In your first two years, you will take sixteen courses that should fulfill at least six distribution requirements, the composition requirement, and possibly the foreign language requirement.  AP and similar pre-college credits may satisfy some distribution requirements but other distribution and general requirements still need your attention.   General requirements precede and support more specialized education and are the core of your education.

If you are continuing a foreign language that you’ve already studied, do so preferably in the first semester but no later than the second. If writing is troublesome for you, take a composition course (WRI 101) in the first semester. Even students passionate about science might  think carefully before taking two lab courses in their very first semester.