<p>
</p>
<p>This doesn’t seem like a horribly unreasonable schedule for a freshman to take in a single term.</p>
<p>ptontiger16 - I offered the information on my daughter’s experience because H truly is a peer to P in physics. Physics 16, the class that I referred to, is generally populated only by H’s top physics and math majors. The engineering students and the pre-meds generally take other physics classes. Furthermore, I suspect that the grading in the STEM classes are not very different at H and P. </p>
<p>I would not recommend that any freshman take more than two intensive math/science classes concurrently. When I did my ChE degree we did not take orgo until we were sophomores. Unless it is the norm at P, I would not recommend taking it as a freshman. I think you need to adjust to college life and better understand the workload of your courses before to take too aggressive of a stance with regards to your class schedule. And for me and many others, orgo was challenging.</p>
<p>The OP does have a valid concern about grade inflation/deflation. Harvard is well on the up side while Princeton is on the low. [National</a> Trends in Grade Inflation, American Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://gradeinflation.com/]National”>http://gradeinflation.com/) </p>
<p>OP, be glad you’re not at Purdue!</p>
<p>Son’s roomie (pre-med dropped after sophomre year)) took the physics not for engineers at pton, grade was a 96% and received a B, not a B+…grade deflation based on a curve. Son (pre-med) opted for the physics for engineers, did well and eventually went on to med school. All classes at pton are 4 units whether they have labs or not, discussion groups, regardless of time spent in class.</p>
<p>So 4 classes is the norm. You need an overload waiver for more, usually granted by advisor or the dean. You should have a freshman seminar in there somewhere and a writing seminar…some of the best and most interesting profs teach these, so don’t miss out.</p>
<p>There is a turbo chem class which combines both semesters of general chem into 1. You might think about that.</p>
<p>kat</p>
<p>The number of math/sciences classes depends on your strengths- I would rather do more of the problem solving than write papers for social science/humanities classes. btw- you want to take calculus based physics- the formulas make so much more sense when you can derive and integrate to see relationships (eg speed and acceleration) and and organic comes after general chemistry courses. </p>
<p>As stated above, assume you can handle the work since the school admitted you. Go for it- you won’t know your limits unless you test them. Freshman year is the year to try things- you can show improvement later.</p>
<p>I suggest to take it easy the first year, i.e. not overly ambitious to see how you handle these courses at Princeton first.</p>
<p>I think you need to take calculus-based physics. At some universities, the pre-med physics track is not calculus based. This would make the transition to engineering tougher, if you decided to go that route. On the other hand, Princeton may have calculus-based physics courses at multiple levels.</p>
<p>My s started college premed as a chem major, did all the premed reqs and then decided he didnt want to go to med school. Swtiched to Chem E major second sem soph year. Had to get some classes in to stay on track to graduate in 4 years as you have to get the sequesnce of courses in. This required a summer at a tech school taking physics classes while doing an internship. But, by first seme senior year he had several job offers and is working as a chem E. Go chem E, even if you want med school. Keep your options open.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a solid path to a job that pays decently, your best bet is to focus on Chemical Engineering and get great grades and also do a few co-ops or internships along the way. If you are truly meant to be a doctor, and you have the funds to pay for med school, one thing you can do is a post-bachelor program where you take the orgo and other pre-med reqs that you may not be able to fit in during your undergrad. During this time, you can also study for the MCATs and start the process to apply for med school. I have many doctor friends that have done this path, but it can be expensive to pay for another 2 years of school after a Bachelors, which is the only catch. </p>
<p>The worse thing you can do is get poor grades because you tried to do too much.</p>
<p>“Would you recommend taking Orgo, Engineering Physics, and Calc 2 in freshman year?”</p>
<p>That is exactly my ChemE D2’s freshman schedule at Georgia Tech, including the CS. She’s not worried about it, at least now that she’s been to a few classes. Funny, the class that is annoying her the most is Calc 2 because they assume everyone took Calc BC when some/many took AB, so the early “review” is NOT review for her. But she knows it will only be a short time until they get to the new material for all. She’ll just have to teach herself in the beginning. She knew this going in, but it still annoys her. She’ll do fine, as will you.</p>