem 101, bio 114(principles of bio), english 101, and music 121(fine arts requirement). do you think i would be overloading my self with 2 science classes in my first term in college? im majoring chemistry and minoring biology. also what other classes would you guys recommend i take my first year?( mainly science related)

The only thing that blows about taking numerous science classes is that, where I went at least, the lectures were always in the mornings and the labs were always in the afternoons so that ties up a lot of your day.