<p>I was wondering what biology majors usually end up taking in addition to the FYSEs. It said on the information packet that gen. chem is recommended to be taken during freshmen year. If any of you biology majors could give me some insight, it would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>My only suggestion is to have some variety. (freshman seminar, lab science, language or art and some intro social science, for example) Last year the facebook page for the incoming class had current students who answered questions. If you haven’t checked there you might take a look.</p>
<p>Depending on what type of biology major you want (Bio vs MBB vs biochem vs environmental studies: con bio), the importance of taking chem your first year varies. I would definitely suggest it, as chem has the most hierarchical structure, in that everything has a pre-requisite, so it’s important not to fall behind if you plan to go beyond organic chemistry, especially if you plan to study abroad, which I highly suggest, especially for science majors. That said, the J-term organic chem class allows students to play catch-up, for those who fall one semester behind (like myself). My FYSE was at the same time as gen chem I, so I caught up by taking J-term orgo my second year. My general suggestion to bio majors is to take two science classes and two non-science classes per semester. This provides a nice amount of balance while allowing you to stay on top of the requirements. I also found it wise to try to knock off as many distribution requirements early on as I could, which those two non-science classes allowed me to. I tested out of one of the first year biology classes, so this granted me a bit more freedom (I only took one science class a semester my first year) but I think the 2-2 balance is reasonable.</p>