blazinyan300

Can anyone in the major describe the classes that one needs to graduate from it? From what I gather, one needs:
-Intro Bio
-Intro bio lab
-Gen Chem w/ Lab and Orgo w/ Lab
-Biochem w/ Lab
-Genetics w/ Lab
-Introductory Animal Physiology
-Cellular Physiology

How many other upper division courses because I was told 4 I think, but does a lab count as one of the 4?

Regardless I am very interested in taking:
-Animal Physiology
-Immunology

What is Biological Basis of Sex Differences? Can you recommend any other cool bio courses in this major? Thanks.

norcalguy

It says 7 additional credits in addition to the two BioAP courses so that's only 2 additional upper div courses (1 lecture-based and 1 lab-based).

The thing I don't like about BioAP and Immunology is that the courses tend to be at the vet school. As a transfer, you will be on West Campus. The Vet School is one the extreme east side of campus. It's a good 30-35 minute walk. For that reason, I rarely attended the two BioAP courses I signed up for during my senior year.

blazinyan300

But is evolutionary bio still a required course?

norcalguy

Why wouldn't it be? Isn't evol. bio required for every bio major?

blazinyan300

I guess. But it just does not seem to be all that helpful. Norcal, I am just curious how you had enough time to take the 2 animal physiology courses while being a molecular bio major. Did you kill yourself to take those courses and do well. I mean isn't molecular bio tough enough or you just needed the extra class credit to earn enough credits within your college to graduate?

For instance, I am in CALS and I need 55 credits within my college. It just seems to me that even after taking all of the classes for my major, I will still be short on credit. So as a result, students diversify in that extent by taking classes in varied area of knowledge? And just as a side question, how many credits did you take in a semester? How many of those classes were either humanities and/or just classes in order to graduate from your designated college?

norcalguy

Molecular bio is pervasive in many biological disciplines. So, I can take courses in many different departments and still satisfy the requirements for my major. If you look at the requirements for Animal Physiology and Molecular Bio, you will see a lot of overlap. So, I can take BioAP 413 as a molecular bio major while you can take BioBM 440 as a AP major and still have those classes count. I ended up taking only 1 more bio course than was necessary to get my bachelor's. I was uncomfortable with only taking 1 bio course my last semester so I added BioAP 413 Histology since that's a 1st year med school course as well.

I didn't kill myself in any of my semesters. I averaged just a hair under 15 credits/semester and never took more than 16 credits in any semester. Obviously, you have to take courses outside your major in order to graduate. Most majors are only 40-60 credits while you need 120 credits to graduate. So, I took courses from anthropology to Spanish to English to History to Asian American Studies. In fact, I ended up with 3 courses in both English and History.

blazinyan300

Are the humanities courses and time-consuming? Did they take away a lot of time from your ECs and your major and/or pre-med classes? On avg how many humanities courses did you take a semester?

Biophilic

If you are interested in Physiology then couple of great courses to take are BioAP 319: Animal Physiology Experimentation and BioAP 458: Mammalian Physiology.

blazinyan300

Is BioAP 319: Animal Physiology Experimentation the lab course? Also, it just seems to me that it is tougher to do a physiology track because the students who do it need to take 3 labs (physiology, biochem, and genetics) along with 4 physiology courses: Introductory Animal Physiology, Cellular Physiology, Animal Physiology, and 1 more of their choosing. Am I correct?

Biophillic, were you a physiology major? If so, can you please give me a more indepth look on the major, the profs, the difficulties, exams, etc. Thanks.

norcalguy

I averaged 2.5 BPCM courses per semester and around 1.5-2 humanities courses per semester.

Yea, they can be time-consuming. The history and english courses involved A LOT of reading (typically one book per week). I often couldn't keep up so I did my best. In one of my history courses, I only read every other assigned book and in English 364 I fell two novels behind the rest of the class. Sometimes you have to prioritize and my science courses were more important.

blazinyan300

I am assuming that you took the history and english courses because you were genuinely interested in them. However, couldn't you have, in theory, taken easier courses, such as wine tasting or massage, and still have gotten the same amount of credit. Or you could have minored in something, right?

blazinyan300

Btw, do you know if art courses, like photography, fall under realm of CALS credit classes?

dewdrop87

they won't count toward your 55 CALS credits

Go to this link: CALS Registrar: CALS College Distribution Requirements

and it will tell you which courses fulfill the humanities & social science requirement

CayugaRed2005

Right, massage. Cornell's difficulty is overrated, but it's not that easy.

norcalguy

Well, I was a CAS student so I needed to take real humanities courses. Something like Wines or photography can be interesting but it's not acceptable for Arts and Sciences credit.

Although they were a lot of work, I don't consider non-science courses to be hard, especially if you're interested in the subject matter. In fact, it wasn't until my very last semester at Cornell that I received an A- in a course not offered by the Bio or Chem department. (That course was Hist 325). Non-science courses are not meant to be stressful. In fact, they can be a welcome diversion from your premed courses.