Workload too heavy for a semester?

[texasm]

I am planning to take these courses one semester:

Physics -1
Chemistry -1
Biology -1
Organic -1

The courses will be at a rather challenging university.

Would these critical courses be too much packed into one semester?

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[ItzYaYa]

Why all at once?

 

[TurtleFence]

I had a semester where I took Physio, Orgo 2 + lab, Physics 2 + lab, and an advanced math course (I was a math major) and I can tell you that I was *miserable* the entire time. If you can avoid this, you might want to give it a shot. You'll have plenty of time to be up to your eyeballs in studying once you get to medical school. Why start the torture early?!?

 

[Journey2become]

It's not that it's not doable, but why would you want to? You want to learn each of those topics very well because you will see them again on the Mcat.

 

[SeminoleVesicle]

A lot of schools don't allow you to take Orgo I until you finish your Gen Chem requirements. You've got 4 years to take all of these classes. Go out, have a beer, and enjoy college. You only get one shot at it!

 

[nabeel76]

I am planning to take these courses one semester:

Physics -1
Chemistry -1
Biology -1
Organic -1

The courses will be at a rather challenging university.

Would these critical courses be too much packed into one semester?

Isn't at least a semester of general chemistry, if not the entire year, required as a prereq for Orgo?

Either way, it looks as if you haven't yet taken many (or any) science courses at the college level therefore you haven't really had a chance to adjust your study habits to them yet. Therefore, if I were you I would not attempt that course load. Your going to tank your GPA! Take 2 of them to slowly transition into the sciences and then if you feel you can handle it move it up to 3 science courses next semester and from there on out if your a science major.

Edit: If you do decide to take 2 of them I would recommend Biology I, II and Chem I, II your freshman year and Orgo I, II and Physics I and II over your sophmore year unless your a physics major.

 

[Journey2become]

Isn't at least a semester of general chemistry, if not the entire year, required as a prereq for Orgo?

Either way, it looks as if you haven't yet taken many (or any) science courses at the college level therefore you haven't really had a chance to adjust your study habits to them yet. Therefore, if I were you I would not attempt that course load. Your going to tank your GPA! Take 2 of them to slowly transition into the sciences and then if you feel you can handle it move it up to 3 science courses next semester and from there on out if your a science major.

I second this!

 

[UnclePhil]

I think any science major is inevitably going to have that one semester where they have to load up on sciences. I had cell/developmental bio, biochem, pchem I, differential equations, sociology and research fall of my junior year... that entire semester is still somewhat of a haze to me right now. It was doable and it didn't tank my GPA (though it was the lowest that I had in college by a big margin), but I definitely had to learn how to work the system, knowing when to attend class, when it was ok to skip class to catch up on sleep, and how to study smarter rather than harder (there just weren't enough hours in the day). I couldn't have handled it my freshman year (even though I was much more gung-ho and motivated freshman year). For some majors, it's unavoidable. You have pre-reqs that have to be taken at some semester or that is only offered during one semester, you have research credits that need to be taken, you have that one class that you told yourself you were going to take and it's only offered every 2 years, etc. etc. and it all adds up.

 

[texasm]

As to the why I am packing courses so densely:

I study at a small community college. Close to home, close to family, close to job. I pay almost no tuition. I have been told by the dean of a medical school that it is a bad idea for me to take pre-med classes at my community college because they know how easy it is to get an A here. So I plan to take a year off, go to a challenging university like University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign or Harvard Extension {the most challenging of them all} or Berkeley Extension or some other good school and take all the pre-med classes there over a year. Then come back and finish my degree. I cannot afford to extend my studies for more then 2 semesters at the university I visit.

As to do-ability, sometimes I tell myself:

1) Don't post-bacc students complete all pre-med requirements over the course of a year?

2) Those engineering majors - don't they take 5 very challenging classes every semester?

3) When I visited China and India on our study abroad, I saw students taking an incredible load of challenging subjects every semester. And getting 100% marks in each of them. I tell myself, it's a case of expectations. We expect an easy load, so we don't push ourselves as hard as the Indians and Chinese.

Then again I tell myself:

This is the one chance you have to do well. You are used to a leisurely life and you are neither in India nor in China. Don't screw this one chance and damage your GPA forever.

I just don't know what to do!!
All I know is that I have one year that I can take away from my present location to go to a challenging university and take pre-med classes.

Basically, I don't know what to do.

 

[UnclePhil]

You're going to need more than 1 year to finish pre-reqs, bc you're going to have to take a full year of chemistry before you can even start organic chemistry.

The 2nd, and more pressing issue... you can't apply to medical school with a community college degree. Your goal shouldn't be "coming back to finish your degree," you need a bachelors degree from a 4 year college to matriculate into medical school. If I were you, I'd just try to find a way to transfer into UIUC and graduate from there.

