<p>Hi, I'm planning on majoring in MCB (haven't decided which track yet) and I'm also a pre-med (on a side note, I'm genuinely interested in MCB and would major in it regardless of med school or not). I'm heading off for CalSO in a few days, and I have a couple of questions on scheduling issues. (apologizing in advance for the long post)</p>
<p>Firstly, would it be better to take Chem 1A in the fall or spring? I looked at courserank and I've noticed that people have been saying that taking it in spring is easier to get a higher grade. However, the MCB website suggests taking Chem1A and Math1A for first semester.
I'm an international student so I'll also have to fulfill the American History and American institutions requirements in addition to the American Cultures and the L&S breadth requirements, since I didn't take any american hist courses during high school. I'll also have to do both of the reading/composition requirements too, in addition to all of the MCB prerequisites.
Since I'll have so many requirements to juggle, would it be worth delaying taking Chem1A until spring semester for a better experience/higher grade, or would it just create too much pain later on?</p>
<p>My planned courses at the moment are Chem1a (unless I move it to spring), Math1A, French R1A (for the reading/comp), and History 138 (for the american hist requirement).
(I've taken French since I was in grade 1, plus i took AP french so I'm hoping that French R1A would be a good easy-ish course for the first half of the R/C requirement, can anyone offer some insight on that?) I also dislike history courses in general, which is why I chose hist138 - it's science in the u.s., so I'm hoping that the science part will make it a bit more interesting, though there aren't any reviews on courserank so i'm not too sure what to expect.</p>
<p>If I do end up taking all of the courses listed, that will be 16 units. I've noticed that people on here seem to be saying that I should take only the minimum 13 units for first semester, so I'm wondering how much more work I would have to put in, and if it's really that hard to adjust to...if it is, then I can always not sign up for a course during phase 2 of telebears...I figured that since there's so many requirements that I need to fulfill, it'd be a good idea to hit the ground running and get a good handle on them, but if it's really that much work then I guess it'd be better to start off slower at first to ease into it.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, but I'm sort of nervous about this whole process since it's so much more complicated than high school scheduling. Thanks for any replies / advice!</p>
<p>Your schedule actually sounds really good, I wouldn’t change anything. You should take Chem 1A Fall, it’s a basic prerequisite for many of the classes you need like Chem 3A and then Bio 1A/1AL. And the other classes sound interesting and won’t be too difficult, I just hope you can get into them haha, good luck :)</p>
<p>All R&C courses are taught in English, but the ones offered through language departments tend to grade easier than the ones offered through the English, Comparative Literature, or Rhetoric Departments.</p>
<p>Your schedule sounds perfectly do-able. I don’t think there’s a huge difference in difficulty in Chem 1A in fall vs. spring semester, and it shouldn’t be too hard of a class for you if you are planning on continuing in a science major. If you’re worried about the load, you can always take the history class P/NP.</p>
<p>To reiterate applejuice, all R&C courses are in English so your French background won’t be too much of assistance - it’s more literature from French writers that are translated into English.</p>
<p>I think you should just stick with Chem 1A in Fall. If you can’t handle it in the fall because it’s “harder,” then MCB classes will be extremely difficult for you. Though I don’t know if you can get into Chem1A, Math1A, and French R1A since those 3 usually require Phase I. </p>
<p>I also don’t know that much about history classes and Hist 138 specifically, but I have heard from friends who are history majors that upper division history classes require a lot of reading and writing. So it may be a good idea to get some input before taking an upper div history class first semester (most freshmen don’t do that).</p>
<p>I don’t know if this applies to you, but the american history & institution requirement is waived for international students if you fulfill the following:</p>
<p>International Students:
The AH&I requirements will be waived if you have at least 90.5 semester units (senior status) and hold both a current, non-immigrant visa (F is the most common) and an I-94 departure record. You must present your visa and I-94 record to the Office of the Registrar, 120 Sproul Hall, during the semester in which you will graduate.</p>
<p>I would recommend AGAINST taking an upper division course your first semester. You should be taking lower division courses appropriate for freshmen.</p>