<p>hi guys. I'm a rising junior premed at cornell.</p>
<p>Mak5im is correct, IMO. However, Orange123: You can definitely do alright with an 18-19 credit 1st semester. I know friends who are triple major premeds (majoring in biology, chem, and government) that took 23 credits in the 1st semester and 26 creds in the 2nd. Imagine: finishing off 49 credits in your freshman year! </p>
<p>I heard the cornell record breaker was taking ~50 credits a semester, and the guy graduated with a few hundred credits. Not sure what college he's in, probably CAS. He could have graduated at least 3 times over in 4-5.</p>
<p>"if you are a strong chem student, why don't you place out Chem 207? and you can do the same with Chem 208 by taking CASE. This way you are free from 2 GPA killer classes"</p>
<p>This is a terrible idea. You still need two semesters of inorganic chem for med school. If you place out of 207-208, you will need to take a year of upper level level chem...like p-chem. Given the choice b/w p-chem and an intro gen chem class, I'd gladly take general chemistry. Chem 207-208 is a joke anyway.</p>
<p>And he's taking Math 192 because he plans to transfer to engineering.</p>
<p>from my perspective, you dont want to spend your 1st semester of college held up in the library 24/7. sure youll work hard, but dont you want to take it easy at first so you can adjust to the school? part of college is meeting people, not being a shut-in.</p>
<p>I think I will probably go with the 18 credits schedule when I sign up for classes, but I think I'll probably end up dropping Psychology.</p>
<p>If AP chem was easy for me (didn't have to study for the AP much), do you think I'll have a little better time in CHEM 207? Or are most people in that class like me, who just don't want to go for 215?</p>
<p>Also, I don't think anyone has answered this question yet, so I'll repost.
When someone said I can drop FWS, does that mean it's ok for me to take it in my sophomore year or beyond?</p>
<p>Chem 207-208 is the lowest level of gen chem acceptable for med school. I don't know who's perpetuating this myth that it's a hard class. It's full of bio majors and other assorted premeds who are not talented in chemistry and have no passion for it and are only taking it to fulfill med school requirements. All the chem majors take Chem 215-216. You HAVE to take Chem 207-208. It's not even a debate.</p>
<p>Yes, you can take the FWS in later years but the "F" in FWS stands for freshman for a reason.</p>
<p>I thought calc 112 was easy...and not "hardcore" at all. I liked the theory stuff, it made math semi-interesting for a change.</p>
<p>norcal guy, the median grade is a B- or a C+ in 207/208. When I took chem, the premeds who had "no passion" for chemistry put loads of time into studying and were pretty competitive. I guess that's just the nature of premed kids, though. </p>
<p>I'm taking a FWS second semester junior year, because ILR didn't take both of my AP credits when I transferred in from CALS. I know plenty of people who take them late, it's not really a big deal. Sure, you'll be that junior/senior, but who cares?</p>
<p>my thought is that since all the engin people are taking cal for engineers that leaves all the non engines in regular cal so wouldn't that make it easier for the curve</p>
<p>Ok, so, just to clarify, would I be wrong to believe that MATH 191 would be easy for me just because I got a 5 on the Calculus BC AP and had a high A in the class? Would I just be better off APing out?</p>
<p>oh and Mak5im, I'm actually using a similar strategy as I am placing out of Chem 208, both Physics classes and COM S 100. I just thought I'd waive math.</p>
<p>i know people who took 191 who are good at math, and were in high school math, too. its always been my impression that AP is not a valid reflection of college work. id recommend not placing out unless you absolutely have to for scheduling reasons. youll get that much stronger of a foundation.</p>
<p>I will say that 19 credits is quite a lot for a freshman. As I said earlier (under the name AJKates, sorry), ideally, you'd have less for your first semester at Cornell. You'll be joining clubs, making new friends, partying, and adjusting to college life. I'd recommend staying in the vicinity of 13-16 credits first semester, and adding credits during subsequent semesters as you need/want to.</p>
<p>I had 19 credits first semester, and I found it to be incredibly stressful. Dropping one class really can make the difference between a hectic, stressful experience and a nice relaxed one for an incoming student</p>
<p>edit: err. missed th second page of responses....</p>
<p>To answer more questions, Chem 207/208 are not very difficult at all, especially if you had a successful experience with AP Chemistry. Math 191/192 I know people have problems with, but I can't speak from experience on that one.</p>
<p>Fahood, it's really up to you what you would want to do. I got a 5 on the BC exam, had an A+ in Calc BC, but struggled in Math 192. Mainly because a lot of the people in the course in the fall had taken Multivariable in high school or had a lot of Calculus experience. It really depends on your ability and your confidence level. You could try with Math 192, see how you do on the first prelim and drop down to Math 191. I remember, several people did that in the fall. This way, you can try it out and see.</p>
<p>One other thing you might consider, although you are certainly not required to do so, would be to take the honors versions of CHEM 207 and 208, which are CHEM 215 and 216 respectively.</p>
<p>Hoping this is helpful.</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Fran"</p>
<p>so I think it would be ok if I place out of chem 208. And I will probably decide whether or not to use CASE credit for Chem 208 during first semester. If it turns out easy humanity courses are gpa boosters for me then I will use the credit. And for Math 192, it's just I consistently heard (not just the above post) bad things about it on CC that I got quite scared..</p>
<p>I don't know who these COE or CAS premed advisers are but you should be emailing Judy Jensvold as she is probably more knowledgeable than any of them about med school admissions. </p>
<p>While some schools will accept AP credit, some will not. With acceptance rates in the 5-10% range, you will want to keep your options open come application time. Schools will want enough science credits to evaluate you so one way or another you are going to have to take a sufficient amount of science. Not to mention, how do you plan to study for the MCAT when the last time you took inorganic chem was Chem AP? (AP classes by the way are generally not equivalent to the corresponding college courses. Not even close).</p>
<p>Chem 215-216 is HARD. I have no idea why Fran would advise you to take it.</p>
<p>probably thought I am a workholic who takes placement exams as a hobby, cause I implied I am taking many CASES lol. Yeah you are right, I will check all Canadian med schools. They could have very different policies than American schools. oh and for MCAT, is studying the MCAT guide and all the lecture notes from 207 and 208 enough? This worked perfectly for SAT, and I am a decently strong chemistry student.</p>
<p>if you want to place out of a class to take a higher level, you can do I won't convince you to doubt yourself. But make sure you have room to drop the class if it becomes too stressful. Everyone is different and handles things in their own way so it's up to you. But remember in college it is also all up to you to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. Don't let pride ruin your GPA, this is college not high school. The worst year for this is always freshman year.</p>
<p>it's not I have a personal hatred for Chem 207, 208, it's just I want one less final to be stressed out for and have more time to do other things. But this is based on the assumption I can pull As in easy humanity courses. And I am emailing some Can. med schools, so I will find out soon enough if i Have to take 208 or not. oh and TrackBabi17, by no chance I will commit suicide by taking Chem 215.. I am not an avid chem person. Thanks a lot for all you advises! It's really hard to figure out college course works when I am not on campus myself.</p>