Course Scheduling

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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<p>Ok, so i need some help scheduling courses. Right no I'm planning on doing pre med and if possible with an economics major instead of a bio/chem major. First of all i think im gonna opt out of chem and bio intro courses due to ap credit and take them next semester. AP Chem i was in the 4/5 ballpark range during practice exams and scored a 4 on the AP exams while Bio I got a 5. Additionally, Im considering taking the two physics courses freshman year to get that requirement out. Also Im planning on taking econ 101 to get a start on my major. So if I plan to take economics 101 and physics 151, they're corresponding courses would then be taken in the spring. So my spring would be full with chem, bio, physics, and econ while my fall would have physics and econ. That leaves two spaces left this fall for freshman first year writing requirement and freshman seminar. This is pretty confusing so heres a breakdown.</p>

<p>Fall
Econ 101
Physics 151
First Year Writing Requirement
Freshman Seminar
PE/ Health Courses</p>

<p>Spring
Econ 112
Physics 152
Chem 142
Bio 142</p>

<p>How does that schedule look? If I wanted I could move Econ 112 to Fall of sophomore year and then fill the spring space with a freshman course and fill the Fall space with something like foreign language or another GER. </p>

<p>So itd be more like this.</p>

<p>Fall
Physics 151
Econ 101
FYR/ Seminar
Other GER
Health/ P.E.</p>

<p>Spring
Physics 152
Bio 142
Chem 142
FYR/Seminar</p>

<p>Fall (sophomore)
Econ 112</p>

<p>What do you think would work better? Also what kind of courses would be good to take over the summer of freshman year since Ive heard some GER requirements cannot be fulfilled outside of Emory? Also, should I even consider doing freshman Organic Chemistry? I know these are a lot of questions, but any advice is appreciated! Thanks guys!</p>

<p>BTW I forgot to mention that I place out of Calc due to AP score. So I get rid of my only calc course for an Econ major, but do I need to take more for pre med?</p>

<p>Also, I got a good score on AP English so I was thinking of using it towards a continued writing requirement. Ok or not?</p>

<p>Spanish I can take more advanced courses once due to the placement test and I have two qualifying AP scores in Euro and US, but I dont think they count towards GERs. Thanks and sorry for more including a lot of info!</p>

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<p>Schedule is fine. </p>

<p>You’re a strong student, strongly consider taking frosh orgo (I would honestly express interest very soon by contacting Soria. He’ll invite and eventually send a permission number. If you get cold feet, you can turn it down). It puts you in a more nurturing environment, w/stronger peer group. Will often do things that surprise you, etc. Class seems to be a Goldwater Scholar Factory. Soria a good connection to have. He rewards effort and creativity in various ways. Tries to establish close relationship w/students (however, this isn’t easy if you can’t get over not having an A on every exam). Gen. chem is waste of time for person w/4, and then you may not make an A. If you won’t make an A, better for it to not be in orgo. than in gen. chem. If you don’t end up liking Soria for w/e reason, you can take Weinschenk for 222 (orgo. II) which is still challenging and stimulating and also Weinschenk tries hard to connect and engage w/students (222 exams are probably easier than Soria’s too however, 222 w/Soria still has more perks). I believe you can handle it w/physics and 2nd semester bio and physics because Emory intro. physics (including 151/152) is a joke. It’s very watered down compared to peers. I think for many, bio ends up being the harder one to make a good grade (only quizzes and exams, no fluff. Orgo. has fluff because of bonus points :slight_smile: and group assignments that are a free 4-6 points for your final grade). Intro. econ courses are complete jokes so that’s not a worry. </p>

<p>By the way, if you are concerned about competition w/the better peer group in orgo, don’t be. The course, unlike sophomore orgo. sections, is not curved. You don’t get graded vs. peers. There is a strict grading scale w/bonus point opportunities to improve exam scores (these opps range from answering tough questions in class to playing against Soria in basketball). You are never left in limbo about what your grade is in the course. It is always very clear. So you get to learn at a high level, have a different experience, w/o wondering where you stand. That’s a win, win. However, eventually the exams get challenging (but he warns you), and you will be required to think outside of the box at times. Gen. chem seems stupid in that they go for target averages. They’ll design an easy exam and then decide the average is too high and then design a hard exam (and vice versa), and of course they don’t warn you. It’s a constant yo-yo as they try to achieve an exam average of 75-78. The class is already a lame experience w/o that stuff going on plus I hear the new Aleks HW system is really frustrating (and I think they design the tests somewhat based upon those exercises so they may be harder than normal).<br>
Don’t know about GERs for summer, I guess take some of the humanities/social science courses during summer.</p>

