<p>So I have been trying to plan out my freshman year specifically the classes and I am having trouble trying to decide what classes I should take. I have been admitted into the Freshman Honors Science Program which would mean for the first semester i would be taking BISC-121LG and CHEM-115ALG. I have not fulfilled my foreign language requirement so I will also be taking Italian and then I will have room for one last class (probably a Category I or II class).</p>
<p>Now what I am trying to decide is whether or not I should take BISC-121LG and CHEM-115ALG, since they are in Category III and I have received 5s on AP Biology and AP Chemistry technically I do not have to take any Category III classes. So I would rather just get a head start into my major (Biological Sciences but it may switch to Biopsychology). Anyone who goes to USC know more on this issue. </p>
<p>Will it be helpful for me to take FSH? Or would it be better to just jump into my major classes? Or more importantly even though I passed AP Chem and AP Biology do my majors still require me to take those basic classes?</p>
<p>BTW: I am not pre-med and because I have to take foreign language I feel I am already behind (since it seems everyone already has completed foreign language but me)</p>
<p>OH, my. I’m in FSH as well, and have the AP Bio/Chem 5s. I am pre-med, but I know what you mean. MUST we take the BISC-121LG and CHEM-115ALG? Our AP scores don’t waive the FSH requirement?</p>
<p>Freshman Bio majors usually take:
BISC 120/121
CHEM 105a/115a
Category 6 Social Issues
WRIT 140
This is what your adviser will say at orientation, 99.9% sure.
You may be allowed to petition to waive 120/121 or 105a/115a but I’m not sure they’d give you 220/221 and/or 105b/115b as well but it doesn’t hurt to try. In that case it would free up a class because 220/221 is Spring only and then you could take your language. Just talk to your adviser at orientation and see what they have to say, that is their job of course. They know this stuff better than I do.</p>
<p>If you feel you’re behind, you can always take your language requirement over the summer.</p>
<p>Using your AP scores to waive the FSH requirement would defeat the purpose of FSH altogether. You are supposed to take both classes for both semesters of freshman year in FSH. Its purpose to provide you with an even stronger background than you already have to prepare you for the upper division classes.</p>
<p>Thanks War Chant. As I look at my major apparently to get into Psychobiology I will have to take BISC 121 and BISC 221 and either CHEM classes (so I guess I might as well take both since it just comes as a package for Freshman Honors Science Students).</p>
<p>Why do most take Category 6 Social Issues their first semester?</p>
<p>Cat 6 and WRIT 140 are linked so you take them together, the essays that you write in 140 are supposed to be somehow linked to your Social Issues class (although sometimes they are not). If you take a look at the course schedule: [SI</a> | USC Schedule of Classes](<a href=“http://web-app.usc.edu/soc/20093/si.html]SI”>302 Found) , you will see that when you register for Cat 6, you have to register for a corresponding WRIT 140 class.</p>
<p>You could take it second semester but there’s no advantage considering you have to take BISC 220/221 + CHEM 105b/115b + Social Issues + WRIT 140 which will equal 16 units. If you take a language your first semester, you would have a gap from Fall 2009 to Fall 2010 between the classes (unless you took it summer of course).</p>