Typical Day schedule for predental curriculum

[BcWildcat]

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Can anybody post what their typical schedule is on a school day? I'm trying to figure out how much time will be left over.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Although this doesn't give an outline of my day, I can tell you that you WILL have free time if you are a smart and efficient studier. I never cram for my classes; instead, I study a little bit every single day for each of my classes. By the time tests roll around, I have my notes literally memorized. This greatly cuts down on my stress level, and I know that I am always prepared. You will have some semesters that are more time-consuming than others (my worst was when I had orgo and genetics at the same time), but even then, I still had free time. It took lots of work ethic, though, as I often spent 2-3 hours on orgo every day during the school week. When you have gaps between your classes, make sure you utilize them to study. I commute to school and find that I am often done with all of my studying/homework by the time I leave for home at the end of the day, which is usually around 1-5 (it depends on if I have labs or not). Be forewarned that you'll be in class a lot more than your non-science friends because of labs (they're often 3-4 hours long but only count for 1 credit hour for your GPA). You'll also probably have to do more studying than most of them, unless they're pre-engineering or something like that. 🙂

It's all very doable, though. Like I said, I have free time, and I don't put in much time studying on the weekends. You just have to NOT procrastinate and be a good studier! 🙂 My lowest final grade in any class at my college has been a 96, if that tells you anything. If I can have free time even while pulling 98s-100s on all of my exams, anyone can! 😀

 

[aznnytezx]

Freshmen year I thought I could cram, but I really couldn't. So my gpa ended up a really really low 3.0 area.

Sophomore year and Junior year, I start paying attention in class. For the science courses, I would study for 3 days before the exams. For non science I would study for a day before exam, or night of.

It works pretty well, I made a 3.7+ every single semester.

Don't follow my lead though, because I am changing my method haha.

Other than that, I am usually free all day during school. Only have to go to one class a day or so.

And after 11 pm, I cram it down !

 

[BcWildcat]

Although this doesn't give an outline of my day, I can tell you that you WILL have free time if you are a smart and efficient studier. I never cram for my classes; instead, I study a little bit every single day for each of my classes. By the time tests roll around, I have my notes literally memorized. This greatly cuts down on my stress level, and I know that I am always prepared. You will have some semesters that are more time-consuming than others (my worst was when I had orgo and genetics at the same time), but even then, I still had free time. It took lots of work ethic, though, as I often spent 2-3 hours on orgo every day during the school week. When you have gaps between your classes, make sure you utilize them to study. I commute to school and find that I am often done with all of my studying/homework by the time I leave for home at the end of the day, which is usually around 1-5 (it depends on if I have labs or not). Be forewarned that you'll be in class a lot more than your non-science friends because of labs (they're often 3-4 hours long but only count for 1 credit hour for your GPA). You'll also probably have to do more studying than most of them, unless they're pre-engineering or something like that. 🙂



It's all very doable, though. Like I said, I have free time, and I don't put in much time studying on the weekends. You just have to NOT procrastinate and be a good studier! 🙂 My lowest final grade in any class at my college has been a 96, if that tells you anything. If I can have free time even while pulling 98s-100s on all of my exams, anyone can! 😀

3 or 4 hours for labs?!? wow. how often do you do those a week? And any tips while I am in highschool to prepare for all of this? You must be a genius lol

 

[Glimmer1991]

Usually, every science class you take will have an accompanying lab. That means you'll have them 2-3x a week depending on your course load that semester.

 

[Bifenthrin]

You'll have tons of time left over. Here is the schedule I had my first semester in college:

Monday:
General Chemistry 10:00 - 10:50
Genocide in the Modern Age 4:30 - 7:00

Tuesday:
Freshman Orientation 10:50 - 11:40
Freshman Seminar: Biomedical Issues 3:05 - 4:20
Biological Concepts and Methods 4:30 - 5:45

Wednesday:
General Chemistry 10:00 - 10:50
Biological Concepts and Methods Lab 2:25 - 4:55

Thursday:
General Chemistry Recitation 1:40 - 2:55
Freshman Seminar: Biomedical Issues 3:05 - 4:20
Biological Concepts and Methods 4:30 - 5:45

Friday:
General Chemistry 10:00 - 10:50
General Chemistry Lab 11:00 - 1:30

So.. really not that bad at all.

 

[mid]

My schedule was something like leave the house at 8am get home around 10pm and I'd usually have about an hour off for lunch and another for dinner. The rest was lecture/lab/studying. Commuting sucks.

 

[UltimateHombre]

You will have A LOT of time outside of classes to do whatever you want.

Count on 3 hours of lecture per class per week, then 3 hours of lab per lab per week.

Based on 17 credits: 2 science classes and 3 non-science classes
5 lecture classes = 15 hours a week
2 labs = 6 hours a week

That is only 21 hours a week you are actually in school. So after eating and sleeping, you will have roughly 40-60 additional hours a week to do whatever you want. I would usually spend about 10-15 hours a week doing HW or studying (2-3 hours a day). Then i worked the rest.

I usually took between 15-21 credits and worked 25-40 hours a week almost all of my undergrad. I also volunteered 5 hours a week and maintained a 3.8. Very doable with proper time management.

 

[mkhan27]

It'll be fun for you. I think freshman year students will tend to take it very serious (and you should) since you are building your overall GPA, science GPA, and getting your core gen-eds out of the way. Try to get yourself involved though with the school, know about clubs, organizations, volunteer opportunities, pre-dental club specifically, etc.

I commuted by train (1.5 hours one-way and 3 hours per day) and I liked it at first, but kinda hated it afterwards. It really sucks, but towards the end I took advantage of it by either sleeping, studying, or just listening to my music and looking out the window. But make it useful for yourself as 15 hours of traveling kinda sucks.

Your schedule will be spread out, well that was the case for me. I tried to make sure I would spread my classes out so I would have studying or eating time in between. Good Luck and let me know if you got any questions!!

 

[beezey]

I'm probably a bad example because i tended to procrastinate pretty much every semester. If I study way in advance I tend to not really focus, thus inefficient. Whereas 3 days before the test or so I go ham and can cram it all in pretty well (pressure makes diamonds). I work at a nursing home, play intramurals, go out and all that stuff.. you will have plenty of time if you manage it. The key to be able to do a bunch of things is to have a calendar (I use a big dry erase one) and write down when your big tests and lab reports are, as well as any other time commitments you may have. You will then be able to see where you have gaps in your schedule where you can plan to go to concerts, camping, road trips, or whatever you're into. Really it all boils down to what things on your calendar you make priorities.