<p>i saw this topic on the duke forum, and thought i should get the dartmouth prospective. What classes should you take to minimize the workload first year (assuming youre a premed) ?</p>
<p>2 distribs/term and one prereq (just so you're actually going somewhere with your academic career).</p>
<p>some of the early premed classes, like bio 11 are supposed to be kind of hard. maybe mix it up by also searching around for a major with intro level classes, while fulfilling distribs like half baked said.</p>
<p>if you know what you want to major in already, take the intro level courses earlier than later, but dont sweat it if youre undecided...its just a (hopefully) helpful suggestion</p>
<p>Er, I hate to sound dense, but why would anyone seek out the "easiest" classes as opposed to the most interesting or useful ones?</p>
<p>because most of what you learn in college you learn out of the classroom anyway - especially freshman year. don't cut yourself off from that because you're working too hard (or getting screwed on grades).</p>
<p>a lot of the time, interesting and easy classes are the same ones anyway...</p>
<p>plus, obviously a lot of this is just a matter of personal opinion in terms of what you find interesting or easy, so its really just a judgement call that youll have to make, based on what youre looking for.</p>
<p>Do you study well on your own? </p>
<p>A lot of science classes have no (graded) homework. You can never show up to class and still get an A, if you're able to keep up with the textbook readings.</p>
<p>The intro languages are pretty easy (aside from drill). They're really predictable (e.g. frequent quizzes, a weekly, or bi-weekly test).<br>
Intro Chinese at Dartmouth is pretty easy, and this is reflected by the high median grades in Chinese.</p>
<p>if you are premed, you will take inorganic chem and calc first couple of quarters, unless you AP out of them which is not recommended. Frosh must also take Writing and/or Frosh seminar and complete the language requirement (unless you test out), so the options to find a basket-weaving class are extremely limited.</p>
<p>basket-weaving is so hard...</p>
<p>I'm a pre-med ('09), and am using the basic one prereq, one major course, one other course schedule for likely the remainder of my undergraduate years. That said, I'd recommend taking Math 3/8/11 freshman fall; it'll give you a preview of the weed-out tendency of other pre-med courses without destroying your GPA. After that, maybe Chem 5/6 or 3/6 if you're feeling brave. Bio 11 is still too new of a course to really tell--it depends on how lucky you get. I'm in Bio 11 at the moment, and lucked out with having pretty good professors and an interesting course focus, but I'd recommend checking out profs before signing up for the class. </p>
<p>Of course, that applies to just about anything at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>cool. i think i will go that way. If intro sciences are that hard, wouldn't it make more sense to just ap out? or do you need stuff you learn in those classes for further science classes?</p>
<p>To answer your question, you can be pre-med and never take any any courses beyond the required ones (1 calc, 1 stats, 4 chem (2 gen, 2 orgo), 3 bio, 2 physics) so the only place you'd need this information would probably be on the MCATs and in med school.</p>
<p>You can place out of some courses with APs, but I'd recommend against it, as med schools generally want you to take an actual college course instead of just having credit for it.</p>
<p>How often do you have midterms? Does it really feel like you always have one on the horizon? I've heard the quarter system is tougher on science majors.</p>
<p>Many students have 2 sets of "midterms" before the final exam is given. 2 weeks ago my D went through her "first" set of midterms; she had 4 exams, 3 papers and a presentation all due the same week. She has another set of exams and papers next week. Memorial day is used as the first reading day before finals.</p>
<p>wait how many subjects is she taking?</p>
<p>she is taking 4 classes</p>
<p>Don't know if this is still true or not (when I attended, Dartmouth did not give credit for APs - period) but many, many moons ago Math 3 Freshman Fall was filled with 95% math/science/premed students who could have "AP'd" out of it. The curve was in the stratosphere. Anyone unlucky enough to walk into that class w/o already knowing Calculus did not likely make it to the end of the term.</p>
<p>The curve was enormously kinder to one's GPA in the winter term.</p>
<p>Would be interesting to know if it's still true.</p>
<p>Odyssey:</p>
<p>unfortunately, the pre-health science Frosh courses are brutal at many colleges nowadays, particularly calc, inorganic chem & bio. Since gpa is #1 criteria for med school, many premeds retake the class even if they recieved a 5 on AP exam, thinking it will be an "easy" A. And, as you note, many of thier classmates enroll with the same ideas. The situation is even worse at a highly competitive public unis, however.</p>
<p>Some things never change I guess. I know one of my HS classmates looking towards padding her GPA not only got a 5 on BC calc, but took the course again in Summer School before taking it for a third time at Yale Freshman Fall - where she got a C.</p>
<p>My point re: the OP was that at Dartmouth, the Winter/Spring Calc sequence avoided that situation and (at least 20 years ago) got the math/science major the "easy" A so many look for fall term and don't get.</p>