<p>I applied RD to Cornell CAS this year and chose Bio & Soc. If you or someone you know is in this program, can you tell me what it's like? How many electives do you get? </p>
<p>I know it's not an entry-level program (I believe you apply in your sophomore year), but I still want to go into it.</p>
<p>What is the ratio of Biology/other science courses vs. social sciences courses?
I've heard from some people that people majoring in Bio & Soc don't get a B.A. degree-is this true? What other degree would I get at the end if this is true?</p>
<p>^I believe it is, but you end up with B.Sc, I think. I heard that in CAS, you take more liberal arts courses. It all depends on the college you take Bio & Soc at. The main courses within the Bio & Soc major is the same for all colleges, but all other courses are different.</p>
<p>I’m a junior Bio & Society major in Human Ecology, so I can answer some of your questions. Yes, it is the same major in each college, and for the <em>major</em> you have to fulfill the exact same requirements. The difference between the major in each school is the school-specific requirements you need to get a HumEc degree vs. a CALS degree vs. Arts. For HumEc, I basically just need a specific number of credits taken in my college, and Arts and CALS will have specific distribution requirements/categories that you need to take. </p>
<p>The balance between biology vs. social science courses is approximately equal, but if you’re more into one than the other you can always take electives that are more related to that side.</p>
<p>The B.A. vs. B.S. depends entirely on the college you’re in. Arts only grants a B.A., so that’s what you get if you graduate with a BSOC major in Arts. HumEc only grants a B.S, and I think CALS gives a B.S. as well.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in the kind of courses you have to take, the application for the major has a fairly good requirements checklist for exactly what you need. Note that for almost every requirement there is a choice of what class(es) you can take to fulfill it, which is really nice and makes it easy to tailor the major to what you personally are most interested in. </p>
<p>“Arts only grants a B.A., so that’s what you get if you graduate with a BSOC major in Arts.”
Oh okay, so we do get B.A. if we’re in CAS. </p>
<p>That was an extremely helpful post-thank you!</p>
<p>How do you like the program so far? Are the courses difficult in your opinion (only the ones required for Bio & Soc, not HumEc-specific ones, since I applied to CAS)? I know it’s different for everyone, but what do you think? </p>
<p>I’m asking because I’m going to be a pre-med and of course, I need a high GPA to get into medical school.</p>
<p>No prob, glad my info was useful. I’m a big fan of the Bio & Society program overall. Even though I’m realizing it’s not exactly a perfect fit for me, the fact that you get a lot of choice in your theme and classes means that I’m also easily able to minor or combine my other interests with BSOC. </p>
<p>Courses aren’t overly difficult, especially if you apply yourself and choose carefully. If you weren’t premed, you could probably skate through and take almost nothing remotely challenging. Really depends on the classes <em>you</em> choose and how much you want to challenge yourself.</p>
<p>I’m not premed, so I’ve had an easier time of it in that sense–I can pretty much guarantee that if I had to take the prereqs for med school, my GPA would be lower. Classes like intro bio, chem, and orgo are difficult for a lot of people, but if all you’re aiming for is a high GPA, I guess you could easily choose very easy classes to fulfill major requirements and boost your overall average. However, IMO there’s a lot more to college and your major than just getting a high GPA. If you pick classes (and a major) that you’re genuinely interested in, I think you’re far more likely to do well than if you just take notoriously “easy” classes in an easy major. Not saying that this is your goal, but just my two cents. </p>
<p>All in all, BSOC is definitely a doable major for med school, and it won’t kill you with difficulty on top of premed requirements.</p>
<p>Another very helpful post. Thank you! There aren’t a lot of people who want to go into or even know about Bio & Soc on CC.</p>
<p>I am <em>not</em> looking forward to orgo… but I will try to do my best. Med school prerequisites are usually difficult, but at least there are too many of them.</p>
<p>I am definitely interested in BSOC. It sounds like an awesome program. Yeah, there is more to school than just getting good grades (: I definitely need a high GPA for med school, but I don’t want to be one of those super-nerds who do nothing but study all day long, cooped up in their dorm. </p>
<p>Thanks again! I hope I get into Cornell CAS. If I do, I’m definitely applying to BSOC. Maybe I’ll see you there.</p>
<p>In the human ecology school, is bio and society very similar to bio, health, and society in terms or requirements and “difficulty” of the major?</p>
<p>is HBHS the premed major? i think its requirments are a little more broad in other sciences as compared to bio and society (which require a lot of ethics/interdiscriplinary courses).</p>
<p>@RainbowSprinkles: Glad that BSOC sounds like a good major option for you, and it definitely won’t force you into super nerd-dom. I’ve managed to have a ton of fun at Cornell while being a Bio & Society major! Good luck with admissions, and definitely best of luck with those premed classes for wherever you end up going :)</p>
<p>@socceroc: A Bio major is more focused on sciences, both biology and other related scientific fields (chemistry, etc.). BSOC is more interdisciplinary and is sort of a social science view/approach to biology. You still have science classes, but you also look at the interaction of science and ethics, public policy, sociology, and others. </p>
<p>@GG123 and poffin: HBHS is very much health-centric, while BSOC is a bit more open. You can choose different themes for the BSOC major that could be pretty much anything biology related (environment & society, biology and public policy, food, agriculture, and society, or health & society, to name a few that the dept. recommends). While you can select classes to make your BSOC major health-focused (like I did), it doesn’t have to be. HBHS is about health no matter what. </p>
<p>HBHS also includes almost, if not all, the premed requirements in the major requirements. That can make it easier to complete them, and it also means that HBHS majors are almost exclusively premed. In spite of these differences, the majors are similar in many ways, and which major is better for you will really just depend on your personal interests/plans.</p>