Hello! I am currently enrolled at a college and just picked out my classes. Next year I want to transfer to USC if possible, so I picked a quite rigorous schedule. What do you think? Doable for a freshman?
Biology I (3 Credits)
Biology I Lab (1 credit)
Chemistry I (3 credits)
Chemistry I Lab (1 credit)
Precalculus (3 credits)
Inquiry to the Social Sciences, Honors Program class (3 credits)
Intro to Psychology (3 credits)
Orientation to the Biology Major (1 credit)
As you can tell, I will be taking 18 credits this semester. However, the orientation to the major class isn’t even a normal class, your grade is either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, and it is just to introduce you to the biology major. Also I decided to take pysch because I need it to transfer to the USC neuroscience program (I think). I picked a professor that graded easily, but has a great class. I know this is a lot, but I know I can do it. I am very motivated and hardworking. I really just want to hear some insight from you guys!
That sounds like a very difficult schedule! But, if you are up to the challenge you could be successful. Adjusting to your first semester of college is tough under the best of circumstances , plus I assume you want to have some sort of social experience as well . Discuss it with your advisor or if you have friends who already in college find out what their schedules were like freshman year. Also, pay very close attention to the last day you can withdraw from a class without a W . If you get stuck and things are going poorly you might need to withdraw from a class or two to save your GPA .
It’s time-consuming but not conceptually difficult. Freshman bio and chem are generally continuations/expansions of high school chem/bio, more detail, but not really any new concepts.
With any intro class the most important thing is the professor. Ask upperclassmen who is the best and check ratemyprofessor.com
Not knowing your background, your college, your abilities…my gut would be to drop chem for your first semester. First semester freshman year you have a lot going on – an adjustment to college level academics, social life changes, living away from home etc. As a general rule I’d say it is best to not overload your first semester and to start off strongly. Once you have a semester or two under your belt you can better determine your optimal course-load.
18 credits (or 17 if we aren’t counting the orientation class) is more than the average student. It’s definitely doable, but it will require a lot of defication. I would recommend keeping your schedule as is for now and getting a feel for the workload. If you feel like it’s too much, don’t be afraid to drop something.
Bio, Chem, and a math course mind you. Math courses are consistent work to keep up with, even if not always the hardest. You’ve got to do the problems pretty much every other day in most cases. Then add two more courses on top of that…