One of the most stressful parts of starting college for me was figuring out what classes I was going to take. That was the first time I’d ever really had an entire book of classes to pick from, so it was overwhelming but exciting all at once. I wanted to share with you the classes I took over my three years at the University of Rochester to give you an idea of what a four-year plan might look like, and to emphasize that your plan must be flexible.
| FRESHMAN YEAR | |
| Fall | Spring |
| Intro Biology | Intro Biology |
| Intro Chemistry | Intro Chemistry |
| Intro Psychology | |
| Intro Public Health 101 | Intro Public Health 102 |
| SOPHOMORE YEAR | |
| Fall | Spring |
| Organic Chemistry | Biochemistry |
| Calculus 1 | Calculus 2 |
| Intro Medical Anthropology | Biostatistics |
| Epidemiology | Feminism, Gender, and Health |
| Intro to US Health Care Systems | Behavioral Medicine |
| JUNIOR YEAR | |
| Fall | Spring |
| Physiology | Bioinformatics |
| Intro to Debate | Medical Ethics |
| Physics I | Physics II |
| Peer Health Advocacy | Social Psychology |
| SENIOR YEAR (All tentative) | |
| Fall | Spring |
| Genetics | ? |
| Reporting and Writing the News | English class for cluster (not sure which one) |
| Entrepreneurship | ? |
| Independent Study (Biology) | Human Anatomy |
A few things to point out:
1. You don’t have to cram all your science classes into one year. Even if you are a pre-med student. I put math off until my sophomore year because I did not want to overwhelm myself with chemistry, biology, and math all as a college freshman.
2. It is okay to change your mind! Fitting in a double major, minor, or any other derivative is possible if you want to do it. The plan you see above has gone through a million transformations because for a long time, I couldn’t make up my mind on whether I wanted to double major/minor or just double major.
3. It is perfectly normal if you don’t yet know what you want to study. You have time to explore, and take classes that just seem interesting to you!
4. Do not overwork or over-exhaust yourself. It might end up causing you more academic difficulties. Of course, you can take five classes in a semester if you want to. To be honest, I don’t know if you can take five classes your freshman year (because I didn’t really look into that when I started college), but to be honest, I found it really hard when I did it my sophomore year. I did it because I like to keep myself busy, and sometimes my fifth class was a two-credit course, which was more manageable.
5. Take classes you enjoy and be curious! I had no idea what medical anthropology or bioinformatics was before I took those classes. They seemed interesting, they were related to my interests, and I learned a lot about a totally new topic. Now I get to share my experiences when I’m talking to different professionals in related fields, and they usually find conversation with me that much more interesting!
Final message: Don’t stress!