What did your freshman year schedule look like?

[Yazo]

Hi, I'm about to enter college and I would love to get an understanding of what the average schedule looks like.

Do you guys suggest taking Gen Bio & Chem with lab the first year?

Thanks so much.

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[MUSD2016]

During their freshman year, most of the pre-meds at my school took those two classes unless they tested out of one or the other. A pretty general schedule looked something like this for our pre-meds:
Biology + Lab
Chemistry + Lab
Math (Calc 1 or 2, depending on where they had credit/what their major was)
Major-based class
Liberal arts class needed for grad. requirements.

Good luck! Also, at any undergrad. institution, they should give you an advisor who can help you map out a good plan for your freshman year, and there will likely be pre-med advisors as well.

 

[Yazo]

During their freshman year, most of the pre-meds at my school took those two classes unless they tested out of one or the other. A pretty general schedule looked something like this for our pre-meds:
Biology + Lab
Chemistry + Lab
Math (Calc 1 or 2, depending on where they had credit/what their major was)
Major-based class
Liberal arts class needed for grad. requirements.

Good luck! Also, at any undergrad. institution, they should give you an advisor who can help you map out a good plan for your freshman year, and there will likely be pre-med advisors as well.

Thanks for the post, buddy. Yeah, I'm going to be meeting with the pre-med advisor for the first time this weekend to put together my schedule. I just wanted to get a general overview of what a good schedule looks like beforehand. Thanks!

 

[panda16]

Fall:

Gen Chem 1 w/ lab
Calc 1 w/ "lab" (tutorial)
University Lit Seminar (Writing-based course)
Intro Psych
Intro Religion Course (required)

Spring:

Orgo 1 w/ lab
Calc 2 w/ "lab" (tutorial)
Intro Philosophy (required)
Intro to Anthropology
Arabic 1

Spring semester I had a lot of free electives to take (the last two). Also my Uni requires five courses each semester freshman year, so I had to fill my schedule up with gen ed's even though I already had a lot of AP credit coming in. Having only two BCPM courses was the best decision I could have possibly made in terms of setting myself up with a successful GPA and adjusting to/actually enjoying my first year of college. Having calc instead of say, bio, was far more predictable (i.e. for my calc classes the work I put in = my grade, whereas in bio that wasn't always the case). Plus the free electives I was able to take (anth and Arabic) were some of my favorite courses in college.

 

[DrShephardWannabe]

Standard Bio major here:

Fall:
Pre-Cal (Didn't take calc in HS so needed this before calc)
Human family & Development (Social science)
Psych 1
Chem 1
Race in the age of obama (Required elective for my scholar program)

Spring:
Calc 1
Chem 2
Chem lab
Theatre (Required performing arts credit)
Bio 1
Leadership lecture series (1 hour class required for my scholar program. We just listened to various well known speakers and wrote one essay a week)

The only thing I wish I had changed was to start bio 1 my first semester instead of the extra social science (HDF). I really had no guidance coming into college, but hindsight is always 20/20. I think the intro bio/chem classes at my university are designed really well to help teach Freshman good study habits. I also only joined one club so I didn't overload my EC's. I made a 3.7 freshman year and looking back I think the only reason was because I didn't overload myself. I had no idea how to truly study/time manage like I do now so slowly adding on harder classes + EC's is the way to go.

 

[Cardboard101]

We had a quarter schedule:
Fall:
Chem 1
Calc 1
English

Winter:
Chem 2
Calc 2
GE Course

Spring:
Chem 3
Physics
Biology

Don't make the mistake of taking all your elective courses early. Balance them out with your upper divisions. General chemistry, general biology and the first quarter or two of calculus were the easiest courses I've taken. Organic chemistry and biochemistry are best taken with filler classes as both are pretty challenging and probably have mandatory labs associated.

 

[efle]

What you can handle taking depends a lot on your university and how you stand relative to the typical student. My sister on a full ride to an unknown LAC has successfully taken Bio, Orgo and Physics simultaneously, but that will literally kill you if you tried it at some universities.

There are now 13-15 required classes:

Calc I and II (note numbers don't mean levels; you could hit your two required calc classes taking Calc Two and Calc Three)
Chem I and II
Bio I and II
Orgo I and II
Biochem
Physics I and II
Psych
Socio
Often English (sometimes two semesters)

If you want to be a traditional applicant, you have to fit those classes into 6 semesters, so take at least two per semester. Being able to knock out the Calc classes with AP credit is very helpful here. Try to keep the toughest like Orgo with the easiest like Psych/Socio/English. For Freshman it is common to take something like:

Writing/English I (often mandatory)
Chem I or Bio I
Intro Psych or Calc I
Grad Requirement
Class taken out of interest

But, you can be totally flexible

 

[youngmo]

In the fall I will be taking

General Chem 1 + Lab
Intro Bio + Lab
Writing 101
Freshman seminar (another writing course)

Hopefully I got a 4/5 on AP BC Calc exam so I place out of Calc I & II.

 

[Law2Doc]

You don't need to be "premed" or take more than just the prereqs to go to med school. And you can even take zero science in college and do a postbac afterwards. So don't get hung up on the right way to do this. But I'd say most premeds do bio, chem and calculus freshman year.

 

[Chemistry>Physics]

Hi, I'm about to enter college and I would love to get an understanding of what the average schedule looks like.

Do you guys suggest taking Gen Bio & Chem with lab the first year?

Thanks so much.

Yazo I like your profile picture, is that new

 

[quicheduty]

I only took one science my freshman year, still finished all the pre-reqs on time. YMMV!

 

[RTC19]

My little unknown LAC considered Bio and Chem a package deal; You couldn't take one introductory sequence without concurrent enrollment in the other.

So, I took...

Introductory Biology
General Chemistry I
Calc I (required for my Chem major)
English composition course (required)

 

[Flashfan]

Fall
Calc 2
Gen Chem 1
Psychology Research and Statistics
Intensive Writing General Ed class
Spring
Gen Chem 2
Research and Stats 2
Upper level Psych Class
Intensive Writing General Ed Humanities class

Our premed advisor recommends that only Biochemistry majors double up on the sciences the first semester. My school feels very different from high school and it is a tough adjustment for most. Now with the new MCAT, the advisor is encouraging more people to take both if only because they need more classes. Over 50% of the premeds do not major in sciences where I am, and of the science majors, most do chemistry over biology. I am glad I didn't do both because I protected my GPA fro the beginning and it allowed me to look at alternatives to medicine.

 

[Hospitalized]

I only took one science my freshman year, still finished all the pre-reqs on time. YMMV!

I took none.

I was a lost college student. Turned biology major mid-way through my second year, used summers to my advantage. I also really like summer school, teachers are way more relaxed and the courses aren't strung out.

 

[tortelliniboy]

I think I had some BS schedule like:

Psych
Business math
Bio 1 + lab
US history

 

[Holmwood]

This is turning into like a ween measuring contest. Ah well!

Fall 1 (get annoying GEs out of the way):
Chem 1 + Lab
Communications
Calculus 1
Philosophy
American Government

Winter 1:
US History

Spring 1:
Bio 1 + Lab
Chem 2 + Lab
Calculus 2
Music
Psychology

Summer 1:
Ochem 1 + Lab
Biostats
Some GE