<p>OK. I'm a rising senior interested in applying to Harvard SCEA for a biology major and pre-med classes. However, I am also very interested in Economics, Chinese, English, and History.</p>
<p>How many classes does the average student take per semester and is it possible for me to take a class in economics, chinese, english, and history per semester and still have a bio major and all my other pre-med classes?</p>
<p>Well... When I spoke to a Harvard student by phone, he told me students generally take 4 or 5 classes per semester. You need 32 to graduate, and at least 8 of those will be for the core. A concentration requires usually 12 to 16 courses (depending on if you choose honours or a joint concentration)</p>
<p>So basically you will have time for some those other electives, but it will probably start to get a bit hectic since you are pre-med.</p>
<p>But maybe an actual student can provide more insight.</p>
<p>your first year is pretty flexible in terms of course options, but you are required to submit a plan of study by the end of your freshman year. You can change what you want to study afterward, but you need to get it approved.</p>
<p>you could do a joint concentration, but it's tough because usually joint concentrations are honors only and if you have two totally different fields of study you're combining then you need to integrate them in your thesis. it's a big challenge considering your thesis needs to be good, let alone make sense.
hope this helps</p>
<p>It's not unusual to take 5 classes a semester. It just depends on what's important to you, which usually comes down to extra electives vs. clubs/activities.</p>
<p>As I recall, I filled out my plan of study at 1am the day it was due by opening the courses of instruction to my intended major, closing my eyes, stabbing my finger onto the page, and writing down the title of the course it fell on. </p>
<p>Anyway, bio requires 13 half-courses (pretty standard), which will probably include just about all of your premed requirements. (I'm not familiar with premed requirements, but math is required, and it seems like you can pretty easily do the chem and physics requirements with your related fields: <a href="http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/biology.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/handbooks/student/chapter3/biology.html</a>) Actually, bio is rather restrictive in its course offerings, but it seems like the bio concentration and med school have almost exactly the same requirements. </p>
<p>That said, I think biochem is a more of a premed major than bio is. Not sure why, or even what the difference between the two is. Biochem does require one fewer course.</p>
<p>You don't have to follow your plan of study. I don't even know what I put down. Also, you will probably be able to take about 1 elective per semester on average. I've taken more but I'm not premed.</p>