<p>Hi. I will be a freshman entering college this fall. I intend to major in Biology and declare myself as a premed student. I have registered to take Intro to Bio, Bio Lab, Intro to Chem, Calculus, and Psychology. This all add up to be 15 hours of credit. Is this too much for my first semester of first year? Should I drop Bio Lab and replace it with Economics? I have been told that taking a variety of classes is beneficial. However, I would love to read opinions of others. Thanks.</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing myself, as I have 16 hours of credit - Econ 010, Management 100, Hebrew, Nutrition, and Stat</p>
<p>remember that we go by the cu (course unit) system, not hours system, and you can't really go by hours of class as an indicator of courseload difficulty. (for example, chem 245 is 1 cu, and is 9 hours a week, be 209 is 1 cu, and is 6 hours a week, and fnce 206 is 1 cu, and is 3 hours a week, and they're all pretty hard)</p>
<p>personally i took about 24 hours of class my first semester (as is normal for many premed bioengineers) and neither i nor any of my peers had trouble having enough time to enjoy ourselves.</p>
<p>thopeful, you will need the biology lab for med school prerequisites, so you'll have to take it at some point, as you probably know. (and you can't technically declare yourself as a premed student, but that's another matter.)</p>
<p>in general anything 4 to 5.5 cu is fine for first semester, depending on your degree program; none of the introductory courses are that much of a drain on time, so you'll have plenty of time to relish the excitement of your first semester / first year at penn.</p>
<p>Thanks Yosh =]</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your response. I will certainly take your advice.</p>
<p>actually, since by your other posts you indicate you aren't coming to penn, you can disregard half my advice, which is penn-specific; in general, pick the courses that seem most enjoyable to you. you'll only be in college once, and 4 years fly by; make the most of them.</p>
<p>"you'll only be in college once, and 4 years fly by; make the most of them."</p>
<p>That advice was given to me by a senior when I was a freshman (high school), but she was not referring to college but rather high school. I didn't believe her, and now I find myself giving other people that same advice. Weird.</p>