Starting college in the fall, unsure what to take! In need of advice

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Sorry if I sound stupid. Please try to bear with me.

I'm graduating high school and beginning the fall semester at a community college. My heart has been set on nursing for a long time and today I registered for my classes at my college's orientation. However, I feel really lost and confused about my classes. I planned out the sequence of classes for the entire year and when I showed the adviser what I picked out for the fall semester, he highly suggested that I change it.

I was going to take anatomy and physiology with either psychology OR English and a 1 credit fitness class (although they're not the pre-reqs, I still have to take them in the program and I wanted to get all my regular college classes out of the way so when I'm in nursing school, I can focus on just the nursing classes rather than take a bunch of other stuff) for the first semester. Then I was going to take algebra (one of the pre-reqs to get into the nursing program) with anatomy and physiology for the spring.

(oh and since I planned on taking less classes per semester, I was going to take summer and winter classes to catch up)

My adviser highly suggested I take algebra the first semester along with English rather than waiting to take algebra in the spring, otherwise I would fall behind and possibly have to wait a whole year to get into nursing school. Now I feel extremely lost and confused because now apparently my whole plan isn't a good idea.

The main issue is that I'm really bad at algebra. I wanted to take algebra in spring 2015 so I could get used to college first in the fall semester, rather than overwhelm myself because I heard anatomy and physiology is really intense. If I take a super hard and important class along with something I'm really bad at, I'm afraid that I will fail, especially if I take English on top of that and have a total other class to work on. Now I'm scared of going the opposite of my adviser's advice and screwing everything up.

Can you guys tell me a little bit about the pre-reqs and the intensity of anatomy and physiology? Do you guys think it's a really bad idea to take A & P, English AND algebra at the same time considering I'm a new college student fresh out of high school? I plan on getting a weekend job and spending my entire week dedicated to school. I'm really scared of messing up and not doing well so now I'm not sure if I should drop algebra or not since A & P is intense. English I'm great with, but algebra is my worst subject.

I feel really lost and it sucks because I spent so much time figuring everything out :/ I really need advice on what classes are like. I want to get AT LEAST a 3.5 GPA

Btw if this helps, the pre-reqs for my school are:

A & P 1 and 2, algebra, computer literacy. I was going to take computer literacy over the winter.

The website of my college lists all the classes to graduate. I don't want to take all the regular college classes I need DURING nursing school (such as english 1 and 2, psychology, microbiology) so I was going to take everything so I could just focus on the nursing classes.

I'm confused :(

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

Best advice. Let your advisor guide you. They actually do know what courses are best to take together. I'm assuming you've had math in high school, the longer you put off college algebra the worse your math skills will be therefore it is in your better interest to take it while your high school math is still fresh.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

AP is a lot if memorization. English is a lot if writing. Algebra is a lot of practice.

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I mean, I can always spend my summer studying algebra until I master it. It's just that I'm new to college and if it turns out I don't do well, I don't want to ruin my GPA because my classes are too hard! I'm really nervous about it

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

Personally I would take the algebra. At the very least go to class for the first week or so see how it is. Find out when the last day to drop without a W is and stay in the class at least until then. It might not be as bad as you think. If your nursing program requires HESI or TEAS you will need the algebra to pass them

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Honestly I would go with your heart or ask someone that knows you well. Maybe someone that goes to your school that has taken the classes already. I feel like advisers underestimate students even though they are trying to be realistic that's just how I feel. IF your advisor is saying you have to take math bc it's a pre-req for science or something then yeah listen to the advisor. If you want this you will do what it takes if that means getting tutored everyday in math. Good luck just take the classes with the right teachers and you'll do fine

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