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<p>thanks for the info! question though… im a bit confused. if i go into orgo freshman year, does that mean i dont have to take chemistry 142 at all? Also, how should i go about contacting soria? just ask for permission and tell him my ap scores? Also, is AP crediting out of Calc ok for pre med or do i need to take a more advanced math? Furthermore, since i exempt some of bio and chem does that mean down the road i should take more advanced bio and chem classes outside of the pre med tract for my resume? Thanks bernie, i have to admit your responses in this thread and other threads have helped me a ton!</p>

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<p>That’s kind of tricky but not difficult to resolve. All you need to do is take chem 260 w/lab your sophomore year. It’s not a hard class (and rarely requires HW unlike gen. chem) and still looks better than 142. For math, perhaps take multivariable and some calc. based stats course like math 361 (calc. based probability I believe). It’ll actually be a great supplement to your econ. background as well (my friend in my apartment last year was math and econ. and said it was useful to have both). </p>

<p>*If you are interested in a med. school that will not accept only one upper level in place of the inorganic w/lab requirement (places like Harvard do), then take chem 350/355-L. The course is annoying (mainly lecture), but it isn’t hard (Hagan is a weak lecturer, but grading scale is easier than when I took it w/Hill. Exams are still apparently memory based, and only moderately challenging). The lab, although others call it unorganized, is really easy and at times fun. Seriously, you get an A in lab for showing up w/a smile on your face and doing some work. It’s kind of inquiry based so I accidentally stumbled upon an unusual or undiscovered crystal structure for an oxidized Iron compound. That was a hilarious moment.</p>

<p>To contact Soria, simply e-mail and express interest in the course and tell him you made a 4. He’ll give you the info and tell you when to expect a formal invite or permission number.</p>

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<p>thanks bernie. Also, assuming that i work hard in organic chem, does a B seem like a reasonable goal? also, when applying to med school, to med schools take into account course rigor ( like me potentially taking orgo freshman year and upper level chem later on) and what courses make up the GPA they consider as in which courses do they factor into the GPA? </p>

<p>So right now my schedule could look like this.
Fall 2011
Econ 101
Orgo
Seminar/ Writing
Physics 151</p>

<p>Spring 2011
Econ 112
Orgo
Seminar/Writing
Physics 152</p>

<p>Does that look ok? and I just wanted to make sure, but seminar/writing does count for a 1 four hour slot in the usual 16 hour schedule right? Any suggestions on how/when to take health and p.e.?Also, if anyone does have any suggestions/opinions for summer courses or anything else let me know. Thanks</p>

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<p>They want a good GPA, but yes a strong GPA there and in upperlevel inorganics will separate you from vanilla applicants at Emory. Many students starting w/frosh orgo. have great success at med and grad. schools (even prestigious ones). For one, the class tends to follow and support each other in tougher courses. So you have the best of Emory take courses w/you and help you. This often leads to higher grades in tougher courses than those on traditional tracks. Establishing ties w/this peer group has an effect. Also, the type of thinking forstered in his course makes more rote courses (even harder ones) seem extremely simple. </p>

<p>If you work hard, you should definitely get a B or higher first semester (shoot for B+ or higher though, 221-Z is where that is most doable. Only 3 students got As in 222-Z last semester because of the final. I imagine 3-4 students made A-, so 7/33 ain’t bad at all. Rate was higher in 221-Z). The reason why B or higher is extremely doable first semester is that there are lots of bonus points, and you get at least one easy exam and more than often you get two. You merely have 2 particularly tough exams (3 and 4). And by the 3rd exam, you’ve ideally acquired enough bonus points to compensate for a poor performance on the 3rd exam (however, for the final, no bonus points are allowed, you are on your own, and it is very hard. If you were just getting by w/bonus points and you don’t get your act together by then, chances of an A grade diminish or those w/a 100 in the course b/c of bonus points may go down to an A- and they may barely make that cutoff).</p>

