Hi, I am an incoming freshman at UNC-CH and my schedule contains . . .
General Physics I
Quantitative Chemistry (Chem 241)
Calculus III
Econ 101
Linguistics
I took a total of 13 APs in high school and made 4s and 5s. Senior year I took seven (Calc AB, BC, Chem, Physics I, Lit, Euro, Human Geo) but I was so sleep deprived and lifeless throughout the year. And this was with very minimal procrastination and at the sacrifice of much free time.
My question is: should I drop Chem 241 and sub it for an elective, or no? It might seem like a silly concern, considering that I only have five classes and overloaded on APs in high school, but I would prefer not to suffer like I did senior year. Even though there isn’t much busy work in college and you have more time, I can’t help but worry if I’m underestimating the difficulty of my schedule (being the worrier I am).
So, should I drop Chem, which I believe will be my most challenging class? I want to challenge myself, but not destroy myself like I did senior year. Considering that I made all As and high marks on my APs, do you think this schedule is doable?
Possibly even easier than my senior year schedule? Any input and advice is really appreciated : )
general physics I will be a breeze for you with the AP calc and AP physics background.
econ 101 as well.
i dont know much about linguistics but it sounds like it could be simple enough/not require too much pressure.
calc III is basically calc I but in multiple dimensions. so you just relearn basic calculus from the beginning but this time just adding in multiple variables, so if you were good in the AP calc classes, this should be fairly simple as well.
chemistry might be the most difficult class, honestly i cant speek for quantitative chem but for general and organic those are generally difficult classes.
i think that if you simply take physics, calc, econ, and linguistics, you’ll have a very smooth ride and you might wish you had taken the chemistry class. but you’ll also have more time to do freshman stuff. and you’ll have more time to dedicate yourself completely to your classes and to new ones like linguistics which might be very new to you.
i would say to take the chemistry class if it’s part of your major and what not. the rest of your schedule should be simple enough given your background. it depends on the professors and how much work they give you. you might not have as much time on other classes as you may have wished if you take chem (depends on the workload).
try to search for the professors you’d take on rate my professor and see if they have required homework and what not. or just email the professors for what their intended grading set up will be.
but also i have to just warn you in case you end up wanting to sue me for misleading you on the easiness of econ: i know some people who struggle a lot with econ. i don’t really know why. it’s similar to physics in a way in that it’s a new way of thinking. but it’s a fascinating subject and hopefully with the analytical skills you’ve gained from AP calc and physics and chemistry it will be pretty simple for you to pick up.
and you’ve taken AP physics so you know how difficult it can be. but general physics I is basically AP calc so it shouldn’t be difficult.
tldr; don’t worry about it, your high school classes prepared you well and i think your schedule will be fine as it is. it will certainly be easier than your high school one, imo.
I’d say drop the chemistry class and take an elective - or nothing (I bet you have 14 units without it). Give yourself time to adjust and acclimate.
Remember that each college class covers in more depth and in 15weeks, 3 periods a week, what an AP covered with 5 periods a week over 10 months. In other words, each class is going to be another level of intense.
What would your major be?
@otoribashi Thank you for your input : )
@MYOS1634 I don’t know what I want to major in yet. Luckily, I have a wide array of interests, so this year I just have to narrow them down to one thing.
If you took that many APs and did well on them, you should be well prepared for college. So what I’m about to suggest you should take very tentatively because you don’t want to get into the usually bad habit of comparing yourself too much to other people.
Your school probably has some sort of data on the grade distributions of their classes. You might have some guess as to what “level” you’re on compared to the average of your school or of a particular major based on comparing your academic credentials, SAT scores, etc. with the medians. Then you can guess how difficult that schedule would be for you.
To be sure, you want to leave a respectable amount of time for sleeping, socializing, and pursuing career opportunities.
BTW why do you have to take general physics if you took the physics AP? They don’t accept it?
As for classes, I can only speak for Calc III, which most find to be easier than the BC, although it does require some visualizing of graphs.