Freshman Schedule

<p>Can current Emory Students (preferrably pre-med) post the courses they took freshman year (both fall and spring semesters)?</p>

<p>A “typical” freshmen pre-med schedule would be like:</p>

<p>Fall:
(4) CHEM 141: Gen Chem I w/ lab
(4) BIOL 141:Gen Biol I w/ lab
(4) MATH 111 or 115: Calc I or Life Sciences Calc I
(4) XXXX 190: Freshmen Seminar</p>

<p>Spring:
(4) CHEM 142: Gen Chem IIw/ lab
(4) BIOL 142: Gen Biol II w/ lab
(4) MATH 112 or 116: Calc II or Life Sciences Calc II
(4) ENG 101 or 181: Freshmen Writing Requirement OR some intro or elective class in your major if u have the AP Lang or Lit credit and already decided on a major OR a course to fullfill a GER.
(1) PE 101 or other PE class</p>

<p>This would leave orgo and physics, which are generally taken during sophomore year, or in some cases people split them up (ie orgo soph yr and physics junior yr) </p>

<p>However, if u have significant AP credit and wanna go hardcore, it would be more like</p>

<p>Fall:
(4) CHEM 221 or 221Z: Organic Chem I
(1 or 2) CHEM 221L or 226L: Organic I Lab
(4) PHYS 141 or 151: Intro or Gen. Physics I (Mechanics) w/ lab
(4) MATH 211: Multivariable calc
(4) XXXX 190: Freshmen Seminar
(1) PE 101 or other PE class</p>

<p>Spring:
(4) CHEM 222 or 222Z: Organic Chem II
(1 or 2) CHEM 222L or 227L: Organic II Lab
(4) PHYS 142 or 152: Intro or Gen. Physics II (E&M) w/ lab
(4) MATH 212 or 221: Differential Equations or Lin. Algebra
(4) BIOL 142: Gen Biol II w/ lab
(4) Another Course in the department of your major OR GER fullfilling class
(1) PE 101 or other PE class</p>

<p>With this schedule you’ll be APing out of CHEM 141 and BIOL 141 which means you’ll have to take CHEM 142 sometime later on, or go into an upper level class to fullfill the chem requirement (such as inorganic, p-chem, or analytical chem). Also you’ll need to take another upper level biol class with lab (such as vert. anatomy, microbio, or neurobio). </p>

<p>And finally for the noob pre-meds, slackers, or those without much of a science background…</p>

<p>Fall:
(4) BIOL 141: Gen. Biol I w/ lab
(4) MATH 115: Life Sciences Calc I
(4) XXXX 190: Freshmen Seminar
(4) Another 100 level GER fullfilling class</p>

<p>Spring:</p>

<p>(4) BIOL 142: Gen Biol II w/ lab
(4) MATH 116: Calc II or Life Sciences Calc II OR elective in major OR GER class
(4) ENG 101 or 181: Freshmen Writing Requirement<br>
(4) Some intro or elective class in your major OR a course to fullfill a GER.
(1) PE 101 or other PE class</p>

<p>And with this schedule you’ll be a bit behind many of ur peers, which means you’ll have to double up in ur pre-med sciences either soph or junior anyway, take summer school, or plan to take a gap year after college.</p>

<p>Personally, I recommend challenging yourself to the point where you are taking the hardest courseload possible BUT still maintaining a a 3.8+ GPA and a reasonable social life.</p>

