<p>My PittStart session is in less than a month (June 17-18), and I was hoping that someone would be able to give me some advice on what professors I should request for some of my classes. I am planning on double majoring in biology and chemistry, and I would like to point out that I got a 5 on my AP bio exam, which would pass me out of Bio 1 and 2. I also have gen chem 101 out of the way because of a post-secondary option that I took advantage of this year. </p>
<p>What are the best biology and chemistry professors? What good bio professors does the UHC have to offer? </p>
<p>From what I understand, not many Pitt bio professors are very good. Does this necessarily mean that Pitt has a weak biology department as compared to other top public schools?</p>
<p>Would a microbiology or biochemistry major be a better choice for me? (Now that I think about it, I believe the biochemistry major is a choice within microbiology).</p>
<p>I agree with highflyin. Ratemyprofessors is very useful, though keep in mind that reviewers are often very polarized. Professors that teach honors courses also typically teach regular, non-honors courses. Thus, the UHC doesn’t have “special” bio profs who teach solely honors bio courses. Instead, professors within the bio department may teach honors courses in addition to regular courses.</p>
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<p>I’m not a bio major nor do I have any idea how Pitt’s bio department compares to other top public schools, but I can say that I have not heard this. I have, however, taken many bio courses at Pitt, and I’ve seldom found my profs to be lacking.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what major would be the best fit for you. As an incoming freshman, I would not be so concerned with picking a major. It’s certainly nice to have a few ideas in mind, but it will not really be to your benefit at this point. In fact, it seems more logical to me to wait and actually take the courses in order to see what really appeals to you. Just because you liked a certain subject in high school does not necessarily mean that you’ll want to pursue it at a college level. Most students do not declare majors until their sophomore year. Remember that taking lower level courses in chem and bio etc. will likely satisfy some requirements for a number of different science majors. Thus, there really is no reason to hasten a decision now.</p>
<p>Also, the Biochemistry track is part of the Molecular Biology major, not the Microbio major.</p>
<p>Here are some links that you may find to be useful. This may also give you a better idea of the overlap between majors and compatibility of double majors.</p>
<p>well, i already checked ratemyprofessors.com, and while i do think it will help in deciding which professors to choose, many professors have very little or no reviews. some of the professors that have many reviews are rather bad, and i’ve seen quite a few negative comments about pitt’s bio department in general. I just hope i’m not going to the wrong school for bio and chemistry (with a pre-med track). regardless of what is actually the case, i had no other choice since i have to pay very little to go to pitt. i know i can major in virtually anything to go to med school, but i actually enjoy bio. it would be a shame to find out that pitt isn’t strong in that area. if anyone else has more info about good bio/chem/biochem teachers please feel free to reflect.</p>
<p>I think that you will be fine and that you will be happy and challenged at Pitt. It may just be that the entry level courses are not fun and they do not get high ratings as a result.</p>
<p>On ratemyprofessor, as was mentioned, the ratings are usually really good or really bad. A lack of ratings also tells you very little (now that was an obvious statement wasn’t it?). Once you start classes, you will be a much better judge of what you like.</p>
<p>I’m sorry that I wasn’t much help. I am kind of hesitant to list names because some of the bio professors who I really liked did in fact receive very negative reviews on ratemyprofessors. If you are looking at Foundations of Bio professors, you will definitely see a lot of negative reviews. Foundations 1 and 2 seem to be major weed-out courses for pre-meds, pre-pharm students, etc. In general, bio at the college level is not easy, and lots of students are rather unpleasantly surprised at how difficult certain bio courses are despite their strong backgrounds from high school. I am not at all trying to suggest that you won’t succeed in your bio courses, I’m just trying to provide rationale as to why those negative reviews exist. Keep in mind that the department dictates that a certain percentage of people get As, Bs, and so forth, so it definitely is possible to do well, despite what some reviews on ratemyprofessors might suggest. Also, just because the courses are difficult (hence the negative reviews), it does not mean that the department is mediocre.</p>
<p>What bio course are you thinking about taking? Do you have any professors in mind?</p>
<p>So I was a Biology major before I quit because I hated it SO take everything I say with more than a grain of salt. </p>
<p>The posters before me are absolutely right about the intro level biology classes. I skipped the intro level ones BUT I took genetics and it is exactly the same. Right on the syllabus it was like:</p>
<p>And then like you realize 3/5 of the class are pre-meds. Nothing takes the fun out of a class like that. Like at the final everyone was like “so, i like all of you guys BUT i hope you all fail.” And like people were only half kidding. </p>
<p>And I was like, ok, I studied all night so I should be good. NOPE so did half the class. I mean, I have nothing to complain about. I got an A- but it was an awful enough experience that I am never taking a bio class again, ever. All the lectures were power point. It was so so so so boring. And this professor got GOOD ratings on ratemyprofessor.com.</p>
<p>Anyways, I am sure the upper level classes are much better. That is certainly the case in philosophy. I don’t plan to find out though. </p>
