<p>Yeah I’m actually thinking about dropping Chem and replacing it with another GER. I’m coming from California, so it’s going to be a lot harder of a transition for me in the first place. Thank you guys for your help.</p>
<p>I have the same concern as bsktbll11 for my daughter. On accepted students day at the pre-health advising, we were given a sheet that said pre-med students should have completed the 2 semesters of bio, 4 semesters of chem (including Organic), and 2 semesters of physics that are needed on the MCAT by the end of the sophomore year. If you are a Bio major, that means you do need to take Bio 110 & Chem 111 first semester. On the sheet, it said it should be doable, because you can take one science on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and the other on Tuesday & Thursday. However, when my daughter looked, all sections of these 2 classes were on MWF. That certainly would be a killer, but it seems to be what they are advising if you are pre-med. My daughter went ahead and registered according to the pre-med advising sheet, but she & I are both concerned that this is a bad idea.</p>
<p>To be honest with both of you, if you’re going pre-med, you’re going to have a tough schedule every semester for all 4 years. Science and math are hard and there is no easy way around that. Your daughter will be studying more than her non pre-med friends, as will bsktbll. I am a political science major, but I have a lot of friends who are pre-med and have to spend many late nights in the library preparing for the next day-- it’s just the way it’s going to be. If you push the classes off until another semester, you will just have a really rough 2nd semester. The transition from high school to college really is not that bad if you just study. Unfortunately, a lot of freshmen get caught up in the new freedoms they have and studying gets put on the back burner, but if you go into Furman with the mindset that you need to do well you should be fine.</p>
<p>Spurs, you’re right, there really is no way to make it easy. My daughter does had a strong science/math background, and a good mindset about studying. I do wish she could have these on alternate days, but I guess not!</p>
<p>My daughter will also be a freshman this fall and I’ve read this thread with interest. She’s also pre-med - but it sounds like almost everyone is in the beginning! She’s thinking about Latin - any thoughts on Professor Staff? Staff is the only professor teaching Latin 110 in the fall. Thanks!</p>
<p>To anyone who has a S/D looking at medical school, I would suggest going to the CC section on medical school admissions and soak in everything you can. As a health care provider who has worked in medical schools and has gotten to know at least 2 CC members whose kids have gotten into medical school, the competition is fierce and a student’s GPA along with MCATS are critically important. If your child is gifted in the sciences it may be easier ( remember FU’s science programs are VERY rigorous). FWIW, i have learned from perusing the Parent Forum on CC that a large number of students take at least one core class each summer at their local college in the summer to either reduce class load or make the Furman semesters more manageable in terms of work load and supporting GPA. Also, the seminar classes for Freshmen are interesting but can be very time intense. If it were me, I would take the FYS ( non-writing focused) if you are going to take Chem and Bio together. </p>
<p>Having gone through this process with our two kids ( now rising seniors) plus countless other friends and their children, having a successful first semester and feeling comfortable both in and out of the classroom is very important to a student’s long term success as an undergraduate.<br>
Fourscore-call or email the chair of the Latin department and see if they can tell you who will be teaching Latin 110 this fall. We have found in the past that the department secretary or Chairperson can often provide that information. Good luck-there are many parents and students who can help!</p>
<p>Georgiatwins,
That’s good advice about taking courses in the summer. A Bio major/pre-med would have to take 10 Bio courses, 4 Chem courses, and 2 Physics courses - which would mean 2 sciences each semester. I wonder how anyone does it! My daughter is strong in science - she graduated with 9 science credits - but it still seems overwhelming. She is taking Calculus I at a local community college this summer, since she wasn’t able to get calculus in high school. She is mainly taking it for the preparation for college math, but is there a chance Furman would accept a course taken at community college before freshman year?</p>
<p>dheldth-that is an excellent question and as a veteran of this process here is the Furman process for accepting non-Furman courses. Contact James Patton in the office of Academic Advising ( <a href=“mailto:james.patton@furman.edu”>james.patton@furman.edu</a>) and send him the course description, the college, etc. There is even a form on the department website you can fill out and submit and Advising will send back the approval/non approval and how the credits will fit. If the course you DD wants to take in the summer is part of the GERs or requirements for that major-James ( or someone in the office) will examine whether the outside school’s course is equivalent to required course at Furman. Both S and D were able to place into the Intermediate Spanish 2001 this summer at a local state university in Atlanta. Once Advising determined it was the same course that satisfied the language GER at Furman, they were approved to take the course this summer. Many students at Furman take 3 semesters of language to get to the course that satisfies the FL requirement. </p>
<p>Other note for pre-med parents: Search for posts/threads by Curmudgeon. His daughter graduated from Rhodes last year ( earned a Goldwater scholar after sophomore year) and has just finished her freshman year at Yale medical school. Curm and his daughter went through an extensive undergrad. college search program-including Furman. His daughter was accepted and rejected at many incredible medical schools. Curm. is a great person to consult-his daughter studied abroad, had internships in the summer, etc. If either of our kids were going the medical school path, I would probably be online with him weekly. :)</p>
<p>One of the best tools we found was to keep the Degree Requirements Checklist handy - from Furman.edu go to Academic Records, Forms & Worksheets, then Degree Requirements Worksheet (something like that). Print it and keep it up to date and it will help. They’ll give you this at orientation, but it’s nice to have ahead of time. Note that courses CAN be duplicated in different sections. For instance, a seminar CAN count as a CORE or Global Awareness course. They just can’t be counted twice within the same section. If you know your major, you can also print out the worksheet for classes for your major - under the same Forms and Worksheet page, select Degree Requirements Checklist and then the drop-down for your major. Sometimes it’s the little things that make it easier. And, as said before, don’t sweat your classes too much since your advisor can and will help you change them at orientation. Even if you get a seminar you don’t really like, ask at orientation to see what you can change into. Also, look ahead at prerequisites. Take the Intro to classes the first two years for whatever you might want to take later (e.g., psychology, sociology, etc). Often they won’t let juniors or seniors into these so plan ahead a little. Hope this helps!</p>