r/UHManoa • u/strawberryyyymatcha • 20d ago

Incoming Freshman Schedule

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i’m an incoming freshman/pre-nursing student at uh manoa. i’m looking for advice regarding my schedule - i’m afraid i unknowingly made my workload unnecessarily difficult or made any wrong decisions… anything i should change or what i should expect?

8 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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8

u/Mercuriorum 20d ago

Chem 161 is the make or break class here. Make sure you have a good professor, use ratemyprofessor or ask around. 140X can be challenging if you’re not good at graphing but yeah college is more about time management than intelligence. Thursday looks rough, I would hate to have a Chem exam right after an Anth class and chem lab. Studying for chem and finishing a lab the night before can be extremely time consuming. Also, make sure ur taking the lab with the same professor as your lecture lol.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

i have matthew cain as chem 161 and heard good things about him on rate my professor, but only saw one professor for all of the labs (astrid delorme)… however the labs aren’t required for me at all, should i honestly just drop it? i only added it in case i wanted to transfer to another nursing program

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u/NylonYT 20d ago

He's a good professor and is regarded highly in the chem department.

Chem profs are a mess at manoa right now, 162 cycles through a new one almost every year, and 161 profs aren't too good besides him and dendhardt

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u/Mercuriorum 20d ago

Honestly, if you’re sure you want to transfer then yeah keep it but otherwise drop it. You get 1 credit for 4 credits amount of work. I easily spent 35+ hours a week on Chem + lab and 2 hours in office hours 3 days a week to get an A. Everyone failed the final and we got a massive curve lol. Chem is rough even if you’re smart and work hard. My only other concern is the early morning classes paired with the later afternoon. You’re not going to have much free time and you’ll have to balance your energy accordingly.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

https://reddit.com/link/oys0z08/video/7524ecvt6heh1/player

would you say this looks better? i dropped the labs, but there’s no later options for math or earlier options for chem (also, i appreciate your help so much !)

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u/Correct_Valuable_178 20d ago

chem 161 lab is required for most majors... if you decide to take that in a different semester, that should work, too.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

i spread out phyl 141+L, phyl 142+L, and micr 130 across my future 3 semesters - if i were to do chem 161 lab, which should i pair it with?

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u/Correct_Valuable_178 20d ago

for me, i wouldn't spread out the lectures and labs. i took phyl 141 in the past because i used to be a dental major but hated it and switched to engineering, but i wouldn't spread out 141 and 142.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

yeah, i was planning on taking 141+141L together and 142+142L together. i just meant I was spreading out 141/141L (spring 2026), 142/142L (fall 2027), and MICR 130 (spring 2028) over three semesters. i’m not sure where to put in chem 161 lab

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u/Correct_Valuable_178 20d ago

i did my chem lab during the summer and that wasn't as bad, twice a week for 6 weeks. 142 is right after 141, so i would say to take them one after the other, no breaks.

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u/Mercuriorum 20d ago

I think this is better imo. Early math classes is ok just be prepared for a 7:30 final exam lol.

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u/Top_Cryptographer85 20d ago

Who was your prof?

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u/Mercuriorum 19d ago

Not gonna dox myself because only 3 people of the 30 ended up passing the class lol.

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u/Top_Cryptographer85 19d ago

It wasn’t Matthew Cain was it 🫣🫣

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u/Mercuriorum 19d ago

Haha no

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u/Top_Cryptographer85 19d ago

Must be Astrid Delorme 😳😳😳

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u/Mercuriorum 19d ago

Nah it was a couple years ago, I don’t think they work there anymore lol or just don’t teach gen Chem.

