<p>NOTE: If these sorts of topics are frowned upon please let me know. I did the search function and I found "College schedule" posts in this section of the forum, so I decided to post mine here, but if they aren't welcomed I'll gladly oblige. </p>
<p>Hello all.
I am a student who, after not getting into their top choice schools will be looking to transfer after freshman year.
I was maintaining conversations with another member of this site. We shared very similar stories (HS GPAs were literally identical, our SATs were separated by about 60 points, and we liked the same schools for the same major. And to top it off we are from the same state).</p>
<p>Anyway, will this schedule be manageable but also difficult enough that schools won't think i just took easy classes to transfer?
(trying to balance tough classes with less tough classes so that I can maintain at least a 3.5 gpa, while still getting all of my prerequisites done)</p>
<p>Semester 1:
General biology (3 credits)
General Biology lab (1 credit)
Intro to psychology/General psychology/ Psychology 101 (3 credits) (I believe they're the same course at most schools).
Precalc/Statistics (3 credits) (not sure which to take, I have to take calculus for life sciences I and II eventually so I don't know).
Freshman Literature and writing (3 credits)</p>
<p>All in all, this is 13 credits. Any critiques? Too easy, too difficult?</p>
<p>I don’t know what level of schools you’re looking to transfer into, and what your career goals are, but it’s the kind of schedule that won’t permit you to graduate in 8 semesters, so I think that’s inherently soft. It doesn’t seem likely to prove to anybody that you’re prepared to handle a tougher college. If you add the first year of Chemistry with lab, it would look more normal to me.</p>
<p>I skipped the super hard classes my first semester so i could get into it.I got a 3.8 the first semester.Heard alot of folk took bio and such hardly made a 3.0… It is your choice.</p>
<p>Yeah, the number of credits did bother me as well. I do want to add another course, but I don’t know if chem is the way to go. I had real problems with that just a year ago, so I think I should save that until AT LEAST my sophomore year, if not junior year.</p>
<p>As for schools I’m applying to, none of them are in the top 50. I think if my gpa was literally .3ish higher (which would have given me a 3.25), I would have gotten accepted into all of them. So I wasn’t exactly the worst candidate. </p>
<p>I do appreciate advice. This is why I’m starting so early, because I know I need a lot of help.</p>
<p>To be honest schools which not in the top 50 only care about gpa and not so much about which classes.(got into all the top state schools with my gpa)</p>
<p>^^ so you think if I’m transferring with a schedule like mine (plus another class) with a solid GPA I’ll have a good shot?
I still want to challenge my self significantly. Honestly, I’ve never really put in effort into schools before this year, and it’s not challenging at all (senior year of high school is a joke for me because I’m not taking any honors or APs). I think the schedule above with another pretty difficult class could be perfect for me- if i do get into the schools I want, I want to feel like I’ve earned it yknow?</p>
<p>I think a 4.0 with say math and psychology and such would work .For instance schools love to see students take statistics but i think its insanely easy.I mean people who transfer for a psych major take ******** classes(some but not all) but can still get into the best universities.It really depends on you i think.</p>
<p>Do you mind if I ask why you are taking pre-calc in college? I think your schedule might be ok for some schools, but definitely add another class. Try something that you maybe haven’t been exposed to before…maybe sociology or anthropology? Something with an interesting reading list to balance your math and science classes.</p>
<p>You should take 15 hours per semester. That allows you to graduate in four years and is standard. Anything less just isn’t norm, and while 12 hours is usually considered full time, I know barely anyone who only takes 12 hours.</p>
<p>Also, like someone else said, if you’re not applying to top 50 schools, then the schools you’re applying to probably won’t care about the difficulty of your classes. They’ll care about the grades. From what I’ve been told, high school is about taking as many difficult classes as possible and getting the highest GPA, whereas college is more about taking the most classes that will give you the best grades.</p>
<p>Why not throw in a history or a foreign language? Or some other class that interests you?</p>
<p>I know that people in even the most competitive programs at my school still take classes like Music Appreciation and other classes like that. They usually fit into the gen ed requirements at school and are good for your GPA.</p>
<p>Are you currently a freshman or a rising freshman?</p>
<p>I had friends who were sure they would transfer after freshman year who ended up loving the college they were at. I also had friends who went to colleges that they wanted to go to their entire life decide to transfer. I really would not go to a college with the mindset that you’re going to transfer. Go in with an open mind with the option to transfer. Who knows? It might be a blessing in disguise.</p>
<p>@boysx3-
I am planning on taking pre-calc because (There’s a whole post about it i made), basically, the pace were moving in my school is ridiculously slow. We started about 2 months late, and the teacher is new, and we are just not going to finish what we are supposed to cover by time I leave (and I leave a month early as a senior). however, things HAVE picked up lately, and I feel like with a bit of extra tutoring I could handle calculus right off the bat.</p>
<p>@AUgirl- Addressing your last point first, I completely agree. I hate this feeling. But the fact is, I applied to 8 schools. I got denied from my top 2 choices, and then some of the rest are really expensive (they’re out of state public schools, which were very cheap on the financial aid front). This leaves me with my safeties: 2 are schools that if I attend I will be a commuter, and the last one (the one I most likely will attend) is a public school that most people who go to go in order to transfer from. Their graduation rate is low, as well as their freshman retention rate (A little bit less than 70% last year). </p>
<p>The way I have been viewing it is I was lazy throughout high school- I never did homework, and the only reason I managed to maintain a 2.95 is because I understood all of the material (with the exception of chem and latin). And now I am paying the consequences- which is not getting to where I feel I want to go/ a college I deserve to go to.
