<p>I'll be starting college in the fall and I register for classes in the coming week for my first semester. I'm just wondering if it's smart to draw out a 4 year plan of what courses to take each semester, or if that's going overboard. Is this a common thing to do when trying to figure out how to fit in gen. eds with major/minor courses, or do most people just take it one semester at a time? </p>
<p>I'd also just like some feedback as to whether other people have done this and found it helpful or not. Thanks!</p>
<p>My colleges have suggested four-year course schedules written for each major in the college catalogs. It really helped because it identified which courses I needed to take first because of prerequisites and scheduling.</p>
<p>If your college doesn't have this resource, then yes, it's very smart of you to take a look at the courses they offer and sketch out a four-year plan. Keep it flexible. Take note which classes have prerequisites or co-requisites, which courses may fill up quickly before you register, which courses are only offered once a year, and which electives you're interested in taking.</p>
<p>I did this too, but since I'm an incoming freshman as well, I have no feedback yet on whether it's useful. Nice to know I'm not the only one doing it though!</p>
<p>I'm a rising junoir who switched majors after freshman year to a new double major (double degree, actually) while keeping my original major as a minor and doing this really, really helped me!</p>
<p>My school does the same thing as Laura's, with publishing a suggested plan for every major in the bulletin. What I would recommend is sticking to that (if your school does that) and only making out your own if you are including a minor or something else not in the plan. Also, note that sometimes classes will be full when you need something, or a co-req. will be closed, etc. so be flexible! My plan has changed a dozen times, including through a major change so you never know when something might mess it up and you'll have to rethink it.</p>
<p>I don't want to start a new threas, so I'll ask here. </p>
<p>I've thought about working towards a degree if I don't get into pharmacy school by 2010. I was reading the listing of all the classes and I added up how many credits that would be and it added up to 90ish. At the bottom, it said that you have to have 120 credits to get the degree. Why is there a difference? Do I fill the rest with random classes? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but do you just complete all the credits and fill out a form and you get the degree?</p>
<p>Yep, the difference is for electives. You can use them to take more classes in your major, minor or double-major in another field, learn a foreign language, explore classes in other disciplines - whatever you like.</p>
<p>Thank you! If my major and a minor have some of the same requirements (Chem 1 & 2 and a few others), those wouldn't count twice, correct?</p>
<p>Can someone also explain what the difference is between B.A., B.S., B.S. Professional? I've thought about chemistry, but I don't know what the difference is. The requirements pretty much look the same. I've read that having a B.S. degree helps with pharmacy school admission, but I don't know if it would be better to get the regular B.S. or the B.S. professional.</p>
<p>okay. 4 year plan is okay but you shouldnt work too hard on it. your advisor will tell you what you should/have to take and you pick out the ones you want to. </p>
<p>[btw i use british spelling, not retarded)
okgirl.
BA= Bachelour of Arts. generally you receive these from your liberal arts school
BS= Bachelour of Science. you receive these from your science related schools.
And I think you misunderstood the BS prof. degree. It might be a professional degree youre thinking of, i.e. Bachelour of Engineering.</p>
<p>for pharm, better to get a BS imo. You can get a degree in chemistry but receive a BA if you took it through liberal arts. You will receive a BS if you took it through your chemistry school.</p>
<p>Its good to do one to give you an idea, but take it with a grain of salt. Most people change their majors way too many times for any type of 4 year plan to actually work out when they mapped it out pre-freshman year. Definately do it though, it will help you get an idea of what you have to do.</p>
<p>Do it for the specific courses you have to take and for the categories of distribution requirements, but I wouldn't figure out the actual classes where you have a choice in advance.</p>
<p>For example, if you have to take one social science course, you can decide that you're taking it in the spring of your freshman year, but wait until you're registering for that semester to decide which social science course sounds most interesting to you. You can decide to take two electives in the fall of your senior year, but wait until you're registering for that semester to decide what, out of all the courses available to you, you want to take.</p>
<p>you'll waste your time trying to plan out your whole 4 years like that. have an idea of what you'll be taking, but don't be obsessive about which specific class to take. you might change your mind about a major you didn't like, or something else might come up.</p>
<p>If there are upper level courses you want to take that are only offered every other year, it's helpful to plan ahead so you know you'll have the prereqs met for said upper level courses the year it's offered.</p>
<p>Yes, 4 year plans are absolutely helpful. I just finished mine, so now I have time to plan ahead and I figured out when's the good time for me to study abroad. And just in case things do not go as planned I already have alternative classes.</p>
<p>Make a 4 year plan for when you want to tackle prereqs for upper level classes you want to take and when you want to tackle your general electives. The course offerings at your school will change every year so be flexible. Also, be open to deviating from it if a really interesting class is offered one semester or if the class you planned to take looks like it will be hell that semester (like worst professor in the department with the class starting at 8AM). My 4 year plan has changed a few times in the past year as I dropped premed, added a second major, and decided to look into studying abroad.</p>