<p>Im doing Pre-med, although I have an interest in political science as well. Im not really that physics oriented, but Im good at math I’d say. I very good at biology though. So I wondering, which should I major in MB&B or MCDB. Also how can you change your major at this point.</p>
<p>you don’t have to declare your major until the end of your sophomore year, so you still have time to decide.</p>
<p>Both majors are great, and you can definitely pursue either one. You should look at the required core courses in the blue book online eventually (can’t post the external link here, but it’s just the programs of study website) and see which you are more interested in. I think it may be hard to really know until you’ve taken some bio courses, but since all of the prerequisites are basically the same, you’re in no real hurry to come to a decision. The only difference in the prereqs that I can recall is that MB&B prefers that you take the harder PHYS180 series rather than the PHYS150 series. However, I hear that the MB&B department is moving away from making this a requirement rather than a suggestion, but don’t quote me on that, heh. Other major differences include a full-year of biochem for the MB&B major whereas the MCDB biochem class is only one semester and pretty different core courses. I don’t think either is “better” for a pre-med student. Just pursue the major that you are more interested in, and you’ll be golden. You don’t want to be memorizing signalling pathways if you really don’t care and would rather learn about</p>
<p>I’m a pre-med MCDB major on the neurobiology track. So far, I’ve taken genetics, cell bio, and repro bio in the MCDB department as well as my general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and math requirements. (I took the PHYS180 series - I don’t know why…) If you have any particular questions, I’d be happy to answer them as well as I can - although I don’t think that I’m a goldmine of good advice or anything, heh.</p>
<p>hey thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. One thing I was considering was how hard the premed life at Yale is. Are the courses graded on killer curves, or are things more laid back? Any thoughts are helpful!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that the courses are on “killer” curves at all. It may be hard for you to get an A in some science courses, but the curves, in my experience, have been rather generous. The median may be as high as B+ in some cases (which is actually kind of ridiculous if you think about it). But it’s totally up to the professor in the end.</p>
<p>That said, there are some really intense and scary people on the premed track at Yale, as with any other college. I think that these people may be missing out on a lot of the Yale experience. As you will doubtlessly hear again and again, some of the best learning experiences occur outside of the classroom/CCL weenie bin. College is a time for personal and intellectual growth, and learning about, say, RNAi won’t necessarily expand your worldview. (I mean, it <em>may</em> for all I know, but my point is that the “Yale experience” is more than just academic.)</p>
<p>So I guess what I would say is that the pre-med experience at Yale is nice because you’ll be surrounded by a very diverse group of peers interested in every topic imaginable. If anything, the standard pre-med courses are rigorous but not so hard as to make your life all about learning science 24/7. That’s what med school is for :). You just want a good science foundation in undergrad, and that’s definitely not mutually exclusive with having a good time and taking awesome classes in the humanities, social sciences, etc.</p>
<p>Oops. To answer your question more directly, students and professors are generally pretty laid back about everything in my experience.</p>