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<p>oh yeah, another question. If you look at my schedule, Bio 142 doesn’t fit unless I take 5 courses second semester or I bump one of the courses to sophomore year which in this case only econ 112 would be able to do that. How should I handle that? Is bio the same as chem that I can advance to a higher level course sophomore year without taking 142 or is Bio 142 necessary and if it is, is there a problem taking it second semester sophomore year which would be the only other available slot? </p>

<p>Also, since we’re talking about pre med are there any clubs/organizations that would be worth joining to bolster my resume or help me on my pre med tract? I do plan on participating in organizations for fun though like club wrestling and maybe some sort of Emory volunteer club, but any suggestions in addition to those two?</p>

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<p>almost forgot. also for pre med do i still need to take the lab part of organic chem?</p>

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<p>Yes, med schools apparently want you to take it w/lab. Just ask to be in Soria’s 226-L/227-L series. It’s comparatively less stupid and more stress free than 221/222L. You may actually learn something or discover something (it’s actually a kind of organized inquiry driven lab as opposed to the tedious cookbook 221/222L). </p>

<p>Yeah, maybe bump 112 to sophomore year (I know someone who did this. He didn’t start intermediate until spring sophomore year, and he’s more than in the clear). You’ll still be left w/lots of time to complete the major. You can spread the inorganic and math requirement over sophomore and junior year. </p>

<p>As for clubs and organizations, I won’t advise you for too many specifics there (I feel I’ll be harming you if I tell you to get involved in the stereotypical clubs/activities they do, perhaps other than student gov., I like that one…I guess). Just know this isn’t like from HS applying to college. Joining a pre-med oriented club won’t pad your resume. Find something cool to get involved in that you like (you’ll find out what these are during orientation. I believe there will be a large activity fair during the first week of school). There will be plenty of things you can do, but that doesn’t mean you should. Don’t be a resume whore lol. Pick some things and do it extremely well. Perhaps try to come up w/or implement any of your own ideas on campus (or even for campus). If you treat it like high school, you will look like a vanilla applicant for the best schools. Winning awards, doing 10^6 ECs, and resume whoring worked to get into a good UG school, b/c only a certain set of students were doing it, but everybody is doing it for med. school, and it certainly doesn’t work extremely well for getting into a good one (say top 35-40, and definitely doesn’t work for top 10). Unless you end up having the most amazing GPA and MCAT, you’ll want to do something interesting, joining a bunch of clubs doesn’t cut it. I don’t even know if shadowing/volunteering is enough either. For example, I think it was unique how one of my friends, instead of shadowing, decided to go to Grady his frosh year, and council patients. That is much more active than simple shadowing and gets you in close contact w/patients. You can also do more interesting things like play a large part in things like the global health symposium held here each year, or try to become a part of the global health case competition. These are things I don’t see most pre-meds doing that they perhaps should be going for. They probably grant more satisfaction and look less vanilla than vanilla activities. And two of them are far more intellectually stimulating. If anything, joining the clubs should merely be a way to expose you to opps. you may have not known about or they may be able to give you some ideas of your own.</p>

<p>Basically, do something cool and kick ass, don’t be a pre-med drone.</p>

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<p>A bit of clarification on this: a good handful of med schools will not take ap credit, especially for their core science required classes, but nearly all of them will allow you to replace it with an equal number of semesters of work in a upper course of the same subject. That means if you ap out of chem 141, you still need to take TWO semesters of chemistry (in addition to ur 2 semesters of orgo), so you can to pick 2 out of the following: analytical, inorganic, or chem 142. Same goes for exempting biol 141; in addition to taking biol 142, you need at least one semester of upper level bio WITH LAB (as ALL 8 semesters of your premed requirements MUSt be with lab), so the usual choices here would be microbio, neurobio, or comp vertebrate anatomy. Since most people apply to 10-20 med schools, chances are at least one of them wont take ap credit so you essentially have to have all possibilities covered. The general rule of thumb with using AP for premed is that for every semester of a prereq u get using AP, you also have to take a semester of an upper level class in the same subject. In other words, having APs in premed required courses doesn’t really completely exempt you; it only places you into a upper level class. </p>

