<p>Hello!</p>
<p>This is addressed to current students and alumni of Harvard College.
I'll be a sophomore at Harvard next year, and I'm trying to come up with a manageable schedule while still taking care of necessary requirements. How does this sound?</p>
<p>Chem 17
MCB 52
LS 2
Econ 1010a</p>
<p>And are there current/past students who would be wiling to PM me about classes?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Hey! </p>
<p>I’m a rising senior and I’d love to answer any questions that you have. It would help to know a few concentrations that you’re considering, so that I can have an idea of what requirements you need to be starting to fulfill. It seems that you’re either considering a concentration somewhere in the life sciences or are a premed (or both) – is that accurate?</p>
<p>I myself am an MCB concentrator, but I’m pretty familiar with most of the life sciences requirements (I considered most of them at one point or another). </p>
<p>I took Chem 17 and MCB 52 last fall. Taking both of them at the same time is difficult, but doable; you’ll just have to be willing to put a lot of time into those two classes. </p>
<p>Ec 10 can be really easy or really hard, depending on several things, one of which is your quantitative background. Have you taken a fair amount of math? Also, do you mind if I ask what your motivation is for taking it? If you’re taking it for the gen ed requirement, there are much easier ways of filling that. If you’re taking it because you’re actually interested in economics, then by all means proceed!</p>
<p>All in all, my impression of this schedule is that it’s somewhat difficult, but doable, in terms of workload. But more importantly, it strikes me as a really ANNOYING schedule. By annoying, I mean that all four of those courses are large, inflexible, frequently onerous introductory classes that most people frequently gripe about. You won’t be getting much personal attention in any of those classes; it’ll be very much a freshman-like experience, which is sad, because sophomore year is the time when you should start leaving classes like those and reaping the benefits of better-run, more personal advanced classes. </p>
<p>These smaller upper-level classes are really the best way of figuring out what concentration you really want to declare. LS1a/b, for example, are not at all representative of upper-level courses in any of the life sciences concentrations. You’ll get a better idea of any concentration by taking an upper-level course, which is why I recommend doing so in sophomore fall, so that you can be maximally informed when you have to declare.</p>
<p>So I’d suggest switching out one of them with a smaller course that might still fill a requirement. For example, if you’re considering an MCB concentration, you might switch out LS2 for an upper-level MCB course. I can be more specific about what something like this might look like if you give me some more info on what you took last year, what concentrations you’re considering, and what other requirements (ie premed, etc) you have.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me any questions/responses to this if you want to discuss it privately! Good luck :D</p>
<p>Hey!</p>
<p>I’m an HDRB concentrator, and agree with everything Elanorci says! I would definitely emphasize that it would be quite a lot to take Chem 17, MCB 52, and LS 2 in one semester. Doable, but very time consuming.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses guys! I might throw some PMs your way in a bit. I am most likely going to drop LS 2 for this semester. Does anyone have experience with Econ 1010a? Or Econ 1123?</p>