Sunday, June 27, 2010

I should be studying for trig...

But planning for school is always more fun than the reality of it, right?

I finally have my schedule set for fall:

Organic Chem + Lab
US History (before 1877)
Music Appreciation
Biological Psych

I registered this morning with only one issue, which was surprising because my advisor is on vacation and I had a hold on my account until I met with someone in person...which is a nightmare with my current schedule (see previous post). Magically, the hold was gone last night! The only issue was that the system told me that I needed approval to take the HISTORY course, the only freshman course in the bunch. I'd think approval would be necessary for the upper level psych class, but nope! Weird. I'll be in class from 8:30am-12:15 on MW and from 11:30-2:15 on TR, and my mom has agreed to keep the kids for me when they get sick so I can still go to school. I am SO GLAD that evening classes will be a thing of the past in two more weeks. We'll get to be a normal FAMILY again, having dinner together and attending activities as a group. Woohoo!

In setting up my schedule, I spent a lot of time on RateMyProfessor. How did people choose classes before this existed? Let me tell you, there are A LOT of frowny face ratings out there, so if someone was to register without knowing anything about the professors, they would be pretty likely to get stuck with a frowny face instructor. I don't go by the faces alone, though, because there are also A LOT of idiot students out there who rate professors poorly because they require them to come to class or read the text or take an exam once in a while. According to the reviews, I chose some decent professors...we'll see if the reality agrees!

I also tentatively chose the courses to round out my degree. I'm a Biological and Physical Sciences major. I'm super excited about my upper level courses. I'm planning to take Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, General Genetics, Human Genetics, Immunology, and Pathogenic Microbiology. Organic Chem I and II are count for this portion of my degree plan, too, but I'm slightly less enthused about those. For the upper level non-science courses that are required, I'm planning to take Biological Psych, Child Psych, Adolescent Psych, and Health Psych. I enjoy biological sciences and psychology, if you couldn't tell. I still have quite a few lower level classes to knock out, but I can't wait to get to the GOOD stuff!

5 comments:

Chrissy said...

Normally I cringe at the classes you're taking but let me tell you I could ROCK that history class. It's geeky but I love that stuff. Also I took Bio Psych (many moons ago) and I loved it. SO interesting. Good luck w/your new schedule!

Gizabeth Shyder said...

As a non-traditional student (I was too) taking pre-med science courses, I highly recommend taking from professors that the med school in your area (if you are applying in your area, and with family close I imagine you might be) enjoys the reputation of - recommendations from the toughest and most highly respected professors means a lot to the applications committee (at least it did when I applied back in the late 90's).

So funny that what I depended on so much (word of mouth) to pick my classes is now done online! World is changing.

Anonymous said...

Look me up when you're taking organic chemistry. I started a website a few months ago for people in your situation - who want a useful, one-stop website that helps them do better in the course.

masterorganicchemistry.wordpress.com

(found your blog using Google Blog search)

Kyla said...

Gizabeth: Thanks for the advice! I will definitely keep that in mind as I am hoping to stay here for med school. We have three in my city, so I probably have a better chance of staying put than most people. I think I'll do early decision for the one I really want to attend. My orgo professor is also a premed advisor and the JAMP coordinator, so hopefully she'll be a good one to start with.

~aj~ said...

You're gonna rock it, Kyla!

I can't wait for you to take Immunology. It was one of my absolute favorites, in part because I had a superb professor. Good thing since he was the only option! :)