Important advice for future students (and of course their parents!)

[ucbalumnus]

@EarlVanDorn

Biology and chemistry are both "weed-out-courses at Alabama, and most of the professors are rated very poorly. Any student having the chance to get credit through AP should do so (remember, you do not have to take an AP class to take an AP test; you can self-study).

Biology and chemistry are “weed out” courses almost everywhere, since they are required for pre-meds, and the pre-med process is a “weed out” process. Pre-meds skipping those introductory courses with AP credit generally need to take more advanced courses in those subject areas to meet pre-med course requirements.

@EarlVanDorn

Students who have had several years of foreign language in high school should nevertheless sign up for Level One and refuse to take the placement test; go for the easy A. Just do everything you can to make the first semester not so hard.

This seems like a waste of time and tuition if the student is in college to learn something new. On the other hand, if the goal is to grade-grub to boost GPA for medical or law school (at the expense of actual learning), then it is understandable that some students do this.

@EarlVanDorn

Students planning to go Greek, men especially, should know that it is intensive and time consuming, far more than at most universities.

For those who want to join fraternities or sororities, wouldn’t deferring pledging to a later semester be one way to “just do everything you can to make the first semester not so hard”?