What classes should I take (1st year)

[Silencer]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I thought I would come in here and introduce myself along with my situation and see if some of you can help me. First of all I will be starting my first semester of college on the 21st and have no idea what to take! I know your wondering why aren't I starting the second semester?!? Well during the summer my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer right before school was to start. She was very ill and couldn't even get out of bed, especially after all of the surgeries. So I decided to stay home 1 semester and help her get better and to take care of my 2 year old brother. Well thankfully she has made a full recovery and I can start back on my path to becoming a doctor!

Tommarow I go to take my TASP test to see what type of classes I should go to (i.e. remedial, advanced, etc.) I know I will do good on it (hey I'm typing this at 2:00 in the morning and I have to be there by 7:00 lol). I'm going to a junior college to try to stay close to home just to make sure nothing else happends and try to cut costs until I can get a loan next semester, so I don't want to get wrapped up in one of their two year degrees but I just want to do 1 semester and transfer to a university! I bought some Chemistry books over the summer and have been reviewing them because I'm not a natural at chemistry like I am in Biology. But I figured I would start taking the regular type of pre-med science classes, but I have been out of school almost a year and out of any science classes for almost 2 and I am very much afraid that I will fall behind if I start taking difficult classes and then I can't transfer. Should I take easier subjects i.e. History, english, economics, natural science, etc...for my first semester so I can make sure I get good grades and get back in the swing of things or should I just jump right in and start to take the science classes and get it over with so I don't have to struggle later on?

I hear about alot of people falling behind during their freshman year of college which I was worried about before but now that I have been out a year it really is starting to scare me (if that makes any sense). So if I don't seem like a lost cause or a complete idiot could some of you more experienced people please give me some advise! Thanks

 

[Pre-Dent-David]

I would have to say that you dont want to over burden yourself your first semester of college, but also dont put off all of your sci classes. At least take one course (prob bio or gen chem). The key is mixing in the pre med req with the gen ed req and electives to have a good balance of workload.

 

[samenewme]

Contact the university where you hope to transfer and find out what courses they'll definitely accept. Freshman composition is a good bet. Math with trigonometry--you'll need a good grasp of math to do well in most of the prerequisite courses: chemistry and physics. Make sure the biology you take is suitable for pre-med students, or just wait until you start the university work in the fall. You could take a psychology class, a good thing for a premed student to have.

Concentrate on developing good study habits--reading the reading assignment BEFORE class, instead of during or after, doing all the practice problems even if you don't have to turn in your homework, figuring out a good note-taking system for yourself, knowing when to go to the tutorial center or professor for help, etcetera. That's the best thing you can do for yourself in the first semester of college. The big change from high school is that you do a lot more learning on your own, and that only gets more true as you go on.

Taking math should keep you sharp enough to succeed in a science class later on.

 

[SixtyNinePesos]

If I could do it all over again I would take more fun ge classes in the begining and then take most of the science course later. The reason I say this is because nearly everyone gets better as they go through college, and you need to do well on the science classes. Just don't take too hard of a schedule and remember to party! If you get burnt out half way through college, it would be worse than if you didn't work as hard the whole time. Hope that helps...

 

[lola]

if i had to do it all over again:

freshman
1 yr bio
1 yr chem

sophomore
1 yr physics
1 yr ochem
1 sem calculus

junior
go abroad

senior
another couple of bio classes
1 year english


i know others may disagree, but i think you should definitely take 2 sciences classes at a time during your first couple of years. if you don't, you may end up having to take 3 at a time which is not fun at all -- especially when they're ochem, physics, and cell bio.

 

[Silencer]

Thanks for all of the great responses, it really helped when I went and talked to my counslor today! I finished taking my tasp today and passed 😀 I finished the test in 55 minutes, actually I stuck around for 2 more hours and only 1 other person finished in the following 2 hours! For some reason I just finish everything faster than most people, I'm sure things will change from High School but I basically went to school in the library my Senior Year. I would finish my work in about 45 minutes and had another hour to kill so I would help teachers and just chill out! Hopefully I can keep it up through college 😉. Monday I'm going to register for classes and I'm going to take college Algebra (trust me I need it), biology, History, English, Reading. My counslor said those would transfer over to the University I want, help me get into the swing of things, and not overload me to much. I'm not so sure about the partying thing though! I've been a bit of a shut in after I had a serious car accident 2 months ago and I doubt I will be ready to more social very soon. Well since I start college soon you will be seeing alot more of me, hopefully as I gain some usefull information I can help pass it on to others! Again thanks for the responses

 

[agent]

Originally posted by lola
if i had to do it all over again:

freshman
1 yr bio
1 yr chem

sophomore
1 yr physics
1 yr ochem
1 sem calculus/stats/college algebra or pre-clac

I agree.