<p>Along with that I am pre-med. (Freshman)
I will propose 2 first semester schedules and I need advice on which is truly more feasible and understanding. </p>
<p>1: Calc 1
Physics 1 + lab
Chem 1 + lab
Intro to Engineering
English </p>
<p>Or. </p>
<p>2: Chem 1 + lab
Intro to Psych
Calc 1
Intro to engineering
English </p>
<p>How difficult is it to balance 2 sciences with tough labs along with calc 1. Can someone with experience add advice or someone can tag a Chem E. I would love advice even if it's a different engineer major. Would I be putting too much on my plate as a freshman even if I took AP chem AP physics and AP calc AB. Thanks! </p>
<p>Number 1 is a typical first semester for the Chemical Engineers (as well as Physics majors) at my university, Illinois Tech. It is a demanding set of courses, no doubt but if you have taken these courses in AP already, you will at least have seen some of the material before. In my years as a faculty member here, I have seen many students succeed with this schedule. You need to have good study habits and work ahead on the assignments but it is certainly doable.</p>
<p>Both are going to be hard schedules either way, intro to psych is going to have enough reading and papers that it will be time consuming. </p>
<p>i wouldn’t take physics 1 with calc 1, even if you took AP calc because high school calc is watered down from what I hear</p>
<p>doing an engineering degree for premed isn’t the best thing to do, you are just setting yourself up for failure by doing so because GPA is so important for admin to med school</p>
<p>Try the old calculus 1 final exams from your university to see if you know the material well enough to take calculus 2.</p>
<p>At most schools, physics 1 is taken with calculus 2.</p>
<p>You will have to take multiple content-heavy classes in one semester in later semesters.</p>
<p>If you can’t do it now, what makes you think it will be easier in the future? On the other hand, taking a somewhat difficult schedule is a good way to test whether or not you have the capability to actually manage.</p>
<p>Between the engineering honor societies and various honors program students I’ve gotten to know over the past year, there are definitely those who started Fall freshmen semester with physics III while taking junior/honors level diffeq/linear algebra and other courses adding up to 17+ credits and managed 3.9+ GPA’s. However, they are the extreme minority (top 1-2%). Most students I’ve met, even the ones in the honor societies and honors programs, had to ramp up to the heavy loads. It’s why I recommend most freshmen engineers start off with no more than 15 credits, 3 STEM lectures and 1 lab. </p>
<p>I concur that physics I is normally taken as a co-req with calc II rather than calc I. The thing that makes those intro labs tough is that the manuals are generally lacking in information or clarity (as are the TA’s usually) and you don’t know enough to fill in the gaps. Once you establish good habits for studying/time management, balancing lab with other technical classes won’t be that bad. Engineering is not like high school, it isn’t about impressing people with your challenging classes or course load. The point is to learn how to learn effectively so you can use your foundation topics for use in more advanced coursework and sometimes <em>gasp</em> in the real world.</p>
<p>tl;dr - I vote for schedule 2</p>
<p>The students that did succeed at this schedule, were they caliber students or just had the determination to finish? I had a 1730 SAT score with a 3 on AP physics. Maybe I could handle it but the people that succeeded were probably smarter. I think it has it’s pros and cons. </p>
<p>I disagree with NeoDymium 1000%. </p>
<p>There is a serious difference between the way high school courses are taught, and the way college courses are offered. In college you have to teach yourself a lot more because it’s impossible, and ineffective to spoon feed it all. You have to learn how to do that. It’s not an innate skill. </p>
<p>I think that gradually building up your college study skills while not getting overwhelmed early with panic, sleep deprivation and loss of confidence is far more likely to be successful than jumping into the deep end of the pool. Once the study skills are mastered, it will be easier to handle a heavier load because you won’t spend as much time spinning your wheels. </p>
<p>I like option 2. </p>
<p>Second semester, you can probably do Calc2, Physics 1 and Chem 2 but just take one humanities. </p>
<p>I would consider taking summer courses after freshman year to ease the load. I think that it’s better to do well with a lighter load than to crash and burn. </p>
<p>Too many people don’t think through the risk/reward ratio when planning the college studies, get overly aggressive, and crash and burn. You have the option to not dig the hole. Exercise that option. </p>
<p>No question, if you have concerns, go with option 2. It is a reasonable option and will keep you on track to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>I like what you said about 2nd semster @ClassicRockerDad ! I was thinking the exact same thing.
I definitely don’t want to crash. I could drop the intro to psych until the summer. For instance,</p>
<p>1st semester)
-calc 1
-Chem 1 + lab
-English
-Intro to engineering<br>
2nd semester)
Calc 2
Chem 2 + lab
Physics 1 + lab
(Engineering course) </p>
<p>I could even drop the English course because I was planning on transferring due to financial reasons.</p>
<p>Calc 1
Chem 1 + lab
Physics 1 + lab
Intro to engineering </p>
<p>Then in spring
Calc 2
Chem 2 + lab
Physics 2 + lab
Engineering computation course </p>
<p>You probably need to be full time though or the financial aid is not the same.</p>
<p>Yeah it’s a 14 credit course. </p>
<p>Then that is a very reasonable load. It is not always a good idea to load up in your first semester when you are still adjusting to being in college.</p>