ridiculous schedule?..bad idea?

[luvNeMoles]

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So i haven't been a good bio major, pre-vet student ever since i've started college. i'm now in my junior year...i have yet to get one A in a bio/chem class. i've failed genetics last semester, got D's in both chemistry principles freshman year, retook chem 1 and got a C, currently taking chem 2 and may be facing another C....currently and planning schedule for rest of college. generally i fill my semesters to the max (17 creds) and have gotten below 3.0, but one semester i dropped a course and actually got higher than 3.0...i want to graduate on time and am going to have to take physics 1 & 2 over the summer at a CC...but then next semester im planning to take physiology, genetics, histology, and an english/history writing course...three 4 hour biology courses w/ lab...crazy? i know i don't have a good track record, but i'm still working on my studying habits.........i dunno, i make bad choices. what do you guys think? advice, pointers? thoughts on the difficulty of material and combo of the courses?...and the following:

then senior year i have planned orgchem2, microbiology, animal nutrition, and another english writing course.

senior 2nd semester: biochem, org lab, pathophysiology, & comparative anatomy

the only reason i pack my schedules so hardcore bc my advisor told me vet schools look at your work load and how well you can cope...obviously i'm not doing so well. but i really believe i can do much better, it's all in my head. i don't want to give up vet..i can't.

 

[shred4life]

Coming from someone who is looking at a pretty heavy course load next semester:

Only take what you can handle. Those schedules look pretty packed, and if you are not naturally great at sciences then IMO, I think it would be best to space them out as best as you can, so you can really buckle down and focus on a few at a time, get great grades and graduate a semester or two late rather than take a lot of seriously hard classes at once, not do so great, graduate on time but have your GPA suffer. Vets school definitely look at how rigorous your course load is, but they also want to see that you do well in these courses. I think adcoms would much rather see you pulling off great grades at a more moderate pace, then packing up your schedule and receiving less than stellar grades.

Great idea to take classes at community college. It's a great way to get your lower level pre req's out of the way, and a majority of the time the classes are much easier than at a four year school. Just make sure all your credits will transfer to the vet school of your choice and try to stay away from taking specialized, higher level courses at community. A lot of the times, they won't transfer.

Best of luck!

 

[SaintSamson]

Hey,

I've been there 🙂 In fact, your life sounds a lot like mine used to. Although, I had some other issues that led to me leaving the school I was at.
You mentioned you want to graduate on time. Is there a particular reason? If it's financial, then I can understand, and in that case, I think if you plan your schedule with the thought in mind of making it as manageable as possible and really trying to work harder, that's the best idea. Summer courses for lower level pre-reqs are a wonderful idea as well.
I really wanted to graduate on time as well. I finally realized that if I was going to be a competitive applicant, I had to forget about the '4 year plan'. My first three years of college, I packed my schedule very full (17-20 credits per semester.) And I got horrible grades for the most part. I came home, took two classes, then three, and this summer I took 3 courses and got two As and a B. I'm now taking 4 courses and hoping for all As (so far, so good). So my advice, based on personal experience, is if you can take a bit longer to graduate (or finish your pre-reqs) and that that will allow you to have a less packed academic schedule, then I would seriously consider that route.