As for your suggestions- foreign language is a maybe. I really want to learn spanish (half of my family speaks spanish and is from out of this country, so learning it would be more than just a class, it would allow me to communicate with my family).
Classes I’m looking at include: Theory fundamentals ( A music class, I play guitar and this would probably help me). Intro to sociology or Intro to sex marriage and family (Sociology classes. They are the main pre-reqs to a lot of courses), and elementary spanish.</p>
<p>I appreciate every response on this thread, you guys have opened my eyes a LOT, my entire course load might change (with the exception of Biology and English).</p>
<p>Now I understand your needs much better. Don’t push yourself in to taking calculus if you don’t think you have an entirely thorough grounding…college classes move very, very fast through the material and you don’t want to be having to teach yourself/go to the tutor just for remediation on concepts that you didn’t cover thoroughly in high school, while not really understanding what is going on in the class. Also, calculus also rears its head in advanced classes all over the spectrum, even when you don’t expect it to…for example, classes in market research, finance, econometrics and also classes in advanced research methods in the social science, like psychology and political science, not to mention that you will of course need it for advanced math and science courses.</p>
<p>And just a precautionary note on transferring your credits to another school in the future…you might want to take the most “generic” classes that you can because usually the new school compares the classes in its course catalog to the description of the classes you have taken; if you have taken classes for which the new school does not have a “partner” they may not give you credit. So, for example, I would take Music Theory or Intro to Sociology rather than a class with specific course content. </p>
<p>Also, I might think twice about taking a class in which I would want to continue a sequence on the new campus, because of differences in teaching methods and curricula.</p>
<p>Most importantly, go to school this fall with every expectation of liking it and succeeding there. While you feel that the school is “beneath” your capabilities, there will still be all sorts of wonderful opportunities available, and you will be in a position to take advantage of them. See if you can get in to the honors program on the campus, if you haven’t already. Also, realize that you are not the only high school underachiever on that campus–there are bound to be other very bright students just like you. Find them and you will have a great group of friends. </p>
<p>There is something excellent to being the big fish in a smaller pond. You will stand out to your professors, have a real chance at making a meaningful connection with them. They will be able to give you opportunities you might not get on a campus where you blend in to the majority of students, and in the future will know you well enough to give you recommendations that stand out from the pack for grad school, etc.</p>
<p>^^Good to know on the “generic courses” part. I probably will do that my first year. Whether I decide to transfer or not, I would keep my options open that way.</p>
<p>Your first paragraph is true and it scares me- I plan on taking my sciences in the same order I did in HS if possible. That means at some point I’ll have to take physics and I’m afraid calculus might show up, which is why I want to take it before I get to a sophomore year, so I will definitely figure that out before I come to it.</p>
<p>As for my mentality: I get what you’re saying, and I’ve heard it many times before. The only problem is, since the start of my senior year I’ve had the mentality I have right now ("If i don’t get into __ or __ I will go to __ and transfer). I don’t like the mentality as it makes me not look forward to next year, or even the summer between this year and next year. But After thinking this way for almost half a year, it will be difficult to change my mind. It sucks, but I don’t know how to change it until I get to school. Once I do get there I plan on joining clubs, making friends, partying, and getting good grades. So I will be enjoying it to it’s fullest extent (The only difference is I will not be rushing a frat until I’m 100% sure about what I’m going to do).</p>