It's interesting that you posted this question/topic because DD called me yesterday after a meeting she had with her adviser to discuss her classes for next spring. She is majoring in Biology with a pre-med focus, so she has to take certain classes in order to apply for med school. This semester she took a required chemistry class which was a pre-req for the first biology class she needs, and also for the next chemistry class she needs. DD discussed her tentative list of classes with a pre-med adviser which included a biology class plus lab and a chemistry class plus lab. The adviser cautioned her against taking two lab science classes in the same semester! He got DD worried about this. He told her her grades could suffer and that getting into med school was very competitive and that she didn't want to lower her GPA, something DD is well aware of. But after looking at the bio and chem requirements and pre requisites, there is really no way around taking two lab classes in one semester. Taking one lab class a semester at a time would throw DD way off the 4 year timeline to graduate due to the pre-requisites.
Her scholarship also requires her to take 15 hours. If she drops below 15, she loses her scholarship. She has 16 hours this semester, and next semester she'd have 17 hours with the two labs. Taking one of these classes in the summer would mean 4 hours a day of class, plus several hours a week for the lab and several hours a night of studying and lab write-ups due to the summer sessions being shorter than a regular semester. She planned on working this summer to have spending money for next year and she wanted to start getting volunteer hours. She was also interested in a program where pre-med students go to Honduras for 2 weeks to volunteer in a health clinic. She can't do those things if she is in summer school.
So now this pre-med adviser put this fear in her about taking two lab science classes. She knows it will be very challenging because she'll also have a second semester of calculus, plus two other classes, one of which will be an honors class. Now she doesn't know what to do! Either way though, she has to take a minimum of 15 hours per semester. She is not working right now. School is her job. I suggested she go back to her biology adviser that she she talked to last summer, but she doesn't want to make another appointment because she already had to also see an adviser from the honor's college. She feels like she's getting too much information from too many people and it's making her head spin.
On a lighter note, we are all on fall break here for a four day weekend. DD will be home later today until Sunday. Tomorrow we are getting up at 4am to go to the International Balloon Fiesta for the special shapes rodeo day, weather permitting. We went last year and while the balloons all inflated, they did not take flight due to high winds. There are approx 540 hot air balloons in the Fiesta this year and over 130 of those are special shapes. If the balloons go up, I'll post some pics tomorrow. The weather for tomorrow is iffy.
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but I'm not sure what info you were wanting specifically?
