How much do the two overlap? (BNS courses and pre-med)
Though it’s subjective, how much studying/work do you put into your classes?
How easy is it to find/be accepted into a good co-op program under this major?
Is it possible/allowed to take a co-op program that is more related to an art than actual bns? Or is there a way to kind of compare the two?
Good dorms for non-honors students?
I’m a senior BNS major! I also started out pre-med before I decided that I wanted to go into research.
There’s a lot of overlap between the BNS and pre-med requirements. The BNS requirements have changed since I started, so I’m not 100% certain with the updates, but I think the main thing that you have to take outside of BNS is physics. There are also pre-med advisors to help you navigate that.
The amount of work can vary a lot from class to class. My first semester I thought was pretty easy and I had a lot of free time, but things picked up as I got into more advanced classes. It’s never been totally unmanageable, though, even while TAing and working in a lab part time.
Applying for co-ops is like applying for jobs, except that there’s a whole database of positions to apply for, and you have the support of your co-op advisor throughout the process. But like applying for a job, you submit resumes to the companies and they’ll request interviews for candidates they like. The more experience and skills you have, the easier/more likely it is to get your top-choice co-ops. For your first co-op, you won’t necessarily get that “dream co-op”, but I haven’t heard of people in BNS having trouble getting co-ops.
For art co-ops, what exactly do you have in mind? The main restriction on whether or not you can do a co-op outside of what’s typical for your major is if you’re qualified. Once you start looking for co-ops, you’ll be able to see all of the open positions and what they’re looking for. For my last co-op, I was looking at co-ops in biology, engineering, and computer science; I ended up in a software development position. Since I’m not sure what you mean by art-related co-ops, I’m not sure how to compare them.
wow, thank you so much!
just another question, if you took a lot of AP’s, do those credits help?
and for ‘art co-op’, if i’m being honest, i’m interested in film as well and though it’s more of a hobby thing, I thought it’d be cool to somehow incorporate that into a co-op if at all possible
I had 45 credits from AP/IB when I started, and I do think it was helpful. I originally intended to use it to graduate earlier, but that’s not what I ended up doing. I’ll still graduate with only 7.5 semesters of classes, but over 5 years. Instead, the credit has let me get a good registration time, add a computer science minor (even though I’d never programmed before college), take elective math classes to prepare for graduate school, and do an honors project.
Co-ops in things like film and entertainment are generally tough because I don’t think there are as many (and they don’t usually pay the best), and you’d be competing against students who are majoring in film and arts. Remember that you can also set up your own co-ops outside of the regular system if you find someone who is willing to take you (which is what I did for all 3 of mine), so if something doesn’t exist that lets you combine science and film, you might be able to set something up, perhaps related to science educational films. Maybe you could be the next Bill Nye the Science Guy?