No one enters UNC with a major. Yes, I agree it seems weird, and I question if what I heard is true, but I can tell you from the way parents were complaining about their kids not being able to register for bio or chem classes, it doesn’t seem wrong. So many kids are pre-med, so they plan on bio as a major, but I think a lot change once they see how difficult those majors are at UNC.
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So interesting! Already my kid is hearing kids in bio and chem classes freaking out due to the workload and difficulty. And she has yet to meet another person in her major, but hopefully next semester! She took all the required freshman classes this semester and one history-adjacent course.
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Workload etc for chemistry and biology/premed is high, intense at most schools. Some drop the major or premed intention due to difficulty getting the grades they want, while others decide against premed because they discover other interests and realize they do not want to be a physician.
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My kids went to large public universities, no way they have seats for all of those “premed” freshmen in upper level classes, hence the weedouts.
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Yes I understand that they don’t have a declared major which I believe is also the case for much of the UC system with the exception of certain areas such as engineering but I could be wrong. From my undetstanding, students specify an area of interest but the school understands that this often changes. However, they do have certain areas which are oversubscribed. For those areas, my understanding is that a student is accepted into the area as a pre-major which means that as long as they maintain a certain GPA they will be able to declare the major. Many will still likely switch to another major but at least the schools won’t be accepting 60% of their incoming class from the pre-med contingency.
We cannot assume that all biology majors are premed- there is a lot of diversity within the major.
Some pair it with an education minor so that they can explore teaching, education policy with regard to science curriculums, etc. Others want to go into research, PT, OT, PA, dentistry etc. Some, of course, may apply to medical school.
With regard to UNC (only bringing this up because of the title)….the school recognizes the variety of career interests that biology students have (true at many schools) and that is another reason why there are a lot of freshmen entering with this major.
Biology (UNC) is not a competitive entry like nursing, the business school, public health etc. As long as you meet the requirements…you will be accepted.
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Keeping in mind that UNC can only accept a certain %age of OOS students. The bar for acceptance is a high one.
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Very true!!! The diversity of biology majors applies to both instate and OOS (as well as many other schools).
I believe this student alluded to not applying…not sure if this is still true as they have not returned.
This is the reason why my kid did not join UNC and opted out a different out of state college. We had almost free ride for UNC and assurance for public health , but still did not go as the kid is not admitted into honors college and therefore no guarantee for the courses. Also, heard horror stories about chemistry not getting a good GPA and they weed out lot of kids. It is insane we get merit in one hand and other hand no honors admittance .
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My kids received merit from schools and didn’t get into honors, two got top merit from UMASS Amherst, no honors.UMD too.
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Super unusual, too, I think. So many complaints about Bio and Chem from parents. Registration seems to work out for kids for the most part, but I am not sure. Mine has priority registration, so she chooses classes day 1. It’s kind of amazing.
Some of these schools (like Notre Dame and USC) will be quite a bit higher than $60K.
Alabama will be practically free with the scholarship money they will offer you. My son last year as also offered a pretty hefty OOS merit scholarship at FSU with similar stats
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Apply to UNC saying history.I know they say major doesn’t matter, and you’re not actually admitted into a major, but I swear my kid being a history major helped her get accepted. EVERYONE there is a bio major. Like seriously 65% of kids at first. You can literally change your mind immediately and change your interest area if it truly is bio, but if you think it will be history, apply for that.
Another piece of info - tuition doesn’t change over the 4 years once you’re in at UNC, but apartment costs are really high unless you are willing to live kind of far away, in a crappy place, or have a person you share a bedroom with. We’ll be paying $1400/month for an apt. next year (really nice place, very close to campus).
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Really? Tuition remains the same for all 4 years? Is this info in their website? Thanks.
In-state tuition has remained unchanged. R/B and OOS tuition have gone up.
Of the 4699 first year students enrolled in the fall of 2023, 17% indicated that biology was their intended major. BS versus BA was not reported.
I could not find data reporting how many applicants or accepted students listed biology as their intended major.
If 65% of current first years are biology majors- that’s quite a jump!
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