<p>So, here is my advice. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Either take honors gen bio (which is absurdly difficult but very rewarding I hear) or skip it</p></li>
<li><p>Do not in any circumstances take Honors Organic Chemistry. Take the class with George Bandik if at all possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Take Honors Genetics </p></li>
<li><p>Get out of non 1000 level classes ASAP</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My real advice is study philosophy but no one listens to me on that one :)</p>
<p>I got a 5 on my AP Bio exam, so I assume I would be out of the intro level bio courses.</p>
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<p>Since I’m probably going to use my AP bio credits to skip foundations 1 and 2, I think I’m going to start with honors genetics (as recommended by CuttingEdge). As for professors, I have no idea which ones are good or bad (I would have to check ratemyprofessors again). Are there any other non-intro honors bio courses that are good? I don’t mind difficult, I just don’t want it to be absurdly unfair or uninformative. </p>
<p>Regarding the competition among premeds – as good of a school that Pitt is, it’s no Harvard or Princeton, so I don’t really think the competition will affect me as much. I come from a good high school, and I’m near the top of my class, so I don’t think I will have much trouble at Pitt.</p>
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<p>Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Also, would anyone happen to know how the chem or biochem professors are (especially at the honors level)? How about microbiology? Now, I know I want to major in something biological, but I’m thinking about chem as a second major because its a better fallback than biology. </p>
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<p>Lol I was actually considering studying philosophy but I thought I would gain more from studying Biology. That is, some bio courses overlap with premed and chem major requirements.</p>
<p>Don’t be so sure that the competition will not affect you. </p>
<p>I got a 1540 on my SAT. I got a 5 on AP Bio, Chem, Physics etc etc etc. I got into Chicago, Northwestern etc. </p>
<p>I didn’t think the competition would affect me. It did and it will probably affect you too. </p>
<p>Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t handle it. But it does mean it will probably make you miserable at times. It will be worse if you come in overconfident like i did and everyone else I know like this did.</p>
<p>Well said. I didn’t mean to come off as arrogant lol</p>
<p>Anyways, regarding my other questions/comments, it would be possible for me to skip bio foundations 1 and 2 right? Also, if anyone has any opinions on my other questions feel free to reflect. Thanks again for your input everyone.</p>
<p>guys I blow at chem but really want to follow the pre-med track. i mean im not bad at chem, its just that I have NONE (ZERO!!!) interest because it seems wayyyyy to boring and conceptual. so i was looking though the links that divel provided and noticed that biological sciences requires the least amount of chem courses. do u guys feel that this is the easiest way to get out of many chem classes?</p>
<p>Not really. All premeds have to take gen chem and organic chem, and biochem is sometimes recommended. These are all required courses if you major in a bio-related major. </p>
<p>If you want to avoid chem classes, don’t major in something biology and then you can avoid biochem, which isn’t required to apply to most medical schools.</p>
<p>Does pitt even have a good reputation for chem or bio? It seems like many students don’t have much to say about pitt’s bio or chem program (or even pitt’s ability to prepare pre-meds for med school). Maybe that’s the case because everyone posting in this thread isn’t a bio major.</p>
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<p>I’m in the same boat. I like biology much more than chem even though I am good at both. However, I’m probably going to bite the bullet and do biochem or double major in bio and chem because chem is a pretty good fallback. After all, the way things are nowadays, you can’t exactly be 100% sure about medical school no matter how much you want to be a doctor.</p>
<p>Same question as before, but I thought I’d re-post it in case anyone could give an answer:
<p>I think you should stop worrying about whether or not Pitt is good for bio or that you hope you’re not going to the wrong school for pre-med. It makes it sound like you were pushed into settling for Pitt and would much rather be going somewhere else, and even if it’s true, most of us on here are satisfied with choosing Pitt so we can’t really help you there. </p>
<p>You’re looking for reassurance that Pitt’s pre-med prepares for medical school. There are current Pitt premeds on this forum, but none are in medical school, so they can’t really say from personal experience how it has prepared them for medical school. </p>
<p>I actually once talked to a resident who did her undergrad at Pitt and she asked me “Does Dr. _____ still teach in Clapp Hall?” Apparently she thought this professor was a great instructor, but this was one of the professors I had wanted to avoid because the ratings on RMP were so caustic. When I told her this she laughed and said, “That’s because _____ actually makes people work.” So, part of it is all relative. </p>
<p>My opinion on why many of the bio and chem instructors get bad reviews is that it’s most freshmen’s introduction to the pre-med culture, which sucks. People get annoying, the labs are tedious, and everyone wants to know which bits of information are going to be tested on.</p>
<p>I know I should probably stop worrying but I just want to have the best experience I can at Pitt. It’s not that I was pressured into going to Pitt, but I just want to know what it has to offer with respect to my interests. I would have been asking the same questions regardless of where I ended up going. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t unknowingly jumping into a class with a mediocre or unrealistic professor.</p>