<p>These are the courses I WANT to take... I got a later enrollment time so idk what's gonna happen.</p>
<p>First Semester:</p>
<p>Bio 141 with Spell + Lab
Chem 141 with Mulford +Lab
English 101 with Cohens (Art of Persuasion writing class)
Freshman Seminar in Philosophy
PACE 101 </p>
<p>I didn't take late lab times. I have a strong grasp of bio (got a 7 in IB higher level) and got a 6 in Chem higher level. Is this courseload manageable (I want as close to 4.0 as I cam get... will not be happy with Bs) assuming I'm studying hard?</p>
<p>Alam, that is a normal schedule. That isn’t even considered that rigorous due to the lack of any math course. Very typical. Most people do well with this. Also, generally people with credit will get As in part 1. However, I guess bio 141 will be a good refresher. Eisen would have been the best to take it with though, but I’d imagine he’s full. </p>
<p>A rigorous schedule that I saw lots of 2013s do last year is Orgo., bio, physics, and some math, normally Calc. III+. Yeah, but don’t turn into a b<strong>tch if you get a B range. Everyone’s goal is a 4.0, and it is attainable with a schedule like that. If you don’t be disappointed and move on to part II of each course as if you have something to prove, and you’ll probably get an A. Don’t be stupid and drop pre-med if you slip up and get a B/B+ somehow. Sh</strong> happens. If you do that Alam, I will lose respect for you and label you as one of those p***y pre-meds lol.<br>
Also, I’m a little disappointed given your credentials/background that you chose those. Honestly, if I had IB credit, I wouldn’t bother with the 1st sequence of each of those sciences. Only if I had AP would I consider it. Normally IB is far more rigorous. If I were you, I would have filled those chem and bio 1 spaces with some better/more interesting courses perhaps not in the sciences and take part 2 of both. And you aren’t even taking the most challenging/best profs, and you have a 7 and 6 respectively (should at least have Morkin for gen. chem. And Spell for bio is perhaps challenging to some w/AP credit and most w/o it, but not a person w/IB experience where the exams were pre-dominantly short-answer. Could’ve chose Eisen and not wasted your time and money). What’s the point? Realize that you are going to do well b/c of your background no matter what, and try to get the best learning experience ever (normally people vote Mulford as favorite, due to Morkin’s test being shorter and tougher, but many would agree that she is a better lecturer. Mulford is excellent too, but Morkin seems to be a step up, and students retain more from her course). </p>
<p>Also, I would’ve taken freshman orgo. if you got an invitation. Most students w/IB credit do really well, and it’s a really good learning environment that is much more challenging and stimulating than gen. chem. And I know b/c all of my friends with IB did really well in at least orgo. 1 (and really solid in orgo. II also)</p>
<p>Given your goal of a guaranteed 4.0, I’m not surprised you chose these classes though. Just do a better job next year. Or perhaps use the additional time that you won’t have to spend studying to take advantage of the opportunities offered on campus that may interest you lol. They need not be pre-med related, but if that’s what you want, there are many positions at Grady for you to volunteer as. I had a friend (2013) that was like a counselor (fail at grammar I think) there, and there is a lot of research if you want it. Join Chemory, those events are fun :). Good luck.</p>
<p>Hey bernie, thanks for your answer… I actually heard from many people not to take my bio and chem IB credits because profs at chem 142 and bio 142 sometimes use certain things from the 141 course. Also, a lot of med schools that I looked at do NOT accept AP/IB credit. I really don’t wanna go straight into upper level courses… I heard that is a killer! Bernie, is there a particular freshman seminar that you could suggest that would be fairly challenging and interesting. I was thinking about taking the Evolution:Concepts and Misconcepts one but I didn’t know if that was an overload of bio. </p>
<p>Separate question: Do you think I should switch to Eng 181? Or should I get rid of that and choose Calc 115 (I believe this is the one designed for pre-med students). </p>
<p>My idea was to ease into Emory my freshman year and then take orgo, physics, calc second year (maybe physics in summer?) and then take something like biochem or some other upper level course that year. Is this plan not recommended? I honestly don’t care much for my IB chem background. Our teacher was not even IB trained and I had to self-study A LOT of it (Energetics, Kinetics etc.) do chem 141 won’t be a breeze by any means IMO. I’m taking philosophy btw because I think it’s interesting but if there’s something else you could recommend, I’ll look into it. These courses are not set in stone. I still have time to decide. Thanks.</p>
<p>EDIT: btw, I’m sorry if I sound like a snob but I’m international and it’s extremely difficult for me to get into a US med school (way more difficult that domestic students I hear) so I can’t really afford more than a couple of Bs so I’m trying to keep that count at a minimum.</p>