<p>Collegestu: Most freshmen will not get a 3.8 GPA. Be serious. Not to mention, they certainly will not challenge themselves because of it (Seriously, not many people will get higher than 3.7 w/a challenging schedule as a freshmen). I say shoot for the 3.8, but don’t beat yourself up for not getting it. It would be just as respectable to do something in between the “typical” and “challenging” freshmen courseload and getting a 3.6. Also, a 3.5-3.6 is certainly acceptable w/the challenging courseload. If you take the “challenging” courseload, depending on your major, you are probably knocking out the toughest courses you’ll have at Emory. Given that, the grades will probably improve throughout the rest of their Emory career. Setting a 3.8 GPA or bust attitude is why so many idiots here give up pre-med or some pre-health track after getting their first B grade. That is a ridiculous sentiment, and I resent it. I’d rather have the person w/a 3.5 and a challenging courseload to go on and train as my future doctor than the person w/the slacker or mediocre schedule (also including those who take summer courses, don’t respect those who take summer science courses that well either, whether it’s Emory or elsewhere) w/a 3.8 anytime. I don’t necessarily want a doctor w/a self-inflated GPA from UG that somehow got into some top 10 med. school (where some like Harvard will mask their rank or grades, so no one will ever know how well they actually did. One does not need to go to a top 10 to become an amazing doctor, and they certainly don’t need a 3.8 to get into med. school. 3.5+, 30+ MCAT in addition to other amazing supplements is a solid starting point). I don’t want slackers training to be doctors. It’s a disservice to us, just as it is a disservice to discourage someone from taking challenging courses if they won’t make a 3.8. I mean come on, it’s not like Emory is grading as easy as a place like Stanford, where most could do such a thing and safely bank on getting at least a 3.4-3.5. The school is not as easy to many others as it is you unfortunately. Hard to believe, but it’s definitely true. The grading here, especially in sciences, does not make the place a complete walk in the park like places such as Brown, Stanford, and perhaps Yale (they will give you challenging work, but will grade/curve it comparatively easier, they have an average graduating GPA of well over 3.5, and Brown and Stanford have like a 3.6)</p>

<p>Other than that: I agree with the tiering of your course proposals.
I think a decent schedule for those who want the typical, but challenging mix could be: 221/221-Z, Bio 141 (or physics 151, whatever you like, though I think it’s beneficial to take orgo. and bio simultaneously), Freshmen seminar (this could possibly be challenging, mines was), and some awesome GER, or a math. Carry most classes over to second semester</p>

<p>is 4 the max amount of classes (with 4 next to them) you can take? why is it better to take english 2nd semester? also, what about foreign language? is chem 141 more a weed out class than chem 221z?</p>

<p>You can take whatever classes you want in whatever order. That’s your personal preference. Emory doesn’t really have weed-out courses (with exception of some of the later chem. courses maybe or NBB 301). Generally intros. are quite doable here. Even orgo. is relatively doable despite having much more difficult material than gen. chem. These courses at peers are more like “weedout” courses because of their sizes. For example at places like Vandy, which is supposedly similar to us in someways, introductory science courses are 175+(in fact, often 200-205) students. Gen. chem. at it’s largest here is maybe 105 depending on how many freshmen enroll at Emory (they were abnormally large last year because a relatively large freshmen class enrolled). Orgo. at Vandy is 150-175, and ours is generally 75-90(Weinschenk’s sections are 90 a piece, everyone else is 75 and lower). Soria’s class 1st semester is generally 50-65 people, and then smaller 2nd semester for a myriad of reasons. Bio generally only goes up to between 75-95 students a piece, whereas those at most of our research university peers are 1.5-2x the size. The comparatively smaller intro. and pre-med science courses here make for a more supportive environment and much higher teaching quality at the introductory level.
Anyway, 221/222z is just kind of hard. It does not intentionally weed-out at all. It’s simply orgo. Whether you take it freshmen or sophomore year (221/222 w/o the Z), the result will be the same, so if you have an oppurtunity to take it in a smaller, more personalized, and supportive setting, you should. Gen. chem is conceptually easier, but it’s not as supportive (despite being smaller/more supportive than gen. chem sections elsewhere). Soria’s class is an experience worth the additional difficulty. And again, if you don’t think so after the first semester, switch into non-freshmen sections of 222 or go down to 142.</p>

<p>No, 4 isn’t the max. You can have up to 19 as a first semester freshman (or maybe 20). Essentially, you can throw in more PEs or some 2 credit hour classes or labs, that’ll add up to 18-19 credits.</p>

<p>what teacher would you recommend for bio 141?</p>

<p>It currently is not clear who is teaching it. All sections are listed as “staff” with the instructor. If you find that Eisen or Spell is teaching 141, go with either of those. I honestly think Eisen gives the most legit experience for an intro. bio class, but Spell is a great lecturer (Eisen is good, and does the case-based class, which is a really good way to learn. Fosters more interaction/community and stuff too).</p>

<p>do you have any recommendations for intro stat teachers? also, what freshman seminar did you take?</p>

