<p>I'm a first year biochemistry major, maybe pre-med, who is very interested in all things science. I see so many interesting classes in math, physics, chemistry, and biology, and I want to take them all! But sadly, that would be impossible to fit into 4-5 years...or would it? </p>
<p>Should I challenge myself to multiple majors/minors and risk getting a lower GPA? Please give me some advice on what I should do. Thank you.</p>
<p>Do whatever you feel you can handle. I can totally understand wanting to take everything but feeling like you have no time.</p>
<p>Take as many classes as you can handle each semester. If you can do summer school, then try summer school. Don’t overwork yourself, but do as much as you possibly can. It’s okay - especially in this day and age - to spend a longer time in school as an undergrad. It’s okay to be working hard in college for 5 or even 6 years instead of the old, standard 4 years. </p>
<p>You should start to figure out all of the classes you want to take and have to take (gen. ed. requirements, requirements for your major, etc.) and try to organize a chart of some sort. You’ll see a basic outline of what you want. Then you should try to see if it’ll fit. You won’t be able to see the times for classes and whatnot for the future, of course, but it’ll give you a rough idea of how many semesters it’ll take you.</p>
<p>Bottom line - I think you should try to fit in as much as you possibly can, but don’t overwork yourself and overwhelm yourself.</p>
<p>My advice – as an intellectual, it is natural to be curious about everything. But note that it does not take years and years to get a good appreciation for different things. Usually the reason it takes so long to train in a field is that you’re not only learning about the beautiful aspects of it but also how to work through the details in order to become a professional. So you should train yourself to be a professional in whatever you think you would like to actually work on most, and learn everything else informally. That could mean auditing classes, reading books in spare time, etc. No need to take a billion classes for a grade in order to learn lots of material and get a great feel for what it’s all about.</p>
<p>In fact, classes teach you to muck with the details, not only the big picture, and mucking with the details of every field doesn’t make sense anyway, since it’s not like you need to be a professional to appreciate the things.</p>
<p>you can still learn more stuff after you graduate college…</p>