<p>@WhatevDude
It was either Steven Pinker or E.O. Wilson who first sparked my interest in science, but Dawkins was a big player too. I originally wanted to major in mathematics but discovered that the program, as are most CNS programs, is highly specialized and cumulative. It is especially tough for students like us (non-traditionals) to pursue fields in which every class depends on the knowledge gained in the previous class. I’m also interested in a jillion topics so it is really difficult for me to pursue a specialized major. It’s just frustrating to spend so much time gaining prerequisite knowledge before you can get to the really juicy stuff–hats off to you for taking that route though. I discovered economics and geopolitics and am now consumed with those subjects, but I’ll always have a special fondness for science!
Shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone about nonfiction. They might actually wake up and steal our thunder. lol</p>
<p>So no one has heard back yet? I was naively hoping perhaps I would find out today, but it looks like I am waiting until Monday. </p>
<p>Did someone say a lot of people find out on the 8th??</p>
<p>Should we expect a big rollout of decisions? </p>
<p>I just wanted to check in with you guys, and I hope everyone will let me know when they hear back.</p>
<p>Getting real tired of your **** UT EID…</p>
<p>I really love science, too! Just not a huge fan of science classes, per se. At least the ones I’ve been in. I feel like they primarily want you to memorize facts and minutiae instead of encouraging curiosity about the world and an understanding of the big picture. My biology class is the worst offender about this. It’s kind of sucking the joy right out of me right now. lol. Although, we’re just now getting to the good stuff about genetics, which obviously has larger implications about evolution and the future of biotechnology. </p>
<p>I think one of my favorite classes I ever took was physical anthropology. All about evolution, primate behavior, and early man. So fascinating! :D</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1298410-you-waiting-uts-admission-decision-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1298410-you-waiting-uts-admission-decision-3.html</a></p>
<p>heres a forum from last year i cant find the other one but this one kinda shows people finding out by the 9th</p>
<p>… I hope that’s a consistent date with UT it might take longer this year … So nervous</p>
<p>btw how does a 3.61 fare for COLA and Ugs undeclared ? any opinions? average essays no lors</p>
<p>@ablindwatchmaker (love even typing this name! lol)</p>
<p>If by “steal our thunder” you mean a scientifically literate general population, then, by all means, let them steal, steal, steal away! 
“Magic of Reality” ought to be required reading, IMO. On a barely related note, why does CC disallow italics or underlining in forum posts? They’re forcing poor grammar upon me. We should start a petition thread. lol</p>
<p>I know what you mean about the overspecialization problem. Considering the trajectory of technology, it is hard to see how it could be any other way; some specialties require a decade or more to become truly well versed. But at the same time, interdisciplinary undertakings are ever-more important, and often where the real “magic” tends to happen. It’s an interesting Catch-22-ish type of problem. I’m curious to see how it will all play out. If it weren’t for a separate set of life circumstances making neuroscience my unquestionable way forward, I don’t know how on earth I would ever choose. </p>
<p>Astrophysicist. Evolutionary biologist. Molecular biologist. Immunologist. There are just way too many fascinating things to study. A little (read: HUGE) part of me is tempted to just become a freelance science writer so I can study them all. Just sit around and read Nature and Science or run around visiting labs doing insanely amazing things all day, every day - sounds a bit like a dream life. </p>
<p>Apologies, everyone. I realize we’ve gotten rather off topic here, but we may as well have meaningful conversations to keep ourselves from all going bat-**** crazy while obsessing over the meaning of “in review” and comparing notes to see if we all have the same fonts and layouts and phrasing displayed on MyStatus. </p>
<p>Malcolm Gladwell, anyone? :)</p>
<p>@deadxpoetics: I find it heartbreaking to hear that about a general biology course… That is the <em>ideal</em> circumstance in which to indoctrinate people with the sexiness of science. Ha. (She laughs, only barely kidding.) Is that bio I or bio II?</p>
<p>@ WhatevDude: It’s Biology 1408 (Introductory Biology: The Unity of Life). It’s SUPPOSED to be a science class for non-science majors. Driving me nuts. We have to not only understand what he’s saying, but be able to draw it from memory. For example, I’m currently memorizing glycolysis, the Kreb’s cycle, and the electron transport chain. I have to be able to draw it. I have to know exactly how many CO2s are byproducts of cell respiration at each stage. Just seems kinda like a pointless detail. </p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s more important to understand that it IS a byproduct, and what would happen if it weren’t expelled. The most interesting part about it is that cell respiration is the reason humans breathe oxygen, and that’s fascinating for an evolutionary reason, i.e. if plants didn’t photosynthesize and produce oxygen, would human life even exist? If it did, how would we be different? But nope. We don’t talk about stuff like that. Just little details that nobody will remember in six months. </p>
<p>Also, my professor grades so hard that the curve is insane. On a standard score distribution, the mean should center on 70, which would thus make it a C, which is the normal way. In my class, the mean centered on 40, so a 40 was a C. A 70 was an A. To me, if you have to curve that steeply, you’re writing your tests waaaaay too difficult. But what do I know? I’m just some nerdy chick who took statistics. <em>shrugs</em> lol</p>
<p>@deadxpoetics</p>
<p>The problem you are describing is partially a consequence of studying an incredibly complex subject that cannot be understood without a very substantial technical background. At this stage, you are learning very basic ideas and skills that will be applied to the more interesting problems at some later date (hopefully). For instance, I’ve read that one can’t gain a deep understanding of general relativity or QM until one has attained an advanced degree in physics and a corresponding level of sophistication in advanced mathematics. (This is purely anecdotal, but I’ve seen similar statements in various sources over the years.) I’m an extremely inquisitive person, but the opportunity cost of fully understanding those subjects is too high for me to pay. I wouldn’t have time to read about as many subjects as I currently do, and I certainly wouldn’t have as much time as I have to study Chinese. On another note, I also love anthropology and would like to recommend a few books on similar topics, if you are interested.
