Biology majors (not premed)

<p>To any biology majors not on the premed track:</p>

<p>What field of biology are you majoring in?
Where will this take you? (i.e. what do you think you'll end up doing after college?</p>

<p>If you knew in high school already that you were going to be focusing mainly on biological sciences in college, did you take AP Bio (and did you get a 5)? This year (junior year) I'm taking AP physics (I made my course decisions last year--way before I began thinking about what I might study in college). Next year, I was planning on taking AP Environmental because I'm interested in it and the teacher is probably the best in the school (he's also a friend of mine), so I know I'd have a good time in the class.</p>

<p>My question is: if I'm planning on focusing on bio in college, how important is it that I take AP bio and get college credit (just fyi, i took the bio satII as a freshman and got 770)? I feel like I might be better off taking a necessary intro to bio course in college because the bio teachers in my school are terrible (all of my friends who currently take ap bio say they haven't learned anything).</p>

<p>I'd appreciate any help you can give.
Thanks in advance. </p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>There aren't that many biology majors that aren't premed. Same for chem, to a lesser extent. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>I've actually switched to Earth Science, but I'm still thinking of picking up a second major or minor in biology (conc. in marine bio). I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'm thinking of combining the two and go to grad school in evolution/paleontology or oceanography. In high school I took IB Biology HL, IB Chemistry HL, AP Physics C, and AP Environmental Science. </p>

<p>I would definitely take the AP Biology class if you can fit it in. There are two required intro biology classes: Bio 25 and Bio 26L. AP credit will get you out of Bio 25, but everyone has to take Bio 26L, so you will still have a broad intro class at Duke. There are other pre-requisites to the biology major (2 semesters of chem, 2 semester of calculus, 1 semester of physics, 1 semester of organic chem), so you want to get as much AP credit as you can so that you can get into the fun classes. :)</p>

<p>Hey. Im probably a bio major but not premed. But I am a rarity. I would recommend AP Bio however, just because Bio 25 is such a HARD class. Bio 26 on the other hand is fun and interesting. My AP bio teacher was pretty terrible as well.</p>

<p>Im not really concentrating in anything. I really like physiology and how the systems of the body work, i think that stuff is really cool but i dont really know what I want to do.</p>

<p>I don't think it is that important to take AP Bio your senior year since you'll probably end up taking the introductory course in college. Of course it wouldn't hurt to take it either. Take a class because you like the subject, not just because you know the teacher and know you'll have a great time. Chances are you won't pay attention to what your learning if you know the person teaching</p>

<p>I'm doing biology witha concentration in neuroscience at Duke, but that's basically Premed.</p>

<p>Yes I got a 5 in AP Bio.</p>

<p>It's not going to be horrible if you decide to skip the Bio AP, but you'll have to spend some of your precious time (hand runs through golden sand grains) in introductory courses, and there's a possiblilty that it may delay your ability to get work doing research by a semester or two. Whatever floats your boat.</p>