I’m a pre-med incoming sophomore. My freshman year, I managed a 3.90 overall GPA and a 3.95 BCPM GPA (It could’ve been higher if my A minus in bio was an A although I did get an A in a 4000 level genetics course). Here’s my planned schedule for Fall 2017
Enhanced Orgo 1 - 3 credits
Microbio- 3 credits
Enchanced Physics with Calc 1- 3 credits
Microbio- lab- 1 credit
Research in Biology-2 credits
Spanish Conversation- 3 credits
Writing in medical sciences- 3 credits
Physician shadowing- 3 credits
Total- 21 credits
In addition to this I will be doing research 3-6 hours a week on top of my research course, and volunteering (3-12 hours a week).
My goal is to keep at least a 3.9 in my BCPM classes (an 85 is a guaranteed A in all but one of those classes, some are even lower like 79 for Orgo and 83 for microbio). I don’t really care what I get in my non science classes as long as it’s 3.8+.
You’re going to hate yourself, and it’s going to be extremely difficult to pull a good GPA (unless you’re used to this type of stress)Maybe you should do a time sheet, where you calculate the hours in the week. Then you take how many hours you are physically in class, how many hours you study for each class a week (usually 2x the amount of time in class), how many hours you need for sleep a day, how many hours you need for things like showering and eating, how many hours you spend traveling a week, volunteer etc etc and you will probably find a negative value after adding all this together with this schedule plus research and volunteering. Do you NEED to be taking this heavy of a load?
Well, we can look at it as 16 credits, with Research in Biology (2) and Physician shadowing (3) (I’m assuming these don’t award grades, but could be time consuming).
There is no lab associated with Orgo or Physics? That would leave one lab…
You do need to make sure you have the time available. Labs, Spanish, research/shadowing/volunteering, will all be time consuming. As well as studying for Orgo and Physics. It is a bit much, but if you think you the time to handle it, go for it.
I agree with @somehmonggirl. You need to REALLY make a time table and see if you will even have enough time for non-school related things because that will help you de-stress and what not. If you have time to think over your schedule, do it now! and REALLY DIG DEEP if you can do it or not. IF you can, more power to you! Good luck!