<p>Yeah, but that depends on what type of med. school you aim for. Remember, that while it may be kind of ideal b/c of all of the hype, you don’t have to get into a top 10-20 (or 30-35 for that matter) to become a doctor Alam. Normally the ones that lead teams or manage something in a hospital over here come from a medical school that doesn’t rank that high. And a couple of B ranges, especially if you took a non-typical schedule as a freshmen that perhaps included orgo. will not hurt at all. Also, orgo. actually isn’t really considered upperlevel, despite rumors. Many just think so b/c they had a hard time grasping it. I am INSPIRE and took it w/like a 3-4 on AP chem and ended up doing well. It isn’t close to easy, but Jose fosters and creates the type of learning/collaborative environment that greatly increases ones chance for success. He also engages students into the lectures extremely well. It is always more like a discussion than a lecture. As for English, I actually would recommend English 181, as some of the topics you have to choose from are very interesting. When I found out that you can choose by topic, I forfeited AP credit. I ended up choosing TransAtlantic Romanticism, and it ended up being awesome b/c the grad. student was really excited about in his own work, and was thus so knowledgeable. It’s one reason I always try to add a humanities/social science to my schedule now-a-days. Also, about bio 141. This is harder than bio 142 in terms of earning a solid grade for most w/o experience like yours, and you could probably skip it, and still get an A in 142 in your sleep. The primary thing in 141 that most people have trouble with are the non-Mendelian genetics at the end of the course, and perhaps learning the whole cell-metabolic pathway (glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle, ETC) literally, in terms of various steps (important, not important), molecules/enzymes, etc. You have a good background in those areas right? If so, don’t waste your time. Also, don’t expect to see any plant biology. Even photosynthesis is essentially skipped over. I would replace that class with a math or a seminar. And most of the topics you are concerned about in gen. chem seem to be primarily covered in chem. 142.</p>
<p>Alam, what you do not want to do is inflate your grades and get a lackluster MCAT score. If you get a couple of b-ranges, it’ll be fine. It will not actually kill your gpa as you have 3 years left and if you are bio/NBB major, the itermediate/upperlevels usual have unnecessary inflation even if the material is kind of tough (okay, I’ll admit NBB 301 is apparently tough and the grade distribution may need some adjustment. And some of the psyche courses are very intense and deserve the shifted scale, especially Edwards’ who I highly recommend you take before leaving Emory), so getting an A in those is generally easier.</p>
<p>Seminars: Normally people like NBB seminars. They are known to be kind of rigorous. Then again, a great deal of your seminar style courses will be more rigorous than your traditional sciences in terms of our of class work (as in written work, not studying).</p>
<p>By the way, calc. for life sciences is designed for NBB/Bio majors, not specifically pre-meds. While pre-meds make up the bulk of NBB/Bio, that isn’t the class’s purpose. It’s primarily designed to expose you to topics more typically covered in research in biology and expose you to statistics. Honestly, it is taught better than most math 111/112 classes, but despite any rumors, it is gonna be more rigorous than those b/c you actually have a mandatory workload that counts as a good portion of your grade and is graded harshly, so you know what to expect from tests. Calc. 116 integrates many concepts from linear algebra differential equations and the like. I took 111, and didn’t do well in 116, and ended taking a W and just doing regular calc. II (did okay, math isn’t my strong point), but I still recommend it. Dufus is a great teacher, somewhat funny, and engages the class well. He’s also really concerned about students. I just was not prepared for the course b/c my 111 course was not rigorous enough to cover some of the topics the others were expected to know from 1st semester. I am pretty sure that my high school calc. 1 course was more rigorous than calc. 111 here, and we went a lot further too.</p>
<p>Bernie, I have like 20 minutes or so to decide. Since my freshman seminar class is full… should I ditch freshman seminar first year and just take calc 111/115 (would 115 be too hard… I got a 7 in IB math but in Standard Level). If I do that, I’d have bio 141, chem 141, Calc 111, English 101. That’s two science courses AND a math course!!! Are you honestly(!!!) sure that’s a good idea? I heard that’s like the kiss of death (2 science +Math).</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I just recently got back to Clairmont, and I hope you made a decision you are comfortable with. But bottom-line is: You have IB experience! Taking such a load is not a kiss of death for you. Intro. math classes here will be a joke for you. They hold on to the liberal arts way of teaching, and you will probably find that high school calc. was harder due to it being more rigorous. However, if the seminar was interesting, I would have kept it. Intro. math here is kind of stupid for most students with a solid background like yourself. While 115/116 are probably more rigorous than 111/112, it’s still not going to challenge lots of people. When it comes to math and physics, all I can say is, “This ain’t Tech”.</p>
<p>When I refer to rigor I always mean mandatory out of class work associated or time spent in recitation/lab (math 115/116 is one of the only classes here that uses a recitation model)</p>
<p>Your schedule seems typical and manageable for a freshmen premed, and considering your strong science background you should do fine (3.9+ in my opinion) as long as you know how to work efficiently. And if you take calc down the road, I’d recommend 111/112 because 115/116 are essentially simplified versions of calc I and some basic 200 level math topics and thus too easy for anyone with prior calc experience, not to mention as bernie2012 said they contain an additional lab component where you have most of your quizzes (so you can’t really skip it).</p>
<p>I don’t think calc. 111/112 here are rigorous enough in most sections to be honest. And normally 115/116 is taught much better. The idea of recitation has been successful at other schools for engineering (like Tech) and many of our peers. Nothing wrong in my opinion. Alam is gonna get an A-/A no matter what intro. level math he takes.</p>