OChem + Physics I + Calc II in one semester?

Hello everyone! I’m a dual-enrolled high school student who is planning to earn her AA before graduating. Future career in the sciences; most likely medical research.

My current Jr. year classes are: Gen Chem II/Lab, Calc I, French III, Soc of Dev. Behavior, Lit, Comp, and Philosophy. I have a 4.0 and, while I find my classes challenging, I am doing well in them. I’ll be taking humanities (Academic writing, art in politics, and US History) over the summer. My current dilemma is over Fall semester classes for 2016-17 year.

Would taking OChem I/Lab, Physics I(calc-based)/Lab, and Calc II (+ writing and french IV) be too much? I personally think I can handle it, but have heard that OChem, Physics, and Calc II are significantly more difficult than most classes. My current Gen Chem prof thinks I would be just fine in OChem and Physics. Calc II may be difficult as I struggle with math, but I’m doing well with Calc I if that’s any indicator of potential.

Anyone think this is doable? Concerns? Questions?
All input is appreciated! Thank you very much!

For a college engineering student that’s fairly par for the course. For a high school senior…I wouldn’t advise it, but you know yourself better than we do.

I agree with bodangles. Your proposed course load is comparable to that of an a underclassman engineering major, which may or may not be fine for you. Judging by the fact that you’re a 4.0 student so far I would say go for it, but be prepared to drop one of the classes if the workload is too much.

Thank you both! I think I am going to go for it, as none of my professors (who all know me quite well now) seem to think it would be an issue. I’ll be sure to keep in mind that I may need to drop one, but hopefully that doesn’t happen.

at my community college last semester, i was planning on taking calc II, physics (calc based), and gen chem II w/ lab next(this) semester. some said i really shouldn’t take physics and chem together because the two labs would be a looot of time. and even though calc II is easier than calc I, it’s a matter of time. you need to have time to practice both calc and physics. physics is especially time consuming, and my calc teacher at the time said that the students who take physics and calc II together tend to do bad on calc II because they simply had to spend most of their time on physics. add to that chemistry and the lab. it’s not necessarily a matter of difficulty understanding the material (though in physics it might well be), but of time.

in your case you’d be taking organic chem which is more memorization-based than problem solving based, so you may need more time to memorize things and you can’t necessarily just math your way through things as you may in gen chem. but you say you’re not that strong in math so it depends on what your strengths are. if you’re good at memorization and have a solid understanding of general chemistry topics, you’ll probably do ok in ochem.

you just have to be realistic about your time. i think that based off of your background, you’ll do fine. calc II is mostly integrals and applications of them. won’t be as hard as calc I since you’re not learning a brand new way of doing math.

writing and french IV seem like they’ll be easy for you. essays take a while though so you have to prepare for the time those will take as well. tbh i dont know how time consuming french IV would be (i imagine you’re taking that in high school), personally my experience with high school language classes is that they’re extremely easy (but this was just for french I, didn’t take the other french classes). but in college, languages tend to be 5 unit classes. i took japanese II at college once while taking chem and even though i could get away with not studying a lot, i ended up with a B (because i didn’t give myself enough time to study). im guessing you want a 4.0 again. but you know more than anyone how your french classes will be taught and graded so yeah most important thing is to take time into account and whether or not you can get an A with the amount of time you’ve given yourself for each class.

but in the end, it might suck to get a B in an “easy” class, but at least it’ll be on your high school record and not your college one. plus college admissions counselors will know that you were well above and beyond your peers and that taking advanced college classes while in high school is a huge accomplishment, so even if you do get a B, even if it’s in a STEM class, i think it would be alright.

if you need to drop one, i recommend dropping one of the labs (if they’re not needed for your eventual transfer or acceptance into college). just know that if you need to take ochem 2, you’ll most likely need to have the lab credit for the first ochem course to move forward. same might go for physics. you can always retake one of the labs if you need to though but it depends on how you want to move forward. id even recommend dropping french if you have to eventually drop a class, but it seems like that might be easy for you and not be of much help if to you if you were to drop.

you could also take one of the labs or something as P/NP (pass/no pass). that way even if you need to take future physics or ochem classes, you can still do so if you get a P in the lab or whatever. that way you don’t ruin your GPA or anything if you feel like you might not be able to get an A. labs might be 1 or 2 units but trust me they are one of the most time consuming things out of a science class. might be easy but it’s just a matter of time.

good luck!!

Hate to be brutal, but you guys are going to get destroyed at your respective college if you are complaining about this class schedule.