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<p>The common ones are EUPHA, MPS, AED, and EPMA. And as berine12 said, it helps very little (either be it ur resume or med school application) to join if you dont do much but pay the dues and attend a few meetings. You want to have at least a leadership role by your 2nd year in the organization, and if you can, do something no else in the organization has done before.</p>

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<p>Collegestu: 10-20 schools?!!! I don’t know how y’all afford that. That’s ridiculous, but I suppose it’s a neccessary evil. Just make sure that these 10-20 schools are not all in the top 10-20 lol. Maybe only allot 3-5 to those if you feel competitive. Gosh, that sounds brutal!</p>

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<p>Realistically, with orgo and all of those courses, what would be a good GPA goal to go for? Obviously Im going to try my hardest, but right now i think a 3.5 or 3.6 would be a reachable goal. I understand GPAs and stuff vary on student to student, but any opinions for a goal with my course load? Also, any advice other than Orgo on which professors to get for courses like Bio, Physics, and Econ? In addition any sort of helpful hints about freshman year and courses in general for premed would be awesome as well:). Thanks!</p>

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<p>3.5+ is a reasonable goal you should be able to achieve. </p>

<p>Bio: Choose Passalaucqua, Eisen, or Spell.</p>

<p>Physics: you have no choice. Physics 151 has only 1 section, however, unless it’s Rasnik (I believe it’s Berland), it’ll be okay to pretty good.</p>

<p>Econ 101: Don’t know. Banerjee if possible, good and easy (not to suggest any section is hard, just that he is known for being of high quality).</p>

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<p>3.6 Should be the bare minimum any pre-med should aim for if they want a realistic shot at med school these days, and with emory’s grading method it shouldn’t be hard to get if you take your classes seriously. The average cumulative GPA for emory students getting into med school is around 3.60-3.65 (BCPM gpa is closer to 3.55), just around the national average. </p>

<p>However, most asian guys will need around 3.7+ to be seriously considered for a decent MD med school, and 3.8+ if they’re aiming for the more selective ones. Almost all the asian guys i know who graduated from emory in the 3.4-3.6 range have had to take at least a year off after college, either to do a postbac, a masters degree, or get more clinical experience.</p>

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<p>Small sample size and plus we don’t know where they applied (maybe they found certain schools “below” them) lol. Also, don’t know MCATs and whether they did anything particularly special. We are talking about a frosh year where they have harder than normal courses. A 3.5+ is a reasonable goal. They’ll have plenty of easier courses in the future if they don’t get 3.6+ frosh year. I’ve seen it happen to these students, they start 3.3-3.5, and end up 3.6-3.7 by start of junior year. They’ll be fine.</p>

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<p>I just need to follow wherever bernie12 goes because virtually all my questions are answered in his posts…luls. And just as an update, I haven’t heard back from prof. Soria yet.</p>

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<p>yeah same here. i emailed soria yesterday morning and havent heard anything back, but then again its only been a day and a half. when did you contact him?</p>

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<p>Well, it’s been two days now since I contacted him. I’m in no rush but I sure am curious as to what he responds with!</p>

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<p>I think he may be getting swamped or something. He is after all prepping for the upcoming academic year (the 2 weeks prior to class starting are cram week for profs. especially those teaching more than one course). Soria will not only be teaching you guys in lecture and lab, but will also be teaching organometallic this semester. Keep this in mind. If you don’t get a response, simply go see him at the orientation info. fair in the woodpec on Saturday, where I believe he’ll let you discuss and perhaps even sign up for the course there. If you will not make it early enough on Saturday to catch it. I suppose he’ll be on campus as early as Monday, so maybe you can go to his office if he still hasn’t responded (I’m pretty sure he will have by then).</p>

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<p>thestudent1, if you get a response or are able to contact him let me know please and vice versa. Thanks!</p>