Is this schedule managable?

[StigmataMartyr]

Hi everyone, I just graduated high school, and I'll be attending Mt. SAC in the fall. Although I got accepted to UCD, UCSB, and UCSC, my top schools were USC (Marshall) and Cal (Pre-business, I think, ahah) and unfortunately, I got rejected from both. So I decided to go to a CC for two years so that I could transfer to UCLA (Poli sci/econ) Cal (Poli sci) or USC (Marshall).

A little background, I've taken 6 AP classes while in High school (two my junior year, and four my senior year) and had an unweighted GPA of 3.8 and a weighted of 4.1. I met with my counselor at Mt. SAC for the first time last week, and I'm thinking about the following classes for the fall semester.

1. Honors Music Appreciation.
2. Honors Critical Thinking and Writing (Assuming I passed the AP Lit test this year, if not, then Honors Freshman Composition).
3. Honors Intro to Oceanography.
4. Honors Microeconomics.

I'm also considering doing Calculus and Analytic Geometry during the 6 week winter session instead of the fall semester because I only went up to Algebra II in high school (junior year, and then did AP Stats senior year instead of Pre-Calc). So, I already know I'm at a dissadvantage.

So my question pretty much comes down to practicality. Is it manageable? I took 4 AP classes my senior year (Stats, Lit, Gov, and Bio), in addition to prep photo and a TA position. I did two years of NHS and one year of CSF, along with four years of marching band and wind ensemble. I know what hard work is. Can I do it and manage to pull it all off?

Thanks!

[theviolinist]

Your fall schedule looks fine, but don't even think about doing Calc w/ Analytic Geometry in 6 weeks unless you want to die, especially if you've never taken pre-calc. I'm taking it right now over 16 weeks, and it's a ton of work. Spare yourself a lot of trouble and 1. take pre-calc first 2. take calc during a normal (16 week) timeframe. Hope that helps!

[StigmataMartyr]

So should I switch to pre-calc for the 6 week winter session instead? This won't effect anything for admissions, right?

[ALF]

I agree with theviolinist BIG time. Algebra II does not give you enough skills to take on Calc, much less in an abbreviated session. Assuming that you are pretty good at math, it sounds like a smart move to take Precalc during winter term and then start out in Calc during Spring semester.

At our CC, you would need to take Precalc I (College Algebra) and Precalc II (Trig) before entering Calc I. Most students who took Precalc in High School end up placing into our Precalc II instead of Calc I.

[StigmataMartyr]

Hmm..So do you guys think that I should just take pre-calc for the fall term, and if I need to take trig, take that in the winter, and then calc for the spring?

My goal is to leave my cc in two years and transfer. Will five classes then be managable?

[ALF]

You need to know at least some trig when you enter calc. If you picked up enough trig in Precalc, then you should be good to go. I would guess that if you can do right triangle trig problems, know how to use a unit circle, graph trig functions, and know how to use radians, you should be in good shape. If that stuff is in your Precalc class, then you probably don't need anything else. It depends on the school, but they should be able to tell you the exact prerequisites for Calc I.

[theviolinist]

"So do you guys think that I should just take pre-calc for the fall term, and if I need to take trig, take that in the winter, and then calc for the spring?"

Sounds like a plan.

"My goal is to leave my cc in two years and transfer. Will five classes then be managable?"

As long as some of your classes are only 3 credits so that you come out with 18 or less total, you should be in the high end of the range of what is considered a manageable course load. BTW, do remember that in general, CC classes are about as hard as your average respectable 4-year state school (some people may disagree with that, but that's what my experience has been).