“Religion Explained” (This is one of the most brilliant books out there pertaining to origins of religious belief)
“The Third Chimpanzee”
Anything written by Steven Pinker
I better not continue! (I’ve spent too much time reading and not enough time pursuing a career. lol) I’m so glad to hear that there are other people out there who care about these topics. It is satisfying to see that people still attend college to become broad thinkers unconstrained by the limits of their chosen career paths.
@WhatevDude
“Magic of Reality” looks like a book that touches on scientific philosophy (haven’t read it yet). Books like those were crucial in my development as a thinker. I didn’t have a leg to stand on until I started reading books like that. I had no idea how to justify anything or tell apples from oranges, metaphorically speaking.
You are dead on. Unfortunately for the renaissance thinker, specialization is an inevitable consequence of the increasingly sophisticated division of labor applied to the pursuit of scientific discovery. It’s just more efficient that way 
E.O. Wilson discusses how we will eventually need to synthesize these fields once we reach a certain level of understanding, and it is already happening in some fields. Neuroscience, for instance, is an excellent example of a merge between biology and psychology. Science writing would be awesome. I’d wager the competition would be fierce!
Yeah, I’m ready to hear back. I’m going crazy!</p>
<p>@deadxpoetics</p>
<p>Science for non-science majors should consist of general concepts and reading books like the ones we’ve talked about on here lol.</p>
<p>@farhan I checked the link; it is nice to see hope in the coming week hehe. I just got very surprised to see that the first admitted on the forum was notified a Sunday</p>
<p>@ ABWM (I’m abbreviating for simplicity’s sake :D)</p>
<p>I agree. Science for non-science majors should primarily focus on general knowledge and fostering critical thinking skills, etc. But my class isn’t like that, AT ALL. I definitely understand that they’re trying to simplify some extremely complex processes, but it’s just unfortunate that they feel like the only way to teach that information is through rote memorization. </p>
<p>I love reading non-fiction books about science and psychology. I don’t have as much time to read stuff for fun as I’d like with my current course load, though. Right now, I’m reading Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters. It’s for extra credit in my bio class. Very interesting so far. :)</p>
<p>A couple of my favorite non-fic books are Bonk and Stiff (both by Mary Roach). The former discusses the science and cultural history/understanding of sexual development, and it’s hysterically funny too. lol. The second one is about human cadavers. </p>
<p>By the way, do y’all think we should just make a separate “shoot the breeze” thread so we’re not derailing this one? :D</p>
<p>@deadxpoetics (and anyone else interested): Sigh… The heartbreak continues. There is no reason whatsoever for any non-STEM major science course to force you to draw out the entire cycle of respiration and/or glycolysis unless it is meant to underscore a broader concept. I had a pretty intense prof for Bio I, and I’m pretty sure we had unlabeled pics of each part of the cycle provided on relevant exams. I’m a nerd and memorized them anyway because I thought it was crazy fascinating and relevant to organic chemistry, which I also love. Well, all that and I was unaware that the reference pics would be provided on the exams… 
</p>
<p>But since it seems that your current bio professor has utterly failed you in this regard, may I have a go at getting you jazzed up about the super-amazing biological masterpiece that is the Krebs cycle? Pretty please? Indulge me 
</p>
<p>I’m kind of a literary snob when it comes to quality writing, but it just so happens that my single favorite piece of recent literature is a Nature paper on related topics, written by a guy out of Craig Venter’s lab; I hadn’t heard of him (the writer) before this article, but it is science writing at its finest. It’s long, but definitely worth a read, in my entirely non-expert opinion. Here’s the general link to the article: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7387_supp/full/483S17a.html[/url]”>http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v483/n7387_supp/full/483S17a.html</a></p>
<p>If you don’t have a school proxy to get to the full text, PM me and I’ll send you a different link to get the freebie version if you’re interested. </p>
<p>I can’t make any guarantees, but I happened to stumble across this article when I was taking bio I, and I remember doing a little happy dance (literally) once I had finally memorized all those damn cycles because I realized they were just A-MAZEBALLS. And important. You’ve got to memorize them anyway, right? May as well try to make it interesting :)</p>
<p>Ha, yeah, a separate “off-topic” thread might not be a bad idea. I wonder how many people we’re driving bonkers that have subscribed to notifications for this thread to find out when people start hearing something. Probably a lot. Oops :)</p>
<p>I made one! It’s called “Talking About Nerdy Stuff While We Wait”. I’ll give you a response on there. :D</p>
<p>@Farhan, Wow that was an awesome thread. I have never seen that before, but that was a lot of help. Of course now I am more nervous than before. It is getting really close, I can’t believe it almost over. </p>
<p>We should definitely not go crazy, what is the (off topic) topic again? Biology? </p>
<p>I took 1408 and am in 1409. I also took Ap in highschool. It is one discipline completely disjointed from my major, but I find fascinating.</p>
<p>Anyone hear back from them?! Is it easy to transfer to Computer Science major?</p>
<p>that is not the hardest major to get into. i heard someone got in with a 3.21 or somethng from uh a while back.
what is you gpa?!</p>
<p>check it
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1298410-you-waiting-uts-admission-decision-9.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1298410-you-waiting-uts-admission-decision-9.html</a></p>
<p>Mine is 3.66</p>
<p>Hey can anyone tell me my chances for Communication or Liberal Arts?? I have 30 submitted hours with a 3.53 cumulative gpa. Good essays, and 3 letters of rec.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>