<p>my friend is taking pre-med at UF. he went through the IB program and i personally think he's a genius...and he really is smart. I was talking to him the other day and he said pre-med was killing him. He said he never studied in IB but here he DOES study but still not doing very well. he said it's because UF is an average school with a lot of smart people (because UF covets the most amount of national merits, second to harvard) and a lot of them do pre-med.</p>
<p>so i was thinking, since i don't want to fail...is it possible that i can split the courses up to fall and summer semeters? like for instance if i were to take 6 classes i would take 4 in the fall and 2 in the summer? is that possible? i talked with my parents and they're like "how about you're summers? you're friends are going to be playing on the beach while you would have to study"...it's true but i think it'll be better for me if i do it this way. so could i?</p>
<p>why wouldn't you be able to? I believe you're required to take classes at least one summer, I don't see why you couldn't take them every summer. </p>
<p>Doesn't mean it'll make premed easy, but sure you could do it.</p>
<p>Yes, of course you can take summer classes. I don't think you're required to do so (as previous poster said), but they certainly encourage it. It's easier to get into the school if you apply for summer session, too. As far as the level of difficulty goes, I was talking to a friend last night who is a freshman at UF taking intro chem and calc courses, and she said that the theory about those being so difficult is that they're supposed to be weed-out courses for people who say they want to go pre-med or pre-eng but really can't handle it. I'm not sure whether that's actually the case or not, but that's what I've heard.</p>
<p>RE: the chem and calc courses. My S has just finished his first semester at UF. The hardest class this semester was that darn calc class. He had placed out of calc with ap scores, but was taking it at UF for pre-med. He thought he would ace it after having taken ap in highschool. Well, it was a nightmare for him. He would make 100s on the quizzes and hw and get in the 70s on tests, saying that they were nothing like the quizzes or hw, and he never could figure out how to prepare for them. Depending on how the final goes, he could end up with a B- (saying a prayer) or a C (boo). Chem was fine, he has As in both class and lab. As far as weeding out, around mid semester he started talking about changing his major to English. This from a math, science guy from way back, but the calc course has really got him freaked out. I think he is just glad the semester is over!</p>
<p>I'm not gonna lie, UF calc and chem are hard. I don't have to take them bc I'm a liberal arts major, but I know a lot of my friends are in them and they say they're pretty tough. On the other hand, theyre def. not impossible, so don't worry you'll probably survive. I think calc is harder than chem, bc alot of my friends got A's in chem, but not too many did in calc.
UF requires you to take one summer term if you enter with less than 9 credit hours. Many people enter w/ more, and if you're in IB i'm guessing you will too. I would recommend doing some summers anyway. Summer terms are easier because most students only take 2 classes, so the course load is much easier. Also, summers at UF are FUN. everyone I know who went to summer said their classes were easy and it was basically a nonstop party. probably more fun than you might have at home (since you wont be living w/ your parents, and theres probably a lot more to do).
Basically in college you make your own schedule, and UF provides you with a book of majors at preview that has "critical tracking courses" for each major, which is a suggestion of classes you should be taking each semester. It is pretty flexible though, and going in the summer would be a great way to spread out the work.</p>