Bio major, never took physics?

Applying to College
1

I’m a california resident who applied to most of the UCs for molecular biology. I’ve already been accepted to university of nevada, reno and SDSU. by the time i’m finished with HS i’ll have taken three bio courses, three chem courses, and seven math courses but no physics courses. does this put me at a significant disadvantage for these schools? i’m seeing a lot of people talking about how schools like to see a good progression of chem and bio and physics courses. thancs guys

2

Biology majors will have to take physics in college. It is advantageous to have had high school physics before taking college physics, even if it is not always a required prerequisite. Physics for biology majors in college will have competitive pre-meds gunning for the limited number of A grades.

3

If you are strong in math, then you may not have too much trouble in college Physics, as far as passing the class. But getting an A may be a different story, for the reasons ucbalumnus outlined above.

4

You are in for a moderate amount of pain when you take physics in college, so do yourself a favor, and work your way through a high school physics textbook to that you have some background before you start that college class. KhanAcademy has general physics as well as AP, so you can watch some videos as a break from reading that textbook.

5

thanks for all the responses guys! i get that as a science major i’ll have to go through some physics and i do have calculus experience so i won’t be completely dead in the water. i’ll have to remember to get some physics studying/tutoring before college starts. but will my lack of physics courses on my transcripts hurt my admissions chances? i know there’s no good in stressing myself out but i wanna know y’know?

6

The only people who can answer that question with accuracy, are the people on the admissions committees. Take a deep breath and walk away. You will get in, or you won’t get in. If you don’t get in, it could well be for other reasons than missing physics in high school.

7

Are you pre-med? If not, just an insight here. My D is first-year bio major at an LAC with plan for PhD and academic/research career. While college physics is recommended, it’s not required. She had interesting conversation with her advisor that for PhD bio there is less need/focus for physics than there used to be. She’s really into math and modeling, computational science, etc. so she will double up on those types of courses and may not even take physics. He said that applied math and comp sci is the direction of bio research these days.

I realize for pre-med college physics is still needed.

8

However, physics is still commonly required for non-pre-med biology majors at many colleges.

9

i don’t think i’m going to go pre-med. good to hear from your daughter’s experience that physics isn’t 100000% necessary to get into a good bio school. thanks so much!

10

@socaljusticemage Not directly related to your OP question, but your college GPA will likely be important for your future career prospects. One thing I’ve learned on CC is that the job market is flooded with pre-med students that couldn’t get into medical school, and molecular biology is a common pre-med major. Probably you will want to go on to graduate school somewhere.

11

i’m def gonna go to grad school, but idk if it’ll be med school yet. thanks for the advice!

12

I am on the same boat as you buddy. I am planning to get my physics taken care of over the summer at my local CC, you should do the same or right now: spring semesters have started but I am sure you could get in late with SOME classes if you politely ask the professor for the admission number and tell him/her your situation.

physics at university as a bio major is super hard, my cousin told me how she would literally stay up nights keeping up with her physics class at ucla (rn is at stanford med school). But in her defense, she didn’t really like math, which may help YOU excel in physics at college, who knows?

just curious; what do you mean you took three bio/chem courses and 7 math courses?

also, if you don’t mind sharing your stats and where you applied, it would be cool if you can share it.

gl with those acceptances!