<p>I took ORDER for fresh. seminar. I think it’s offered this semester. I don’t know anything about stats. teachers.</p>

<p>Do most freshman “double up” (with Bio and Chem) on science course first semester? I’ve been told by some current students to wait to sophomore year to take two science courses in one semester. </p>

<p>My priliminary schedule looks like this.</p>

<p>Chem 141
Calc I
Fresham Seminar
Language Requirenment</p>

<p>Chem 142
Calc II
Writing Req.
Continue Language Req.
PE/Health</p>

<p>I don’t know about the language req., but I’m pretty sure I want to take them back to back so I don’t forgot during one off semester.</p>

<p>I don’t know about “most”, but a healthy (40-50%) amount double up freshman year. It really isn’t that hard. In fact after a while, doubling/tripling up becomes second nature (well, at least doubling up).</p>

<p>Thanks for the input!</p>

<p>If I plan to major in biology or chemistry, would you recommend I take Calculus for Life Sciences (Math 115) or Calculus I (Math 111)?</p>

<p>If you think you may major in chem, go with 111. It’ll allow you more progression into higher level maths needed, for say, PChem.</p>

<p>If I end up receiving a 4 or a 5 on the ap bc exam, should I go straight to multivariable? or would i be missing out on stuff if i took life sciences with calc or business with calc?</p>

<p>Those would be my two possible career paths (science or business) and I don’t wanna use my ap credit if that ends up hurting me. Also with ap bio credit, I don’t know if I should use it or take 141/142.</p>

<p>AP Bio credit only gets you 141 credit, not 142. As for AP, you should simply move on to multivariable. This will make you qualified in both fields. A 4/5 on BC is sufficient to move on. BC Calc. covers the life science-calc. requirement, the business-calc. requirement, and regular Calc. 111/112 (which apparently=business calc., even though B-calc is far easier). Anyway, just move on.</p>

<p>so would this seem like a reasonable schedule?</p>

<p>Calc 211
Chem 141
Bio 141 (i dont wanna just take 142, in case i forget stuff this summer or certain things were stressed in 141)
Freshman Seminar: either NBB or Econ
some spanish course
a PE course</p>

<p>Chem 142
Bio 142
Freshman English
continuing spanish course
Health
(is there a followup to calc 211?)</p>

<p>do you think that would be too much to handle? i feel like fall semester is too loaded. what are your thoughts on taking chem along with orgo sophomore year? i actually got a 4 on the ap chem test but i completely forgot everything so maybe waiting a year wouldnt hurt?</p>

<p>Don’t take bio 141. The two semesters are not really connected. You can do 142 w/o 141 easily. I made the mistake of taking your approach and 141 was a waste of time, and I got lower in 141 than 142. Just don’t waster your time with it. You can take something like Diff. Eq in spring or linear algebra.</p>

<p>The schedule is pretty good though overall.</p>

<p>okay! thanks alot bernie :)</p>

<p>I plan on doing Neuro/premed. I am very confused about which classes I should take Freshman yr., but here is what I have right now (open to suggestions):</p>

<p>Bio 141 (Don’t know my AP score, but should I take it ?)
Chem 141 (didnt take the placement test yet)
English (CPTL 110 Intro to Lit ?)
Health 101 (does this count towards your GPA ? should I take it ?)
Fresh Sem. NBB</p>

<p>Bio 142
Chem 142
PE class
maybe an NBB course or psychology or french ?
Calc (maybe ? dont know if they offer intro calc 2nd semester)</p>

<p>Is it a good idea not to take calc my first yr. ? I want to have a very good GPA. I’m shooting for a 3.8 but dont want to get below a 3.7. I’m scared lol</p>

<p>If you’re going to take calc. 2nd semester, don’t do an NBB, psyche. Intro. calc. here is jokish, so you can do it in addition to bio and chem. Maybe just do French (as psyche or NBB is likely to be more rigorous than Calc.)
The schedule is good. Also, Health 101 is an automatic A (especially under the new peer led class), just get it out of the way.</p>

<p>Your schedule is very stereotypical for a freshmen and many do well with it (I was around freshmen with much tougher loads who did well including myself, however, most of us weren’t pre-med and were more inclined to take risks), so go for it.</p>