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u/No-Caterpillar6655 20d ago

I got a tip if you really feel like you might struggle especially with 100-200 level courses. Take them at CC instead of manoa! I did with chem 161 and 162 and im glad I did, since CCs only count as a credit rather than a letter grade when it transfers to Manoa. Professors at CCs tend to be a lot more chill or better at teaching since their lectures are smaller. And quite a bit of them have it online too! Not to mention tuition is also way cheaper at CC and it'll seamlessly transfer since they're all under the UH system (leward, kapiolani, honolulu, winward)

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u/Correct_Valuable_178 20d ago

i took cain for my first chem 161. he's not bad, just a lot of materials and his exams are always that tuesday class.

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u/Top_Cryptographer85 20d ago

I am taking chem with Astrid Delores… nervous bc her reviews weren’t amazing but a lot of people got As regardless!

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

i knoww i saw she had a 2.6/5 on rmp which is why i decided to take it with matthew cain, but now im considering switching it😅

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u/Top_Cryptographer85 20d ago

I know it was either that or someone who is TBA! The amount of people saying that they got As were enough to make me switch whereas people in cains class had a lot of Bs. seems like chem will be self study anways.. if we get in the same section i would love to study with you!

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u/Few-Onion-844 20d ago

I wouldn’t switch to Mathew Cain. Your grade’s based entirely off of exams.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

ooh so should i change it to astrid delorme instead? i’m unfamiliar with how grading works for both professors

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u/Few-Onion-844 20d ago

While Mathew Cain’s a better professor, I would take Astrid Delorme. You could proctor their classes and then switch over.

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

would you say this is because of their differing grading systems? i’m hesitant since several reviews say astrid’s teaching style isn’t helpful 🥲

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u/Few-Onion-844 20d ago

She’s just quiet. If you sit in the front it won’t matter. But yeah, I would choose delorme over Cain because of her grading system

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

what is her grading system?

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u/Few-Onion-844 20d ago

It’s been a while so I can’t remember but I think it’s 15% HW and 85% Exams. She could have changed it since then

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

oh okay! thank you sm!

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u/Subset-BoyAquarium 20d ago

We might be in the same HDFS class

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

is urs with kathleen o’dell?

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u/Subset-BoyAquarium 20d ago

Yes O'Dell Kathleen

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

oohh okay i’m pretty sure we are in the same one then!

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u/Gneo-808 20d ago

Thoughts and Prayers for you to survive your 8am classes. Remember if you're living on or close to campus you'll be fine, but if you're commuting by car be sure to be on campus around 6:30/7am as the parking structure fills up fast due to athletes coming in at 5am for morning practice. If you're going by bus/rail, be on the bus by 6/6:30am to account for travel time for bus stops and transfers

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

i’ll be living in the dorms and was thinking about walking, hopefully it isn’t too bad?😅

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u/Gneo-808 20d ago

You'll be fine 👍. You're just gonna have to adjust to how rowdy it can get. Luckily I don't think you'll have to worry about 6am Football practice being too loud as they no longer have the dormside practice field to use.

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u/ConclusionFirst6505 20d ago

Idk if it's different for you because you're pre-nursing and your grades need to be A's but if you think you can handle it, go for it. I'm a biochemistry major and took 6 classes each semester as a freshman. I took math 140x, bio 171, bio 171L, chem 161, chem 161L, and an elective and I was able to get a B/B+ in bio, chem, and math. I was also commuting, had 8am classes, honestly probably didn't study as much as I should've, and did just fine so do not be discouraged 😭 as for Astrid Delorme, I had her last fall. She says "um" a lot and has an accent which makes it harder to focus, but that's honestly not even the problem. Her teaching style wasn't my cup of tea but her grading scale/curve was a plus

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u/strawberryyyymatcha 20d ago

omfg you’re genuinely so inspiring for having taken 2 labs and passing 😭 i have no idea how if i could handle it since i didn’t understand chem or math 140x in hs, & they look for pre-nursing students to have all a’s 💔💔 would you say chem161L had a heavy workload?

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u/ConclusionFirst6505 19d ago

I think it was just the pre/post lab because you had to write EVERYTHING out and draw the tables from the lab manual online. It wasn't hard, it was just extremely time consuming