<p>DS has is wondering what to do with freshman math class on pre-med track. He took AP Calc BC in 11th grade and received A and 5; MVC in 12th grade and received an A. Should he take a math class in college or use his AP credit?
Should he take a math class at all?
If he takes a math class, which one should he take? 175 or 155? He thought 155 is “harder” since it’s a weed out class. So is he better off taking the 175?
Can anyone share your experience? (I will also post this question in the freshman math thread.)</p>
<p>My advisor didn’t even ask me to take a freshman math class, I had out 150a in my cart, and he said to switch it for my second science, which makes me a little nervous, since math wasn’t ever my strong suit, so I’m not sure how putting it off will affect me.
I did IB Math SL, by the way. No idea about my score, probably not good… 
</p>
<p>I have posted before that fall semester for freshman is a time of great adjustments, and great risk for pre-med students. They miss home, family and friends, adjust to a new roommate in a new city, develop new friendships and a new support group, adjust to their new FREEDOM and the choices this brings, new academic rigor, and for the first time in their life they are not the smartest kid in the class.
Many pre-meds see their dream disappear before Thanksgiving. IMHO it’s best to start off with a lighter schedule then ramp it up after you settle in. </p>
<p>4beardolls, I would take AP calc credit (avoid one weed out class) and take a stats class which is more relevant for physicians. First you must OK it with your adviser and make sure it’s allowable with your major.</p>
<p>100% agree with Bud123 . Rushing through the pre-med track is such a bad idea. Your grades in these pre-med classes are really important for medical school admissions. Students should give themselves the best possible chance to succeed. Taking multiple difficult classes your first semester is NOT the way to do that.</p>
<p>I am telling you that SO MANY Vandy students screw up in classes their freshman year that they would have been totally fine in by sophomore year. It is sooo common. That’s why advisers are taught to insist that first years take it easy. I nearly failed two courses my first semester at Vandy; my first grades on the tests were below 50. My lowest test grade to that point in my life was probably an 85… I retook them both (one second semester, one sophomore year) and said to myself, “Why in the world did this seem so difficult the first time?!” As an engineer, that’s a mistake I could afford to make. No one is going to be scrutinizing my transcript. That’s not a mistake pre-meds can comfortably afford to make.</p>
<p>I would like to say that one of the biggest hurdles for freshman is sleep deprivation in an intensely communicative digital age. Not only does it take a lot out of you to constantly be meeting and getting to know your 1600 classmates, there are many many distractions that alter the high school rigor of studying till midnight and getting up at 7 that is the history of these top high school busy students. You also have texts and FB and twitter going on with a hundred people from your home town. Very different than my generation who might place a long distance call or two on a Sunday home or to friends/boyfriend/girlfriend. I concede that there are a few students in every Vandy class who have study skills made of iron or who learn everything immediately on first hearing. But one of the reasons there is summer school on the Vandy campus is for do-overs. I would encourage freshman to not take Chem and Bio at once since those are courses that will be viewed with sharp eyes later by grad schools. There is a reason premeds have GPAs for science/math and overall GPAs in their summary statements. A do-over can be a 6-7000 dollar mistake for students from private pay families. Our Duke and Vandy sons each made one error, had to drop a course after the drop/add period and take a class again—each time it cost us 6000 out of pocket. My guys are super students but Duke son didn’t really face up to the reality of his first and second bad grades in freshman Econ level Calc…until it was too late. He thought he would ace the next test! There is no such thing as a percentage added to your grade anymore based on class participation and homework turned in on time and no real way to recover. </p>
