Bio major sched questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>first, I think you need some basic background information.</p>

<p>• I’m tentatively going to try and major in biology
• I easily received a 5 on the AP Bio Exam and an 800BioM SATII during my Junior year
• I am interested (but have NO background in) the cognitive sciences and/or Neurobiology
• The last time I took chemistry was my sophomore year of high school. It was not AP. I was pretty good, but not perfect.
• I got a 5 on my AP AB Calculus exam
• I am taking Math 1220 and a FWS in Philosophy during the fall…for sure
• I’ve never thought of myself as “pre-med”; I think I would rather do research
. these bullets make me sound smarter than i am...(i got a 3 on AP Lit and a 4 on AP USH, so yeah i am not THAT great)
Now, my biggest questions</p>

<p>• Since I took biology a couple years ago, is it wise to just jump right in with BioEE2780 to fulfill a core requirement for the biology major or should I basically re-take biology with Bio 1105? (mind you, I am not entirely enthralled by the evolution {2780} aspect of biology)</p>

<p>• I am thinking about appeasing my interest in the cognitive sciences by taking COGST 1101. This would mean DEFERRING Chem 2070 until next year; would this be insane? Should I wait until next fall to take Cogst1101?</p>

<p>Another concern: I have no solid background in any language. I either want to take Latin or German to fulfill my language requirement (I am leaning towards latin due to its applications in the biological/medical world),but Elementary Latin 1 is only offered during the Fall. Can I take these “elementary/basic classes” as a sophomore or are those classes mostly for freshman? Do you recommend Latin over German?</p>

<p>Presently, my schedule is as follows (the COGST1101 course is actually 4 credits, not 3 as shown)</p>

<p>Schedulizer:</a> Fall '09 </p>

<p>Here are some other sample schedules I’ve created…any advice?</p>

<p>w/o chem. Schedulizer:</a> Fall '09</p>

<p>w/ chem. Schedulizer:</a> Fall '09</p>

<p>w. chem. and intro bio</p>

<p>Schedulizer:</a> Fall '09</p>

<p>obviously i will be taking a 1 cr PE course as well...
any suggestions?
advice?</p>

2

<p>you are not guaranteed any fws, no matter how badly you want it, period. plenty get stuck with their last choices, and i know a rare few who didn’t even get one of their top five. don’t bank on getting the philosophy fws that you want.</p>

<p>you might want to consider just taking 105 in order to expose yourself to a better background in physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, and metabolism. it is a good first biology course to take, especially compared to evo (if you are not interested in it, you probably won’t like it). i’d recommend doing bio 105 in the fall and then evo in the spring. or instead of 105, take a course in anatomy and physiology. take chem 207 instead of cognitive science - just postpone cognitive science to next year. next year you can do that, orgo, behavior, and either do physics or start your language.</p>

3

<p>thanks for the advice!</p>

<p>I actually made those exact changes before re-checking this post and i am happy to say that my schedule does look alot better.</p>

<p>i am still open to opinion…
and reserve the right to change my mind :)</p>