<p>Ok, first of all I am pretty sure I got a 5 on the AP Bio exam but I my advisor talked me into not using the credit. My advisor said I could take the second year Molecular Bio course or I could take the first year one and use the credit only for the IB course. I took the second option since they scared me with talk about how the first year of college is difficult and college courses are different from high school ones. Was this the right choice? Why do they discourage people from using their AP credits? I took the higher level chem course though so I don’t regret my decision too much because I think two tough classes might be too hard to handle my first semester.</p>
<p>The second question I have is about the James Scholar program. I had a 1460 SAT score (thats like a 33 ACT), 92% cummulative average, and a decent essay that might have had a flaw in it. I guess my question is if they look at the essay for LAS James program applicants and how could I have been rejected from the LAS program. (This is how I see it: 1450 is the req. for Engineering students and the Engin. Dept. is more selective than LAS, if I could have gotten into the Engin. James program, why didn’t I get into the LAS one?) I called the school about the James program and why I didn’t get in. Currently they are looking into it but I don’t know how much good that will do. Can I get into the program Sophmore year if I didn’t get in now?</p>
<p>I only applied to 2 schools last year and I got rejected from my first choice, Vanderbilt. I’m wondering if I should transfer somewhere. Is U of I good in Biochemistry? How helpful will the prestige of a better undergrad school be when I apply to a prestigious grad school? What are the benefits of staying at U of I? Sure, price is one but I can get loans, right?</p>
<p>One more thing, what is the difference between MCB and Biochem? I’m looking to change majors from MCB to Biochem.</p>
<p>James Scholars are selected solely on GPA/Rank. The program states that the top 10-15% of each college’s (LAS, Business, Engineering, etc) incoming freshman class are selected as James Scholars. I suppose each college uses a student’s unweighted GPA. </p>
<p>Unless your high school has a really good AP Bio class or you’re really on top of bio, you probably made a good choice of not using your AP bio credit. College bio is a lot more rigorous and in-depth than high school bio. It’s a good idea to get a feel for an intro to bio class before diving into more advanced bio classes. I had a friend who got a 5 on AP Bio junior year in high school. After about a week in the advanced bio class, she dropped down to the intro bio.</p>
<p>Out of staters are often overlooked. It is just easier with ACT here. No SAT stuff here. Anyways if you take the accelerated chem courses your will be learning a ton. But warning, they are not for the faint of heart. Gluck, I know a lot of biochem majors being a chemE and all. I also thought about biochem but liked the idea of chemE more. I still might minor in BioE, because I do miss it.</p>
<p>I hear the intro isn’t too bad (it is plenty hard) but I hear the next class is a big jump and most aren’t ready. Especially first semester freshmen.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I’m not out of state, I live in a suburb of Chicago. I should have taken the ACT but I was too lazy. I got a good score on the SAT, why take another test?</p>
<p>Well because it is kind of required for all students in IL. That definitely hurt you then. Oh well you can always do well at college and get into it after first/second semester. B/c plenty won’t be in it anymore after first & second.</p>
<p>Well, it wasn’t required for me. I went to a private school. Huh, guess I should have taken it. Oh well, even if I had gotten into the honors program I still would have tried transfering to a different school. It sure would have looked goon on my transfer app :(</p>