My 1st semester schedule!need input

[yayaya]

Hello SDN members!
I've been on these forums for quite sometime but now i've finally got a question of my own!

I've just completed freshman orientation today and have decided on the following classes:
Biology(4)
Chemistry(4)
Calculus(4)
Music appreciation( ya need to get my fine arts done, also a "CAP" student so I need to get my 15 hrs =/)

The advisors at UTA suggested that my course load is very tough and that I should reconsider taking Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus in one year. Bio has a 2 hr lab and chemistry has a 4hr lab, while calc also has a 2 hr lab. What do u guys think of this courseload? I think its doable but at the same time I don't wanna bomb my freshman year because it was too hard. What do u guys think?

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[LovinPsych]

Yea I think you should drop either cal or bio and trade with it a more simpler course just to get your feet wet in your first semester

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think that's a fairly reasonable schedule. The first bio and chem classes are pretty easy, so I don't think you'll overload. That semester probably tougher than a typical first semester, but it's not going to crush you.

 

[mx41]

dont underestimate science classes, you may end up with one tough professor

delay that biology class for another semester, and replace it with an english

 

[yayaya]

should i replace bio with english and maybe a hist?

 

[Terpskins99]

Hello SDN members!
I've been on these forums for quite sometime but now i've finally got a question of my own!

I've just completed freshman orientation today and have decided on the following classes:
Biology(4)
Chemistry(4)
Calculus(4)
Music appreciation( ya need to get my fine arts done, also a "CAP" student so I need to get my 15 hrs =/)

The advisors at UTA suggested that my course load is very tough and that I should reconsider taking Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus in one year. Bio has a 2 hr lab and chemistry has a 4hr lab, while calc also has a 2 hr lab. What do u guys think of this courseload? I think its doable but at the same time I don't wanna bomb my freshman year because it was too hard. What do u guys think?

I think you should consider dropping chemistry this semester and replace it with a humanities course of some kind (or a social science course ala psychology or sociology). Intro to chem is usually a very tough class and chem lab can be quite time consuming.

I don't recommend anyone start freshman year with a difficult load. Transitioning to college alone has enough stresses to deal with. Biology and calculus are a good enough start, so wait until you've had a full semester to acclimate to college life before you ratchet up your workload.

 

[scattun]

OK,

lesson one: www.ratemyprofessors.com

lesson two: What's your major? If it is BIO, I would not advise getting behind in that sequence, since the second semester of general bio is typically a pre-req for pretty much all bio major classes. Likewise, if your major is chemistry.

lesson three: Evaluate your own comfort level with these subjects. My first semester, I had chem and physics, but I had done really well in those classes in high school, so it really wasn't a big deal. If you haven't done great in the past with any of your proposed subjects, I wouldn't take it your first semester in college.

Good luck and welcome to college

 

[Tots]

Definitely drop either Bio, Calc, or Chem. With the lab it would be a somewhat tough(though definitely not impossible) first semester and the first semester is definitely a time for readjustment. I am not sure which one I would drop though, probably calculus? Ratemyprofessors ftw.
Good Luck! Stay focused and I am sure you will do fine.

 

[CoolWhipp]

Warning about www.ratemyprofessor.com:

Some of the greatest classes I ever took had poor reviews. Take the website with a grain a salt.

 

[AryaStark]

warning about this post:
A lot of the time you can decide for yourself if you think the RMP is crap. It's pretty obvious. If the people are clearly just lazy and/or get offended by professors who challenge them they say things like "this professor gave so much work, there was a lot of stuff that wasn't in the book that was ON the test, and was very rude to students" this typically means 1. This was not like high school where my teachers spoon fed me the material, I actually have to go home and READ the chapters 2. I hardly went to class and there was some material on the exam that was only discussed in class.
Then again there are the people who really can explain exactly what the professor did to upset them. You again can decide if this is something that would upset you. The majority of the time, RMP was pretty spot on. I would also take into account the date of the post (some go back a LONG way) and/or the number of reviews. You can always ask other people who have taken classes with this professor to get some perspective as well. To be on the safe side, I tried to only take classes with professors who had good ratings. The only ones who didn't get good ratings were actually pretty piss poor professors. This is just my experience though, because my college-mates were pretty dedicated to that website haha.

Warning about www.ratemyprofessor.com:

Some of the greatest classes I ever took had poor reviews. Take the website with a grain a salt.

 

[Tots]

I have had pretty decent experiences with Ratemyprofessors. From my experience, for science none of the professors are usually rated very well even though some are pretty good. Usually I use it to distinguish between teachers like "lectures useless, everything out of the book" vs "tough but good lecturer". Personally I would rather have the good lecturer but other people prefer not to go to class and learn on their own and be in a class that promotes that.

