My daughter got credit for the first BIO course due to her AP exam grade, and now is trying to decide whether to just take the lab without the lecture. Or forgo the AP credit and take lecture and lab as a freshman. She is wondering how many people just take the lab by itself? Just wondering if anyone else was in same position?
Thanks.
@hiker12345 : This is your daughter’s choice and many pre-health biology and neuro majors will just take the lab alone (the lab and lecture do not perfectly supplement and generally emphasize different skills) because they know there are enough biology lectures to compensate for the course missed due to AP (even ones coupled with lab). A person with AP biology credit, in my honest opinion, should really just not take bio 141 even if they are a timid pre-health looking for everything in the book to pad their GPA (the GPA they don’t have upon arrival). This hurts the experience for all involved. You make the class sections larger (and thus the instructor may not be able to the amount of engaged and active learning they desire, which hurts students) and it screws over newer students to the subject by jacking up exam scores to the point where there is no curve. Also, personal development opportunities are often wasted because instead of taking that course, a cool course in another department or within the same department could have been taken. If your daughter would like to take a biology lecture course and has an AP credit, I would just recommend taking Dr. Beck’s organismal form and function. I think it is most appropriate for pre-healths and those with advanced biology background (AP/IB credit) because the class focuses on data analysis and experimental design in evolutionary biology (he kind of combines ecology, physiology, and even molecular biology and genetics to make problem sets and case studies for the class). It also isn’t taught as a boring gateway course. The class generally has decently high exam averages so is doable to anyone taking it, but the learning environment and level of learning is so much richer than bio 141, especially if you have already seen the material in bio 141. It is rare that you will get a class that is fairly easy to score high in, but also teaches and emphasizes higher ordered thinking skills. Beck’s courses do that and she can take it with bio 141-L as it says here:http://www.biology.emory.edu/multimedia/pdf/degrees/2017_BS_Requirements_June2017.pdf
See asterisked note below chart (I think biology would like to promote this pathway for more experienced freshmen partly to maintain lower enrollments in bio 141 and partly to give options to more talented students).
*Also, I generally advise against following popular routes. They are not always the best (some involved taking some courses with poor content or instruction…Like human physiology is extremely popular. I am sure the exposure is nice for the MCAT, but since the instructors running the course at Emory mostly focus on rote memorization and give fairly simple multiple choice exams, most students will not retain content so it will be kind of a waste. Courses that emphasize reading primary literature, experimentation or critical thinking/problem solving like genetics, bio 264, or Eisen’s cell biology or epigenetics course, bio 250/352 are more ideal because the concepts and methods apparently are well represented on the MCAT and the courses emphasize the types of test taking and thinking needed for an MCAT or bio/biochem GRE subject test. For “obvious” reasons, these courses are less popular). I would not decide based upon a poll of who follows what path even if pre-med. The herd mentality is unhealthy and misguided and your daughter should avoid being a part of it (I mean Emory has like a 56-60% med. school feeder rate per cycle. Clearly much of the crowd’s decisions are not necessarily ideal). She should gauge her background and interests and make a decision. Seriously avoid following others, especially freshman (at Emory, freshman pre-healths will try to advise fellow freshmen including your daughter. This is ridiculous. Avoid the trap). Besides the goal should be to have ECs and academic profiles that make one stand out from the crowd no matter the career path. If one has the experience and background to go on a different path, they should at least try it and see how it goes. In this case, it is just one course.
So I don’t think my daughter is going to be Prehealth - still sort of un decided. But she did end up taking the bio lab without the lecture, and it is going fine - she seems to enjoy it. And with her AP Bio credit, at least knocking off the gen ed science with lab req.
@hiker12345 : Hey, if she likes science, she doesn’t have to be pre-health (and if she wants to be pre-health, she need not be a STEM major). She can still major or minor in a science if she enjoys it. Those majors are not reserved for pre-meds. She can do what she wants like major in two different disciplines and pursue a career only related to one or neither. It is all about what she wants to learn. There are tons of way to get access to certain careers without being in a more stereotypical major associated with it.