D gets to select her classes next Thursday, I think. She continues with CS/premed.
She is thinking about taking data structure, discrete structure, bio and org chem. Not sure if she can get into her classes, given she would be the last group to pick classes. What are other alternatives she can take? In her freshman year, she will be finishing Chem, Socialogy, Multivariable, Intro to CS, writing requirement, etc. She said she will evaluate after Monday after the last group picked their classes.
Since she’s made it through a year with a reasonably challenging schedule and a high GPA she’s probably fine choosing whatever sounds interesting to her.
I will say though that bio/orgo together is kind of annoying (really just bio I+orgo I, bio II is easier). A 3 hour lab + a 4 hour lab with a lot of work for lab reports/pre-labs eats up time during the week, and it’s not fun when tests are on concurrent weeks. A ton of people double up and are pretty much fine, but I think if I did it again I would do bio+physics sophomore year, and then orgo junior year. Physics is much less of a weed-out and lab is simpler so it’s easier to double up. Completely up to her though, she’ll probably be fine either way.
Not familiar enough with CS to give any opinions on those classes. I would say that there’s no rush to blast through major classes (since if you do that too quickly you’ll still have a whole bunch of axle requirements left over that you’ll have to finish senior year, and it might be nice to have some of the easier humanities classes to pair with pre-med weed-outs early on). But it makes sense to take them now, since if she wants to go the CS route it’s good to gain relevant skills earlier to secure better internships during future summers. Or maybe she’s the type of person that finds upper-level CS classes easier/less of a time sink than intro-level humanities classes. So, another one that will probably be fine and is completely up to her.
She is on waiting list for org chem. Instead she registered for data structure, digital logic with lab, bio with lab, a required writing and psy. Total 5 classes and 17 hours. She has 5 classes and 16 hours this semester.
The good news is that she is on track for CS major, the bad news is that she wanted to finish org chem next year and that seems impossible now.
If she sticks on the waiting list through the summer, she’ll absolutely get in to orgo. If it’s a specific timeslot, then that’s a little harder, but the classes are so large that they move plenty and I would be surprised if it didn’t happen. Even if she’s still on the waitlist come the start of class, she can just attend the first session, then walk up to the professor (or email after class) explain any extenuating factors (can only take this timeslot, etc.) and ask to be let in. They’ll usually do it - what’s one more in a 200+ person lecture? Since labs are smaller, those spots are less likely to move, but still sometimes do.
The mentioned schedule sounds good. If she gets into orgo she could just drop one of those and swap orgo in (although I would personally try to take <=15 hours if I were going to take bio+orgo concurrently, and I don’t know if I would take a CS lab class along with those 2 other science labs; however, she’s the best judge of her capabilities and exceptional students do well with exceptional course-loads, so up to her).
It would also be fine if she decided to save orgo for junior year, or a summer session (a ton of people just stay over the summer and take it while doing research; it’s known to be substantially easier). There’s really no rush unless she wants to take the MCAT in summer 2019 and is trying to finish all her pre-reqs before then. Even for kids who take no gap year, I think most of them take the test in April/May of their junior year. If they’re planning on a gap year, they can take it in July/August prior to their senior year or after graduation. Although I suppose it could be positive to leave only physics for junior year; would probably make it a lot less stressful trying to do MCAT studying during junior spring for a potential late spring test date.