<p>i'm thinking of possibly doing pre-med and i'm gonna be a freshman at CAS. The courses that i'm most likely gonna take are:</p>
<p>Bio 101 or Bio 105 (autotutorial) - 2 credits
Bio 103 (Lab if not 105) - 2 credits
Chem 207 - 4 credits
FWS - 3 credits
Language, Likely Hebrew - 4 credits
Gym Elective - 1 credit?
Psych 101 - 4 credits</p>
<p>now i know that pre-med is difficult, and i think that i may be better off dropping psych 101. however, liberal arts is still something i am interested in, and everyone says psych is interesting, and if i were going into medicine the thing that intrigues me the most is psychiatry. however, i don't want to overload either, and this is 20 credits (if my math skills were not destroyed over the summer). </p>
<p>one thing that i was thinking of that may be wise is possibly taking psych 101 sophomore year instead (i'm also interested in philosophy btw). do a lot of upperclassmen take psych 101 sophomore year, and as a sidenote, is it true that the professor who everyone seems to love threatens to retire every year? i think psychology may be something i am interested in, so the thing about that is that it gives me less of a chance to explore my interests in that field. i could take it but drop it if it is too much, but then i fear i'd be starting off badly with other classes if i had to drop due to too much stress already. i think i could just place out of the physics requirement with two 5's on the physics C tests, and calc with a 5 on bc, making pre-med requirements easier in later years, but i could be could be completely wrong</p>
<p>i'm really considering just taking psych 101 sophomore year - is this wise to do?</p>
<p>only thing is that i want to get the language requirement out of the way, and i hear it's best to do so from freshman year, and same thing with fws</p>
<p>plenty of people fulfill their language requirement sophomore or junior year. I'd suggest starting out with that schedule and then dropping Hebrew if needed.</p>
<p>it doesnt matter when you take psych. the languages are harder to start later on, so you can do that later really only if youre starting in a 200+ level, because it wont be as difficult to keep up after not taking it for a semester. psych though you can def take later on, its a HUGE class, not only for freshmen.</p>
<p>If you are planning to take only one semester of Hebrew to fulfill the CAS language requirement, might it make sense to take it in the spring semester rather than the fall? Psych 101 is only offered in the fall, but languages are offered every semester.</p>
<p>that's the thing. my high school was screwed up with the language i wanted to take (latin), and i thought i'd have 4 years, but the school then decided to only offer 3 years due to low enrollment (though others have more), so i was without a language senior year, and i don't want to take latin again after having skipped a year and i'd honestly rather take something different now anyway, so i thought hebrew would be interesting but i need 3 semesters</p>
<p>That's even more reason to wait a semester before taking Hebrew.</p>
<p>The reason why many people don't want to wait to take their foreign language is that they are afraid they will get rusty. But that doesn't apply to you since you are starting a new foreign language.</p>
<p>Another reason to wait a semester: Hebrew (like Chinese and Spanish) is one of those languages in which a substantial portion of the Cornell population has some background even if they have never formally studied the language in school. This may or may not cause problems for the true beginners. When you get to campus, you can talk to the Hebrew teachers and to students taking Hebrew courses. Are the "beginning" courses really geared toward beginners? Or do so many of the students in the class have some background that the class ends up being conducted as though everybody knows a little Hebrew before they start? If the latter is true, and if you yourself are a true beginner, you might be better off in a different language.</p>
<p>won't it leave me less flexible later on to start taking a language later?</p>
<p>i would say that for hebrew, i'm kind of in the middle when it comes to experience. i'm not someone who has never read it before, but i'm also not someone who went to years of study in a hebrew high after being bar mitzvahed. i basically know the alphabet, though i may be a little rusty since i haven't actively read hebrew since my bar mitzvah - and the only vocab i know is random obvious words like shalom and numbers 1-10, so if i had to guess, and i could be completely wrong, i'm gonna say that the largest percentage of people taking the course may be where i am at with just knowing the alphabet beforehand but nothing else.</p>
<p>i also think i'm truly interested in hebrew and even though it's extremely important, i don't want to make gpa the sole factor in choosing courses (of course it is a major factor though) - i want to take classes that i enjoy and with good professors (that is why i applied, isn't it?) and from what i've read, hebrew seems to be one of those classes</p>
<p>Maybe postponing Hebrew isn't the best idea, then. But you do have an awful lot of credits, and pre-meds need to earn really high grades. So your schedule is challenging.</p>
<p>then i think it would probably be best to just wait on the psych 101. that would drop me down to 15 credits (i won't bother counting gym), but i guess i'll also see what happens when i get there. i've taken ap bio and got a 5, know the hebrew alphabet, and don't think fws will be too hard, so at least that will make them slightly less stressful.</p>
<p>My friend took hebrew with similar experience. He is jewish, but was not bar mitzvahed, etc, but knew basic hebrew. He struggled with it because he said a majority of the students in the class are jewish students, with a lot of experience with hebrew, many of whom are looking for an easy A. These students will put a beginner at a disadvantage, especially if the class is graded on a curved scale.</p>
<p>Don't worry about squeezing in classes your first semester. You will have much more time than you need to complete requirements and electives. Take time to have a little free time to do things other than coursework such as exploring clubs. It may take a while to find an organization you want to be a part of, and it takes time to go to meetings for many different things. </p>
<p>That being said, many kids start the semester with one extra course than needed and drop the one they like or need the least.</p>