Summer Classes

[Faze2]

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I know I asked this on a previous thread, but I figured I'd start a new one so this didn't get lost in the oblivion of the OCHEM thread.


1) I posted earlier that I was planning on taking OCHEM this summer, and many of you, and my pre med advisor, suggested against that. She told me that if I absolutely had to take a summer class, which I kinda do, I should take Physics. I am not that concerned that a condensed class will be more difficult, because I took many of my 400 level Economics courses for my degree in the summer and did well in them. I am more concerned that such a quick pace will not be condusive to actually retaining the material for the MCAT. I am planning to take a KAPLAN class so I was wondering if that would help to "make up" for any lacking Physics knowledge that some say a summer class might cause.

2) Also, I have thought about some of the advice I got to take BIO I this spring along with CHEM II, and then BIO II during the summer, that way I will only have one summer session class to take instead of two. This would be ideal, and then I could take ORGO and PHYSICS next year along with a higher science maybe, and then take the MCAT after I finish. But the school I am taking BIO I at may not offer BIO II this summer, cause they didn't last summer. If that happens, I would have to take BIO II next fall with ORGO I and PHYSICS I and basically I couldn't do that becuase in order to do well I could not work enough to support myself. Would it be a bad idea to take BIO II at another school if they offered it in summer? It would only be that one class, but would switching between schools be a bad idea? I am going to call the BIO dept tomorrow and see if they are offering BIO II in the summer. Any advice though would help.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

1) I took both Organic I and Physics I during the summer (different summers, though). I'm not sure why it would be worse to take a three hour lecture versus a four hour lecture/lab course. I did just fine in both and in both cases they were not the only course I was taking over the summer.

2) It's not a bad idea and if you need the course over the summer then you should do it. You don't want to make a habit out of taking courses at other schools, but one summer course at a different school will hardly raise red flags. Don't forget that this is a marathon not a sprint. Don't take on too much at once.

 

[Lindyhopper]

Although I can't cite the research off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure that research shows that adults learn & retain best in intense immersion like settings. You know kind of like ORGO I over the summer.

RE: The BIO II over the summer at another school. It's probably OK. One thing to make sure of is that you take enough of the pre-req at your home school as to qualify for recommendation from the pre-med committee.

 

[Faze2]

1) I took both Organic I and Physics I during the summer (different summers, though). I'm not sure why it would be worse to take a three hour lecture versus a four hour lecture/lab course. I did just fine in both and in both cases they were not the only course I was taking over the summer.

2) It's not a bad idea and if you need the course over the summer then you should do it. You don't want to make a habit out of taking courses at other schools, but one summer course at a different school will hardly raise red flags. Don't forget that this is a marathon not a sprint. Don't take on too much at once.

Like I said, I usually did well in my summer classes in my undergrad degree, and I think I retained the material as well as any other class during a regular semester. The reason I have so many questions about this class (looks like PHYS I and II) is because I have never really taken any of the sciences yet except for CHEM I, but that was during the fall, so I just wanted to make sure summer was not totally different for the science classes. But now that I think about it, some of the other summer classes I took were Statistical Foundations of Economics, and Econometrics, which are highlly intensive Econ classes that involve a lot of math and stat. But I remember that as long as I kept up with it, I did fine and knew the material. I think it depends on the person. But I'd still like to here more thoughts on the subject.