 

[texasm]

you can't apply to medical school with a community college degree.

Really???? Why not? {That's very worrying!}

 

[DrGiraffe]

Why are you doing chem and organic at the same time?

 

[texasm]

Why are you doing chem and organic at the same time?

Because I have only one year available to do all pre-med prerequisites

 

[JESSFALLING]

Because I have only one year available to do all pre-med prerequisites

Unless you already have a semester of Gen Chem as background, OChem might kill you.

 

[JESSFALLING]

Here's what I would do:

Year 1 at Community College:

Fall:
General Chemistry I
General Biology I
Calculus I

Spring:
General Chemistry II
General Biology II
Calculus II or Statistics

Year 2 at University:

Fall:
Organic Chemistry I
General Physics I
Genetics (Upper-division)
[Research or Advanced Statistics Course]

Spring:
Organic Chemistry II
General Physics II
Biology Elective (Upper-division)
[Research or Ethics Course]

Note: 90+% of all Medical Schools will be okay with this schedule...Get good grades and nail the MCAT and you will be fine. Two years will also give you time to improve your ECs!!!!

 

[JESSFALLING]

1) Don't post-bacc students complete all pre-med requirements over the course of a year?

2) Those engineering majors - don't they take 5 very challenging classes every semester?

3) When I visited China and India on our study abroad, I saw students taking an incredible load of challenging subjects every semester. And getting 100% marks in each of them. I tell myself, it's a case of expectations. We expect an easy load, so we don't push ourselves as hard as the Indians and Chinese.

#1. No. Most complete over two years.

#2. Most engineers end up with a GPA <3.2

#3. You're not from Asia and don't have Asian parents.

 

[texasm]

Here's what I would do:

Year 1 at Community College:

Fall:
General Chemistry I
General Biology I
Calculus I

Spring:
General Chemistry II
General Biology II
Calculus II or Statistics

Year 2 at University:

Fall:
Organic Chemistry I
General Physics I
Genetics (Upper-division)
[Research or Advanced Statistics Course]

Spring:
Organic Chemistry II
General Physics II
Biology Elective (Upper-division)
[Research or Ethics Course]

Note: 90+% of all Medical Schools will be okay with this schedule...Get good grades and nail the MCAT and you will be fine. Two years will also give you time to improve your ECs!!!!

Thank you!!! That's really helpful. I am wasting the summer semesters though.

 

[texasm]

#3. You're not from Asia and don't have Asian parents.

Can you really tell LOL? I was chatting online with a kid from China who moved to LA 3 years ago and he said, "You are White aren't you?" I really don't know he guessed that!

Maybe I had Asian parents in my last life, you never know. Ha ha

 

[texasm]

#1. No. Most complete over two years.

Really? I was under the impression most formal post-bacc programs are just a year long.

 

[texasm]

Here is a sample schedule that is one year summer entry. If I had the money {and a college degree}, I would join this program!
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/postbac/pre-health/sampleschedule/core-one-year

 

[JESSFALLING]

Thank you!!! That's really helpful. I am wasting the summer semesters though.

No problem, why not use your summers to improve your ECs? Volunteer, shadow, travel, take a Spanish class, assist with research, etc.... be creative.

 

[texasm]

The thing I like about UPenn is that over a year and one summer, your pre-med coursework is over and done! http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/postbac/pre-health/sampleschedule/core-one-year

I especially like the fact that you can complete the entire General Chemistry sequence over one summer.

But UPenn is WAY too expensive for me.

Does anyone know a cheaper {and good} university where I can complete either the entire General Chemistry or Biology or Physics or Organic sequence over a summer semester?

 

[UnclePhil]

The thing I like about UPenn is that over a year and one summer, your pre-med coursework is over and done! http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/postbac/pre-health/sampleschedule/core-one-year

I especially like the fact that you can complete the entire General Chemistry sequence over one summer.

But UPenn is WAY too expensive for me.

Does anyone know a cheaper {and good} university where I can complete either the entire General Chemistry or Biology or Physics or Organic sequence over a summer semester?

Any school will offer all those courses over the summer. You can register at any university as a summer student, but again, getting into medical school is contingent on having a bachelor's degree from a 4 year institution. Taking pre-reqs at a 4 year college is not enough, so your best bet is to transfer into that 4 year school permanently to finish up your degree.

A community college is fine for applications as long as you finished your education at a 4 year school and took upper level courses and graduated, but a community college degree on its own won't get you where you need to be, regardless of where you took your pre-reqs.

 

[Deathstar]

HF doing well in 4 tests while everyone else only has to focus on 2 tests.

 

[RetroBA]

If you get good grades in your pre-reqs at a CC and kill the MCAT, won't that prove to adcoms that your grades aren't a CC fluke?