I will be entering college next year and have been trying to plan my course schedule. As of right now, I plan to take:
Introductory Biology and lab
Anatomy and Physiology and lab
Microbiology (no lab)
Human Development and quite possibly a math class.
Do you think this schedule is too much for a freshmen student? How difficult is it to take two lab courses at the same time? Any tips?
Thanks 
Yes, it is too much. You mind needs some variety, Try to take a class your first semester that you already took in high school, so that all of the info you are learning is not completely new to you.
I have already taken A&P and am currently taking AP Bio.
I was thinking that since I have some exposure to the material, it shouldn’t be too difficult. But who knows, college is way different.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to take all those courses at once. But only you can know for yourself if you can handle it. Yes, it could be a lot of work, yes you could fall behind.
The worry is that this is your first semester of college and a lot of people find that there’s a significant difference between high school and college that they have to get used to (bigger classes, different teaching styles, different evaluation methods, being away from home, etc.), and it’s hard to predict how much academically you can handle based on your high school performance.
I personally think you should consider moving one of your lab classes to second semester of possible. Having an ‘easier’ first semester of freshman year gives you the time and let stress to start college on a confident footing and you can figure out how much work you can handle.
If you want to try it out anyway, go ahead. Go to the classes for the first few weeks and see the syllabus and expectations for each class, then revise your schedule as needed before the drop deadline.
Move one of the lab classes to second semester and take one of your gen eds - psychology or English perhaps.
I will be receiving credit for psych and English through AP scores and dual credit.
Next semester I will take chemistry and A&P2, both will lab;These are required prerequisites so either way I’ll have three sciences in one semester,
Are they nursing, physical trainer or pre-med requisites? Make sure that you won’t fall short of a lab if you don’t take one with the microbiology. My daughter was a marine bio major and took 2 science courses and 2 labs every semester except her final semester as a senior when she was working on her thesis and senior capstone project. You have to be disciplined and it helps to have study groups. She and her classmates where not able to participate in some campus activities because they were studying, doing lab reports or in the lab itself. This did not bother her as she loved what she was doing.
What is the suggested course sequence for your program? My daughter’s program scheduled their first semester. They had no choice in which classes to take. All nursing students have to take Eng 1 and 2 and College Alg no matter what AP scores they received. They could get out of Psych, Computers and Stats.
She has 2 lab sciences each semester the first year that they have to take and pass with a B before taking their nursing classes starting Sophomore year(A&P I and Chem then A&P II and Micro.)
Push microbiology to second semester and take psychology (just don’t take the AP credit norbtzkr the next psych class in the sequence) or Intro to communication.
You may or may not be able to move things around, like @MomOf3DDs said. My daughter’s freshman schema is set it stone (she gets one elective - they were told to take yoga or Zumba, lol). It just gets more regimented from there.
Fall:
A&P (lab)
Psychology (Dual Credit)
Math (AP credit)
English (Dual Credit)
Microbiology
Biology (lab)
Spring
A&P (lab)
Human Development (want to move to fall semester)
Ethics Course
Speech
Chemistry (lab)
This is the recommended course plan for nursing majors but since I have already received credit for some courses, I plan to move/add others.
I have always considered myself to be a sciency gal (LOL), which is why I don’t mind all these science courses. My program requires that A&P and microbiology be completed by the time I apply to the nursing program.
I assume that GPA will be very important in being accepted for your 2-2 nursing program. If you have AP/Dual Enrollment credit, maybe it makes sense to take 12 or 13 credits your first semester, so it will be easier to achieve a high GPA, while you adjust to college life.
My daughter was in a direct entry nursing program, so she saved her lower credit semesters (from AP credits) for use when she had the hardest science classes.
They recommend you take 20 credits fall freshman year? I know you wouldn’t have to take them all, but something is wrong there.
Don’t just assume the nursing department will let you out of classes for AP and dual enrollment. Each department does things differently in that respect. Check with them directly. If they do let you out of all of the other classes, I would assume you would also get out of Bio with AP credit.
My daughter’s school wouldn’t even let her take College Alg (which she couldn’t get out of with AP Calc credit) at a community college over winter break.
Some colleges will let you use your AP credit for electives and less important required classes, but not for the main required sequences of science classes. For bio, my daughter was given AP credit for a basic bio class, but not for the challenging freshman bio class that BSN students are required to take. That actually worked out well - a student can get in trouble if they don’t know the foundation science material extremely well.
Many colleges require that you get pre-approval from them before taking a course at another college. My daughter’s college required that the main sequence of science classes had to be taken at her college, but she could take electives over the summers at another college. That lightened the load during the hard semesters.
OK, then, take
FALL
A&P (lab)
Microbiology
Biology (lab)
Speech
SPRING
A&P (lab)
Human Development
Ethics Course
Chemistry (lab)
If you’re not a direct admit, it means you basically need to get straight A’s, and it’ll be VERY hard. You need to pace yourself, take lighter semesters and NOT take three science classes together, risking the whole point of your studies (ie., getting into the Nursing major).
The above schedule would give you the best odds of doing well.