<p>Well I have orientation coming up soon and I'm supposed to work out a schedule and pick my courses. </p>
<p>I've been told not to overload my first semester and just sort of try to adjust to college classes. So could anyone help give me a rough idea of what my schedule could be like as a freshman pre-med?</p>
<p>I think MCATS are taken around the summer between my sophomore and junior year, so i'm gonna need to cover chem, bio, physics, calculus and orgo within two years. That and the general curriculum courses required by the college. </p>
<p>For freshman year I was thinking:</p>
<p>1st semester:biology I, chemistry I and calculus I</p>
<p>2nd semester: biology II, chemistry II and calculus II</p>
<p>That would leave me with physics and organic chemistry in my sophomore year.</p>
<p>With those i'll have to take two or three humanities courses each year as well. </p>
<p>Would that seem reasonable? Or is it still overload? I don't want to over do it, cause my GPA is important and adjusting to college life won't be easy. However I want to be prepared for MCATs and get all my courses done in time.</p>
<p>That’s about how my schedule looked. It’ll really depend on what you are capable of and who your professors are, but that is certainly a reasonable schedule plan.</p>
<p>shades_children the college I am attending lets you take MCATs in the summer before junior year and at the end of junior year. For science majors, they design the schedule so that it’s possible for a student to take MCATs after sophomore year and if things go bad ,we can retake it at the end of junior year.
Not sure if that’s a good or bad design compared to the traditional time MCATs are taken but i’d definitely like some input if it’s better to wait till end of junior year or not. </p>
<p>GoldShadow did you do fairly well with that course load? How much studying and work did you need to put into it? Was there any free time left over?
I’m going to a state school, so professors are probably gonna leave me on my own for the most part. So successfully going through that schedule will solely depend on my abilities…which are questionable at this point. =/
I’m glad to hear it is reasonable though, knowing someone else went through a program like that is reassuring.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation as you. I have to forecast soon, and I think I may go with the same plan as you. Those are all classes I hve taken before so I think they would be good for my first college classes.</p>
Your school tells you when you can take the MCATs? What do they do if you (gasp) take a January administration?</p>
<p>
I don’t like this mindset. You should know how you’re doing going in and be able to anticipate your score within a couple points. Retakes should be reserved for things like car crashes.</p>
<p>So you’re saying it’s better to wait till end of junior year? </p>
<p>And no nothing happens if don’t take it summer after sophomore year, which was why I said they “let” you and not make you. It’s more of a second option for science majors, whose course requirement cover more of the pre-med courses. </p>
<p>I just wanted to know if most of you guys thought it was a better idea to take the first route and complete courses in two years or wait till end of third year. I would definitely prefer getting it done sooner but if it means sacrificing GPA or burning out etc…</p>
<p>And I have no intention of retaking the test, but having that option open is still a plus.</p>
<p>D mentioned that everybody in her school is taking MCAT in a spring of Junior year, and her pre-med advisor said the same. However, she has been able to take more classes than suggested by OP, still maintaining high GPA. On the other hand, she has 2 minors and some classes in her minors are very easy for her. 3 classes seems to be way too light even for freshman. But you need to evaluate your own situation, rigor of program, your HS background, EC’s, etc…</p>