<p>Hey, </p>
<p>I'll be a '14 in the fall and so far I'm thinking of pursuing a pre-veterinary track. I definitely won't take a four-course load in freshman year, when I'll be adjusting to the school, but I was thinking of doing it sophomore year and wanted some insight into how hard it really is to juggle four courses. I really love the sciences and assuming I stay in that field (yes, I know, I might not) there could be terms I take three sciences and one other easier course to keep up with pre-vet prerequisites and other courses I'm interested in. Is this doable? Scary? Insane? Hard, but possible for someone dedicated who loves science anyway?</p>
<p>Three sciences and another course…that might not be doable. Two sciences and two other courses, maybe. remember that lab, although part of one of your classes, is sort of a fourth class, so four course terms w/ one or more labs really are hell.</p>
<p>my daughter double majored in physics and art history and she took 4 courses in a term at least two times and she said it wasn’t too difficult.</p>
<p>My son is a science major and he has had terms when he had to drop to only two courses. It really depends on what the courses are. In general, however, I think four courses is pushing it. Remember that the courses meet three times a week, science courses also have labs of perhaps three to four hours long, and they have heavy duty midterms and finals. A load of “only” three courses doesn’t leave much leisure time.</p>
<p>Think about what you want to get out of college. I’ve often considered taking four-course terms (including this current term), and I’ve always ultimately decided against doing so because I realized that taking four courses, even in something I love, would make me hate life because of the sheer amount of time each course requires. That said, I did take a three-lab term Freshman spring, and it wasn’t terrible. My GPA didn’t suffer <em>too</em> terribly (median to slightly above in each class), but I didn’t feel like I <em>mastered</em> anything I learned that term. I also left that June feeling burnt out, and I really did need the entire summer to recuperate.</p>
<p>Plan out as much as you can in advance, and try to avoid any terms more rigorous than lab+lab+distrib. Knock out a distrib with your seminar. Maybe take a course at a school near home the summer after freshman year and transfer the credit (and possibly the distrib!). There should be no reason to put yourself through a “death term”. </p>
<p>Final point that I want to make: inordinate amounts of work and frustration can cause you to hate the subject you love. Keeping the rigor of your course schedule in check will help to guard against this happening to you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Quoted for truth. One of my best friends, a sophomore at Princeton, told me the same thing.</p>
<p>4 classes is tough, but doable.</p>
<p>I’ve taken 4 sci/engs classes a couple times, and believe me, it’s a ton of work. You won’t have as much social time as before, or as much time for anything except school. It is, however, definitely doable, if you have the right work ethic and, most importantly, friends that will support you.</p>
<p>That being said, you shouldn’t ever <em>need</em> to do it - i did, but that’s because of poor planning earlier in college.</p>
<p>Definitely don’t do it freshman year, and after that … your interests might be completel different, so don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><em>especially</em> sleep</p>