Freshman class scheduling - too difficult?

College Life
1

<p>I'm an incoming international freshman at a top 50, private university. I'm not so familiar with American colleges, so I've been having some trouble planning out my schedule. Orientation starts next week, and I'll be having discussions with my advisers, but right now I just need some opinions from fellow CCers:</p>

<p>Planned schedule (four classes maximum):</p>

<ol>
<li>WRT 105 (Required writing class)</li>
<li>ECO 207 Intermediate Microeconomics</li>
<li>MTH 173 Honors Calculus III</li>
<li>PSC 244k Politics and Markets</li>
</ol>

<p>The writing class is required for all students. The economics and Calculus classes are typically second-year courses. The Honor Calculus sequence is usually intended for high-achieving engineering/science majors, but taking the series allows me to get a Maths minor with four classes rather than five (after getting credits for Cal I and II). The Poli-Sci class is meant for second-year and third-year majors.</p>

<p>I've been having some doubts about taking second-year classes in the first semester. I took ten APs this year (average score 4.8), six of them independently; being somewhat proficient at test-taking, I didn't have to study for either the two Economics APs or the two Gov. & Politics APs in order to get 5's. This made me think that it'd be a good choice to place out of any introductory courses and take second-year/third-year classes. However, I've been hearing a lot about how the AP materials/exams are actually much easier than first-year college classes, even though they're supposedly equivalent. Since, frankly, I didn't completely master the syllabus in the APs in the first place, would it be wise to skip the introductory classes? I'm aiming for good grades (>3.7) as well as a challenging curriculum, so I don't want to give myself too great of a challenge only to destroy my GPA. </p>

<p>The main concerns are: How different are AP materials from typical first-year courses of a Tier 1 university? How hard is it to get adjusted to college life? And do first-semester students tend to get a much worse GPA? </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Its honestly hard to gauge how well you will do based on AP classes. AP classes run an entire year and you usually need a 60-80% to get a 5, while in college there are many cases when you need a 90+ to get an A. College classes only run between 10 to 16 weeks and you end up learning about the same amount in that time as compared to the entire year. Additionally, AP classes are a set curriculum, but college classes can end up teaching you different things whether they be harder or easier. </p>

<p>Adjusting to college life takes different time for different people, it took me till my first midterms to get true gauge of difficulty. And yes, the first semester is usually a wake up call for most, but not necessarily for everyone (I did well my first quarter).</p>

<p>As far as the schedule, it looks manageable, good luck and have fun.</p>

3

<p>

This shows to me that you have way stronger work ethics than most of your college classmates will have. Stay motivated and you’ll be fine.</p>

4

<p>Hey Herunar, looks like ur heading to University of Rochester, me too! :slight_smile:
your schedule looks fine to me, im sure your advisor will be able to give the best info tho</p>

5

<p>I agree with bartum. You’ve got good work ethic. Read a lot, you’ll be okay. That’s all college is, read read read, practice practice practice, and then pwn the test.</p>