<p>I'll be a sophomore this upcoming fall and my courses so far are as follows:
BIOMG 2810 Genetics and Genomics (5)
BIONB 2210 Neurobiology and Behavior I: Introduction to Behavior (4)
CHEM 3570 Organic Chemistry for the Life Sciences (3)
MATH 1120 Calculus II (4)
PHYS 2207 Fundamentals of Physics (4)</p>
<p>It comes out to be 20 credits which I know is a LOT, but last year I had no trouble handling 17 Credits. I am a biological sciences major and my end year freshman GPA was a 4.0 taking mostly biology and chemistry courses. If I am struggling a few weeks in I could always drop the math and take it spring semester. Is my schedule unrealistic? Any comments and/or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>I think that schedule is too much. And if you’ve read my other posts, I rarely ever tell someone they are taking too heavy of a courseload. However, orgo with genetics with 200-level physics will be a bear. I won’t lecture you on taking 5 science courses in a semester because as science majors sometimes we have to overload a couple of semesters. But, I think you will find that genetics will be quite the time commitment. If I were you, I’d drop genetics and take the other 4 science courses which still come out to 15 credits. </p>
<p>And this is coming from someone who averaged OVER a 4.0 in his last 3 years.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion. I still want to take physics, orgo and genetics together. Will dropping one of the other courses make this feasible, or is taking all three together just too much? Thanks.</p>
<p>I guess my question is, what’s the rush? Is there something you’re trying to do that requires such a schedule? Even if you can do it, why would you want to?</p>
<p>Well, I want to be able to do either urban semester or abroad my junior year and possibly minor in biomedical engineering. So that’s about 1-2 semesters taken away. Also, I like having a packed, challenging schedule or else I start slacking off.</p>
<p>I am a parent, and based on what I have heard the genetics class requires a large time commitment. If you are hoping to do well you should not combine those courses. </p>
<p>**Apparently the genetics course is not only difficult but so time consuming that it was even mentioned at the graduation this year in the context of “getting through” genetics.</p>
<p>Not knowing anything about you or how innately intelligent you are it is hard to say what you could handle but considering you are a first year you don’t know what you are up against either in terms of how hard you will be working. Your first year should not be packed, until you KNOW what you could handle. </p>
<p>Norcalguy…You are obviously extremely intelligent, but not everyone is as gifted as you are. OP, if Norcalguy is saying this than take note.</p>
<p>I should have realized that since you were taking genetics and organic chem. Good luck but the genetics lab takes up alot of time. Have fun counting those flies…lol!</p>
<p>I am assuming you have not finished your lib ed requirements. Why not swap genetics for an easy lib ed class. This way you will have a lib ed out of the way and still be on track.</p>
<p>If you have nothing else to occupy your time outside of academic work (and especially if that nothingness leads you to slack off), do it. I don’t think the calculus or physics courses will be particularly bothersome, especially if you’re competent around math. I can’t comment specifically on your other classes, but if you’ve pulled a 4.0 doing mostly bio and chem, I don’t think you ought to worry about a 5 class schedule with a few ‘heavy’ classes.</p>
<p>I have completed all my liberal arts and distribution requirements, mainly through ap credit. I do many things outside of schoolwork. I am not a complete nerd who stays in his room and studies all day as my username might suggest lol. I was just looking for a schedule that perhaps required more than only an hour of homework/studying a day like my freshman year was.</p>
<p>I took 18 credits with no trouble last semester(3.7), but none of my classes were math and my only science class was Earthquake, so I would say that that schedule is too hard.</p>
<p>I would say get rid of genetics. Neuro/Orgo/Phys are HARD enough together. Adding genetics might just be the killer. 20 credits is not too bad if it is not loaded with a bunch of hard science classes. Good luck with whatever you decide!</p>
<p>Hey Norcalguy - judging by your comment I’m assuming that my projected Soph. Spring semester will be too much. Right now it is orgo, cell bio w/ lab, gen. genetics w/lab, and philosophy of science (15 hours) - however, I can switch genetics out with human anatomy or physiology. Either way though, I would have to take it with a chem class (the other two options are either with phil/eng/calc class or 3 philosophy classes). I hope that made some sense - if anyone can give me advice, that would be great. Thank you.</p>
<p>smiwchiki79: do you know how time consuming anatomy and physiology is? I am taking the second sequence right know and it’s super time consuming and it’s not even at Cornell! I’m not sure if it’s because my professors are retired doctors that don’t know how to teach, but a&p II is not easy. Not sure if it’s easy at Cornell though.</p>