Majoring in biology?

WindSlicer
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:55:12 +0000

As a Bio major, I’d advise to take the AP5 sequence your first year no matter what your advisor tells you. You can also take Gen (or O-) Chem as well your first year, but know if you do that it’ll be a decent amount of work with 2 lab classes (although you will have to double up at some point anyway so just realize that). I suggest taking it first year because, for me, the class was a great introduction to how to really think about Biology and getting started with tackling primary research articles. The class really allowed me to realize my passion for the subject and that has really helped me focus my studies here. Others have taken it and definitely don’t feel the same way, however, but i’ll argue it’s better to get that feeling 1st year than 2nd year when you have more leeway in terms of classes.

As for it being an easy major, well it depends what classes you take. If you take the 180s and non-challenging electives I can imagine that it would be a fairly straightforward major. But there are many challenging classes offered within the major, including the AP5 sequence, so if you want a challenge you can find one.