<p>Vandy son thought he could memorize his survey of Geology class from midnight till 3am after doing his extracurriculars. He hadn’t accepted that in fact he can’t learn in the middle of the night. He ended up dropping out of an activity that included travel weekends. It is fine for your son or daughter to discover their limits. It is less OK for it to cost you money. Vandy son did a summer session science…expensive! There were plenty of premeds doing Chem and Bio over again in the summers. It is also true that many premeds in Vandy and other schools will seek approval to take one course at another university during a summer term when they can live at home. I know a Duke guy doing a medical residency now at Duke Med who did undergrad Physics at Northwestern while living at home. I know a Duke guy in a residency now after finishing Wash U med who took a science in his home college one summer. Know thyself and pace accordingly. College is about finding your own path and coming to terms with how you ideally learn. Duke son by sophomore year no longer slept in, was done with rushing Greek orgs, and dug in and treated Duke like a 9-5 job. Never missed breakfast again. Never missed a class. He realized that was the only way he was going to graduate with a B average. First year: Sleep deprivation, asked to join three Greek orgs (!!) and wasted time sleeping in too many weekday mornings, then couldn’t fall asleep when he went to bed at 3am . nightly. Oh. And Mono. At least he won’t be getting mono again. All water under the bridge now but they learned how to make an appointment with a Dean to plan a do-over. Not fun. But educational.</p>
<p>@Faline Clearly the voice of experience. S took 13 units 1st semester and 15 units 2nd semester. The plan is to utilize the AP credits to keep his course load on the lighter side.</p>
<p>Now if he would only learn to go to sleep before 2AM and not sleep until 2 PM on Saturdays. I’m hoping he figures it out next year. I can’t say too much since he exceeded my expectations academically.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have taken them both usually, but given my past experiences with the rest of my schedule, I felt like it was doable. Lit Criticism, French, and my Writing Seminar are all subjects that I’ve done extremely well in, even in IB classes (HL for english, SL for French), and I did extremely well in IB Bio HL, so Chemistry was the only class I was uncertain about, since I haven’t taken it since 10th grade, and I stopped after Honors. If I’d been less sure of the others, I probably would have insisted with my advisor that I only do one lab.</p>
<p>@SusieAnne , I caution you on thinking a class will be “easy” because you did well at it in highschool. That really has little bearing on how difficult or time consuming a class will be at Vanderbilt (aside from languages perhaps). IB Bio is laughable compared to BSCI 110-- There is a reason why Vandy does offer credit for any score on AP Bio or IB Bio. Vandy instead offers credit for BSCI 100 “Biology Today”, a one semester course known colloquially as “Baby bio.”</p>
<p>Keep in mind that pretty much all students at Vanderbilt did “extremely well” in high school, and that doesn’t stop them from getting poor grades their first semester. Everyone at Vandy essentially came from the top 5%ish percent at their highschool and become part of a brand new distribution at Vanderbilt… I mean, only 5% of the incoming Freshman class will be in the top 5% at Vandy. In other words, there are people who were once in the top 5% in their highschool and are now in the bottom 5% at Vandy! Something to think about. </p>
<p>I don’t say all this to scare you, but just understand that you are taking an unusually heavy course load, and one day you’ll probably look back and say “Hmm, there was really no good reason to do that…”</p>
<p>@Pancaked or others – Is BSCI a good lab science class for a student who enjoyed biology in high school, did well, but is not pursuing a science major? Any recommendations for other such lab science courses? I feel like this has come up before, but we can’t find the discussion anymore.</p>
<p>BSCI is a difficult lab science. Most non-science majors choose Geology, Oceanography, or Astronomy.</p>
<p>sorry – I meant BSCI 100, Bio Today.</p>
<p>That is another common lab science choice for non-science majors (and the most interesting/useful of the lab sciences IMO).</p>
<p>@Pancaked the reason why students consider doubling up on science often is because of the mcat and applications timeline. If a srudent wanted to matriculate into med school right after they graduate, s/he would have to take it anywhere during spring semester junior year. It can be argued that the student take it in may, but what if s/he isn’t satisfied with the score? That would eat up time prepping and sending apps during the summer, when schools are at their most accepting since they do rolling admissions. Waiting until fall senior year is, imo, a little too risky. So in order get things done in a timely manner, I’d want to learn everything I need know for the mcat by spring semester of junior year…</p>
<p>I take no issue with doubling up on sciences-- my argument that you don’t need to double up every semester stands, and I still believe that doubling up your first semester is a poor and potentially dangerous choice for aspiring pre-meds.</p>
<p>I signed up for biology, gen chem, fyws, and psychology. Is that too hard? @pancaked.</p>
<p>I looked at the two non-sciences/their professors and most people found them not too difficult. If it is too difficult, is there an easy-A orchestra class I could take instead of psychology (and would that make this more manageable)?</p>
<p>Also, I chose to double because I wanted to avoid biology/orgo sophomore year or physics/biology/biochem junior year.</p>
<p>With just four ourses, that’s certainly a manageable schedule. </p>