<p>I will be enrolled at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 2014, as a prospective ChemE major. I have always wanted to attend medical school, although that dream has slowly fell off to the side; I still would like to have all the required classes under my belt, though, so I do not scramble at the last second. At Notre Dame, there are MANY required classes in the liberal arts, and your schedule really opens up during your junior and senior year. I wanted to see as to the possibility of stacking my first college semester. I know engineering coursework is notoriously difficult, but I need to know whether or not I am walking into a death trap with this one.</p>
<p>4cr Chem I (Received 5 on AP Chem, will retake although I know it like the back of my hand)
4cr Calculus I (Retaking in college as a GPA booster)
3cr Intro Engineering
3cr First Year Comp (Have AP credit, but must take to fulfill premed requirement)
3cr Seminar (Likely to be in theology, literature, or philosophy)
4cr Biology I w/ Lab (I received a 5 on AP Biology exam, but that was sophomore year; this is the class I must make a decision about)
(21 Credit Hours)
Also note I must be enrolled in a PE course, but that should have little bearing</p>
<p>So, my question is am I asking to get destroyed in my first semester of college with a schedule like that?</p>
<p>You should try the old final exams for chemistry 1, calculus 1, and biology 1 at ND. If you know the material well, consider skipping them.</p>
<p><a href=“http://cbe.nd.edu/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-curricula”>http://cbe.nd.edu/undergraduate-program/undergraduate-curricula</a> does not list biology 1 for first semester frosh. It looks like you only have it for pre-med purposes. Because your major includes calculus 2 and 3, and analytical chemistry and lab, these should be able to substitute (for pre-med purposes) for chemistry 1 and calculus 1 if you skip them. Skipping them will free up some schedule space (later) to take biology 1 and 2 (or other biology courses) if you are still pre-med by then.</p>
<p>I agree with UCBalumnus’ suggestion that you use your AP credit and skip intro Chem, Biology and Calculus.</p>
<p>Also, you might want to think about chucking the “pre-med major” altogether in favor of a straight degree in whatever, just making sure that you have the minimum science and math background that Medical Schools are looking for these days. Today various majors are admitted to medical school.</p>
<p>Also, you do not have to retake first year composition now. You can defer the decision to take it until you are sure you want to continue pre-med. Even if you do continue pre-med, you can check with the pre-med advising office to see what other, potentially more interesting, courses there are that can fulfill medical schools’ English composition requirements.</p>
<p>Some medical schools want to see psychology and/or sociology courses, so you may want to consider such courses for your arts and letters courses.</p>
<p>A more reasonable schedule would likely be:</p>
<p>MATH 10560 Calculus II (if you are confident after checking the MATH 10550 final exams)
CHEM 10172/11172 Org Chem I and lab or 10122 Gen Chem II (if you are confident after checking the CHEM 10171 final exams)
EG 10111 Intro to Engineering
Univ Sem 13186 or A&L breadth
A&L breadth (e.g. psychology or sociology)</p>
<p>Total of 16-17 credit units.</p>
<p>Another option is to replace the second A&L breadth with PHYS 10310 if you are in MATH 10560. However, this may not be the best idea if you are taking a chemistry course with a lab, due to the time consuming nature of labs.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help, and someone mentioned a PreMed major above, and I have no intention on going for that; I am looking to simply fill the requirements for medical school admissions</p>
<p>Since your major is only missing biology out of the pre-med courses, you can just follow your major for the first year. If you decide to keep doing pre-med (and if your GPA is high enough for pre-med purposes), then you can put biology into your schedule – perhaps in the extra schedule slots you will have in your second year if you do skip MATH 10550 and CHEM 10171.</p>