 

[tennisball80]

One of the disadvantages of attending a small university is that the students can not choose a good professor from many.

 

[Bacchus]

This is the science curriculum for everyone at my university their first semester except the DPTs. This is a typical science courseload, imo.

 

[Caesar]

Find out if your school uses Bio/Chem 1 as weed out classes. If they do I would drop calc and take it some summer. Almost everyone I know ends up taking it in the summer as the only class they have. If I could do it all over again, I would do the same thing. I wouldn't drop the bio or chem though, if that is your major. You need to stay on or ahead of sequence.

 

[Maygyver]

That is what my freshman schedule looked like. However, if you think it might be too tough, the best way to figure it out is to plan out your whole schedule. For example, if you're on quarters and your bio series is only 2 classes and chem is 3, then you could do Calc, Chem, X one quarter. Chem, Bio, Y another and Chem, Bio, Z for the third. Honestly I think you can probably handle that, but a lot of it does depend on professors and it's best to err on the side of caution.

 

[sumstorm]

I would also look at how pre-reqs stack up at your school and in your major. If you have a class for your major that must be completed jr year, and it requires X classes, then you have to make sure you can get those in. For example, at my UG you had to take a research methods class which had a calc based stats pre-req which had a calc pre-req. It also had a couple bio pre-reqs. So all of that meant careful slotting of first year.

 

[steady hands]

Hello SDN members!
I've been on these forums for quite sometime but now i've finally got a question of my own!

I've just completed freshman orientation today and have decided on the following classes:
Biology(4)
Chemistry(4)
Calculus(4)
Music appreciation( ya need to get my fine arts done, also a "CAP" student so I need to get my 15 hrs =/)

The advisors at UTA suggested that my course load is very tough and that I should reconsider taking Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus in one year. Bio has a 2 hr lab and chemistry has a 4hr lab, while calc also has a 2 hr lab. What do u guys think of this courseload? I think its doable but at the same time I don't wanna bomb my freshman year because it was too hard. What do u guys think?

If you are ready to work I am sure you will survive. I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and French which will be crazy too, but if your dedicated, why will it not work?

 

[link2swim06]

It might be challenging at first, but it might not. After you get use to college studying it will not be that bad.

 

[erdavis]

If you are ready to work I am sure you will survive. I am taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and French which will be crazy too, but if your dedicated, why will it not work?

Are you taking all those classes your first semester in college. Thats 19 hrs if you take the labs and if cal is 4hrs. B's and C's (God forbid a D) in 4hr classes will massacre your GPA. Reconsider taking all this classes at once!

 

[Maygyver]

Tough schedules are good for your character. That's what my friend told me at least.

 

[greatnt249]

Hello SDN members!
I've been on these forums for quite sometime but now i've finally got a question of my own!

I've just completed freshman orientation today and have decided on the following classes:
Biology(4)
Chemistry(4)
Calculus(4)
Music appreciation( ya need to get my fine arts done, also a "CAP" student so I need to get my 15 hrs =/)

The advisors at UTA suggested that my course load is very tough and that I should reconsider taking Biology, Chemistry, and Calculus in one year. Bio has a 2 hr lab and chemistry has a 4hr lab, while calc also has a 2 hr lab. What do u guys think of this courseload? I think its doable but at the same time I don't wanna bomb my freshman year because it was too hard. What do u guys think?

This looks almost identical to my freshman first semester, except my school had us take organic chemistry first and general chemistry sophomore year. It's doable, but some things to consider:

1. College is NOT like high school; the sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be.

2. Class size can definitely affect access to your professor; I was lucky enough to go to a school where my profs were nearly always available when I needed to talk to them.

3. In high school, you get a year to cover the information in a class. In college, you cover it in a semester. You might then say, "Oh okay, so I'll cover the same information in half the time." Not quite. Assuming a three-credit class, you'll probably meet three times a week for an hour at a time, rather than every day of the week for an hour at a time for the whole year. In reality, a college class will take ~1/3 of the time to cover an entire year's worth of information you would learn in high school. If the information is new, this can be especially problematic, as you're expected to learn the information at the pace the class is moving.

4. For many, college is the first time they will be living unsupervised by their parents. Unless you're one of those naturally-gifted students who doesn't need anyone looking over their shoulder to put their nose to the grindstone in class, it can take a while to learn how to be responsible with new-found freedom. This is why many don't recommend that you overload yourself in your first semester at college; it's better to find out later on that you could have handled more than it is to dig yourself out of an academic hole because you tried doing too much at once.

That's just my $0.02. Your schedule is manageable, but like others have said, consider dropping a class that you don't absolutely HAVE to take right now. For me, that would have most likely been calculus.