<p>I am planning on taking biology, chemistry, and physics in the same quarter at UCI. Is this rare for the average science major( not biomedical engineer) ? I am hoping to apply to med school but I am not a science major. I am not exactly great in science but I do work hard.</p>
<p>Yes, it will be tough. All of them are likely to involve labs, too. I think you’ll be overextending yourself to some extent. It’s better (for med school purposes) to do really well in two of them than to perform mediocrely in three. Of course, only you know the full measure of your abilities, so you very well could be up to it.</p>
<p>Three courses with labs will be a lot of work.</p>
<p>A lab is almost as much time commitment as the rest of the course, since it involves pre-lab reading and preparation, going to lab and doing the lab work, and writing up the lab report – not unlike reading the book(s), going to lecture/discussion, and doing assigned homework for the non-lab part of the course. At least the lab does not have additional tests to study for.</p>
<p>Of course, be wary of other high workload courses like CS courses with programming assignments, art studio, music performance, and anything with a large term project. Try to spread your high workload courses out so that they are not all in the same term.</p>
<p>I’m a UCI student. I’m guessing that since hp20021 is not a science major so he/she will be taking Bio Sci 94 or 98 this winter quarter. There are no labs for these classes. The physics labs are apparently easy (from what I’ve heard), but I haven’t taken a physics lab yet. The chemistry labs are a ton of work though (especially the general chemistry labs). However, the only general chemistry classes available during the winter quarter have no labs associated with them.</p>
<p>So to hp20021:
If you’re going to be taking Bio Sci 94, Chem 1A or 1B, and Physics 3A you’re not going to have any labs and this schedule is quite doable.
If you take Physics 3B and Chem 51B, note that these classes have labs (though the lab for 51B (Chem 51LB) isn’t as bad in terms of workload as the general chemistry labs. You can also take the physics lab in the spring or summer. Bio Sci 98 doesn’t have a lab either but if you’re taking this class this means that you must be taking Chem 51B at the same time and organic chemistry and biochemistry together is hard enough for many people without adding an additional science class.</p>
<p>If you have any more questions about anything specific I can help.</p>
<p>If you are not great at science then it might well be hard. Labs are pretty time-intensive. However everything depends on the person. I took 4 STEM courses and one non-STEM and it was definitely easier than, say, 2 STEM and 3 non-STEM classes would have been.</p>
<p>Those are the exact classes I am taking ! I am going to have to take physics lab and chem 1C lab during spring quarter. I know that will be harder but will it be doable ? I have no idea how long lab takes.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you do in Physics 3LB (the lab component) as I’m enrolled in the Physics 7 series. Apparently for the 7 series equivalent lab the TAs just give you problems and you solve them (so it’s not really a lab). But the course description for 3LB seems to suggest that you actually do things. The lab component of Chem 1C is a ton of work (it was the worst lab experience I ever had). Labs can last for 4 hours (though if you get an easy lab you’ll finish sooner). They might have reduced the work load a bit but still expect it to consume a lot of your time. However since you’ll be done with Bio 94 you won’t be taking any other biology classes that quarter (the next course in the sequence, Bio 97, is only offered during the fall). So your spring quarter should be roughly be about the same amount of work as your winter quarter.</p>