<p>I start college June 11th and end that semester August 2nd. I'm thinking about taking Introductory Biology and English Composition 1. Should I add a third class onto that?</p>
<p>I would love to hear stories about your kids that have taken summer classes.</p>
<p>If that introductory biology is a laboratory course, taking an additional course on top of it may be too much. Summer courses move FAST -- much faster than regular semester courses do. There's an enormous amount of material to learn in introductory biology, and the laboratories (both the labs themselves, and the preparation and write-ups) are time-consuming.</p>
<p>If it's important to you to take two courses, I suggest combining your English course with something a bit less intimidating than biology, such as psychology or sociology.</p>
<p>I will probably do the English and Psychology class then....</p>
<p>I'm a Biology major, I love any science, and I want to learn all I can about each science course...so I will start taking my sciences in the Fall....</p>
<p>My fall semester should look something like:
Introductory Biology (4 credits)
English composition 2 (3 credits)
Precalculus (3 credits)
General Chemistry (4 credits)</p>
<p>I for one am thrilled with my choice of major. I have always loved science....but I plan on teaching High School Biology...</p>
<p>But what you said about the summer semester...I am definitely taking that advice...</p>
<p>Summer school is almost a permanent feature of life for educators, so I hope you will give yourself at least a couple of summers off during your undergrad years.</p>
<p>I agree with Marian about bio in the summer. It's better to get requirements out of the way that are not part of your major in summer session. Summer classes move fast and accomplish the necessary contact time with long classes. No matter how good a student you are, it's harder to maintain concentration for hours, and no matter how good the prof is, something is left out that you would get in a regular academic year term. So you don't want those missing pieces to be in a course that is critical to your major.</p>
<p>I've just been messing around today with scheduling....just as a very basic guideline. I'm hoping this is what my Summer and Fall semester will look like. If anything changes as far as time and professors, thats fine with me. However, I definitely want Brain Ring for as many sciences as possible. He is said to be a wonderful professor. My guideline:</p>
<p>Summer of 2008 (June 11th-August 2nd)</p>
<p>ENGL 1101 English Composition 1101 (3 credits)
MTWR: 8:00-9:25
Michael Davey</p>
<p>PSYC 2500 Fundamentals of Psychology (3 credits)
MTWR: 12:45-2:10
Larry Hilgert</p>
<p>Fall of 2008 (August 13th-December 3rd)</p>
<p>BIOL 2010 Unifying Principles of Biology (4 credits)
MWF: 12:00-12:50
Brain C. Ring</p>
<p>CHEM 1211 Principles of Chemistry 1 (3 Credits)
MWF: 11:00-11:50
Thomas Manning </p>
<p>CHEM 1211L Principles of Chemistry Lab (1 credit)
F: 8:00-9:50
Gary Wood</p>
<p>MATH 1113 Precalculus (3 credits)
TR: 8:00-9:15
Vickie Graham</p>
<p>ENGL 1102 English Composition 2 (3 credits)
TR: 9:30-10:45
Marilyn Dyke</p>
<p>I did not realize that you were a Biology major.</p>
<p>That changes things a bit.</p>
<p>Summer courses are often taught by people who are not regular faculty at that particular university. The content and quality of the courses sometimes differs from that in the regular fall and spring semesters. Not always, but sometimes.</p>
<p>You will probably feel more comfortable in your upperclass Biology courses if you know that you have the same Introductory Biology preparation that everyone else in the room does. </p>
<p>I would definitely recommend AGAINST taking a core course in your major in the summer, even if you do it at the same college where you are enrolled in the fall. On the other hand, getting required courses unrelated to your major (such as English Composition) out of the way is a fine idea.</p>
<p>I'm surprised that you plan to take precalc in college- as a science major try to get it out of the way before college so you can take calculus, and calculus based sciences in college.</p>
<p>Summer school courses typically run double time- eg a 3 credit class would seem like a 6 credit class... BTW, the course numbers and professors are meaningless to anyone not familiar with your particular school. </p>
<p>If, as your CC name suggests, you plan to be a HS science teacher in biology, be prepared to learn the other sciences as well since HS teachers often need to teach outside their chosen major- and calculus would help you really understand the material (remember you will run into HS students far smarter and often more knowledgeable in some areas than you are).</p>
<p>My D is a bio major (senior now). In her sophomore summer, she took 2 classes--physiology with lab (4 hours) and a psych class (3) hours in the same summer session. She took these at a large state school near our home rather than her own private university several states away. The professors were not "visiting" professors, but full-time faculty.</p>
<p>She worked VERY hard, but did well and was glad to have taken them so she could go abroad. This summer, she took another class at a private university one state over--Human Anatomy with Lab. It lasted one month and was very intense. However, she LOVED this class.</p>
<p>I think the key to success is to try and take something you are really interested in, particularly if you try to do more than one class at a time. </p>
<p>S, on the other hand, took one class this summer-3 credits in Poli Sci (at our large state school near us). Hated the class, didn't do very well, but it will help make sure he graduates on time.</p>
<p>I need only 2 maths for my major: precalculus and analytical geometry....I will hopefully get those nasty things out of my way the first year.</p>
<p>I have have to have <em>gags</em> 9 hours of a foreign language. I plan on taking latin...it would help a lot I think...</p>
<p>As a teacher it might be more useful to have Spanish - not that I am against Latin, both my kids took it in high school.</p>