<p>How difficult would this courseload be? Engineering 006, Orgo. 1, Physics 004L, Calc II. How would you recommend shifting things around?</p>
<p>you should probably take at least one social sciences/ humanities course instead of one of the above so that at least the kind of work will be varied</p>
<p>This is first year second semester? I agree that you need a social sciences or humanities course instead to provide some variety and help with distribution requirements. Which of these are writing courses also?</p>
<p>It looks like the OP is interested in both engin and pre-med, so my advice is predicated on that assumption. Replace Physics 4L with a humanities or social science course, preferably a Writing course unless that would make the class very difficult for you (note that not all W courses actually require a ton of writing). Physics 4 is offered every spring and 4L will be offered again your junior spring–even if this means that you might miss 4L as a pre-med, it’s better to not overload yourself in your first graded semester.</p>
<p>Note carefully that grad programs don’t actually “pad” Swarthmore grades relative to the grades of your peers at other schools. For instance, it seems like an A at Brown or Columbia is understood to be similar to an A at Swat (even though they’re very much not the same).</p>
<p>This means that schools won’t cut you much slack for taking lots of hard classes at once. You and a student who take the same courses but the student who balances her schedule and does better in classes will be preferred, all else constant.</p>