Biology Curriculum at U of R

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Rochester
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<p>I’m new to this forum and glad to be here. I have a question for all of you in the biology playground at the U of R.</p>

<p>We have a daughter that's been accepted to the U of R and several good liberal arts colleges. She hasn’t made a decision yet about which school she’ll be attending but is thinking about majoring in biology. She’s interested in medicine and is currently volunteering at a local hospital.</p>

<p>Most of the courses at the U of R appear to be focused on human biology, genetics and evolution. A lot of the biology programs in the Ivys seem to be headed in this direction also. The undergraduate course offerings at Harvard, for example, look very similar.</p>

<p>The LAC community, from what I can tell, hasn’t gone this route. Their course offerings appear to be more traditional in scope, offering what appear to be broader ranges of introductory undergraduate coursework in this field. I suspect a lot of this is driven by research dollars that are available for high level human genome and biomedical research, which isn’t typically done at smaller LACs.</p>

<p>I’m not a biologist and I don’t have any misconceptions about my 18 year-old’s plans at this stage in her life. It’s entirely possible she won’t end up in this field or in medicine. I myself changed a major or 2 (or 3) times while I was in college (large public school). What I did do, though, was explore. I took a general biology class, a zoology class, some chemistry and a botany course (yes, forestry was one of the sidetracks in my college experience). </p>

<p>My question is this - can one find a botany or dendrology course, an entry level vertibrate or invertebrate zoology class, or a marine biology, ichthyology or ornithology course at the U of R? I can find many, if not most, of these at the LACs our daughter is looking at, but I‘m not seeing much in the U of R Biology Department’s on-line course listings. Perhaps the high air out here in Colorado is affecting my eyesight!</p>

<p>Any light anyone can shed on this is much appreciated.</p>

<p>Many thanks, George 44.</p>

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<p>Botany–no (although BIO 265 studies how plant eco-sytems work)</p>

<p>marine biology–no (though at least one of last year’s bio grads is doing her PhD in marine biology at a top 3 marine bio grad program. She is specializing in sharks.)</p>

<p>ornithology–no</p>

<p>zoology-- sort of. There are some bio and ecology courses (specifically look at BIO 247, BIO 203, BIO 204, BIO 225, BIO 226, BIO 264, BIO 266) that cover some of the same material as zoology classes do, but are generally more in-depth than a general survey course </p>

<p>paleontology–yes (it’s crosslisted ug/grad in the geology dept)</p>

<p>BIO dept course descriptions here:</p>

<p>[University</a> of Rochester: UPBM Course Descriptions](<a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/College/BIO/UPBM/Courses/upbmdescrip.htm#247]University”>http://www.rochester.edu/College/BIO/UPBM/Courses/upbmdescrip.htm#247)</p>

<p>I think the trend in most biology departments is toward an emphasis on molecular biology, evolution and genetics. With the assumption that these areas provide a broad base for understanding the principles of the field and leaving specific subspecialties like ornithology, dendrology and ichthyology to graduate study. Birds, fish, mammals, insects and plants are thoroughly covered in the general bio classes, but much more is covered also.</p>

<p>And some of course descriptions can be somewhat misleading. The exact content of the classes varies somewhat by instructor because they bring their research into the classroom. For example, when D2 took genetics the instructor was into studying insects and their parasites and insect behavior and how the 3 things were genetically interconnected. D2 can tell you more than you’d ever want to know about parasitized wasp behavior.</p>

<p>One of the nice things about UR’s bio dept is that it is open to students doing their own thing. If a student has a particular interest in a subject, the student is free is design their own major, and to develop an independent study course or two to pursue it. (Which is how the sharks/marine bio grad I mentioned above got into that field.)</p>

<p>I looked at my state flagship’s bio dept offerings. The emphasis is on evolution, genetics and molecular bio. I looked at UC-Boulder’s bio dept offerings. Again the emphasis on evolution, genetics, molecular bio. (But UC-B does have a broader diversity of upper level courses to choose from. Largely because UC-B has a dept with about 6-7 times as many faculty with all their associated divergent interests.)</p>

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<p>Modern biology is biochemistry, genetics, and evolution. What we teach in my high school is nothing like what I studied in HS in the early 70’s. The discipline has “evolved” (pun intended)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input!</p>

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<p>Can anyone comment regarding the degree of difficulty or challenge of UofR’s biology programs as compared to other schools? (I will leave the comparision schools up to your familiarity.)</p>