<p>What are the difficulty of the upper div bio courses? Is taking 2 of them in 1 quarter too much work or is that normal? Also, does anyone have any recommendations on which ones to take?</p>
<p>And I don’t get how the bio labs works at UCI. People usually take them their senior year? I don’t how you can get into research without any lab experience since bio100L is the only bio lab that bio sci majors take up to their senior year.</p>
<p>Upper div bio classes are more brain intensive in that it’s not strict memorization (for the most part). It’s not too bad, some still use a normal curve, and some use straightscale. 2 of them in 1 quarter is average to above average. Usually, people schedule 1 UD Bio core, 1 UD Lab, and some GE/Breadth, and Bio 199 (undergrad research). Some people do 1 UD Bio core, 1 UD Bio elective, 1 UD Lab, etc etc. It’s all preference, but it’s doable.</p>
<p>Research as in Bio 199? Most undergrad research positions don’t require any prior laboratory experience, although it may help. You learn different lab techniques in your research that are sometimes applicable in UD lab, and vice versa, but they are pretty much independent entities. </p>
<p>Recommendations: You have to take 3 out of the 4 Required UD Bio courses, and take 4 UD Bio Electives, for a total of 7 UD Bio courses. This does not include the 3 UD Bio Labs (1 of which may be waived from doing Bio 199 research, but some med schools don’t accept research exemptions as 1 year of Lab).</p>
<p>Human Physiology (E109) - Straightscale course, very interesting topics and relevant information that is applicable in everyday life.</p>
<p>Neurobiology (N110) - Also very interesting, read a lot of case studies, for the most part graded on a curve.</p>
<p>D103, D104 (Cell Bio and Developmental Bio, respectively) - Harder than normal courses. It just goes more in depth with first and second year UCI lower division bio courses. Requires strong foundation.</p>
<h1>Ecology/Evolution, I heard it’s easy. Havn’t taken and don’t plan on taking it. Although it is a pre-req course for a lot of the ecology department UD electives.</h1>
<p>The Bio Labs at UCI are usually taken third or fourth year for bio majors. Most of them require 1 of the 4 Core UD Bio courses (ie. E109, N110, D103/4, Ecology as listed above) to be taken concurrently or previously taken. For instance, you can’t take N113L (Neuro lab) without having taken or currently taking N110 (Neurobio). </p>
<p>Bio 100LW just teaches you how to research and write formal bio lab reports. Some UD labs are harder than others.</p>
<p>E112L (3 units) - Consists of 1 Lab report, 2 midterms, and 1 final, and a weekly post-lab
N113L (3 units) - Consists of 2 Lab reports, 6+ quizzes, 2 midterms, 1 final, 1 brain anatomy practical, and weekly pre/post-labs.</p>
<p>I suggest you do some research before diving in.</p>
<p>PROTIP: It’s relatively hard to get into a UD Bio lab due to the limited space of spots and large amount of bio majors. They usually fill up 2nd to 3rd day of registration. It may be even harder for transfer students (and there’s no waitlist). I had to hold a spot for my transfer friend just so he could graduate on time! Bio department doesn’t care if you need the lab to graduate on time, it all dpends on your registration window; hopefully you have an early one, or have some friends who are willing to hold spots for you.</p>
<p>Are the bio core courses harder than the UD electives?</p>
<p>I guess you could say they were harder. I would think they are equally difficult. the UD electives usually have the UD cores as pre-requsites. Each core opens up a chain of available UD electives for a certain department. So most UD neuro course electives require the neuro core N110. Most developmental courses (D Series) requires that you have had taken D103 or D104, etc. </p>
<p>The UD cores has a lot more students (300+ students) while electives are usually half the size. Theoretically, UD electives should be harder since everyone in that class has had the pre-req UD core taken and must have done well to continue and pursue it as an elective, meaning higher competition along with fewer A’s available.</p>
<p>My response was probably inadequate since I just said Core > Electives, Core = Electives, and Core < Electives. BWAH HAH!</p>