<p>I plan to declare for a major in neuroscience, meaning that I will need to complete the biology (201 and 202) and chemistry (141, 142, 181, 1811) prerequisites. I'm wondering if it is most beneficial to begin knocking out these prereqs first semester? Basically, as my schedule stands right now I am enrolled in honors calculus III, neural basis of behavior, intro to symbolic logic, sensing the sacred, and intro to personality psychology. I'm wondering if I should drop one of the psych classes in favor of bio 201 or if including that in my schedule might be too much? Or should I just drop the religious philosophy class in favor of something I need even that it is something that interests me? Any input from upperclassmen or current neuroscience majors would be great! Thanks.</p>
<p>first of all, are you pre-med? if you are, you will most likely not get accepted into the neuroscience program; they want only those who are focused on research. if you still want to do something neuroscience-related and you are pre-med, then you should major in cognitive science concentrating on neuroscience (interdisciplinary majors at uva are awesome and worthwhile; something to take advantage of)</p>
<p>having said all that, neural basis of behavior is awesome (does require a decent amount of work) but it’s definitely worth keeping. i’m taking sensing the sacred and i think because the neuroscience program is an interdisciplinary program, that class would look great as a prereq (shows how diverse you are). are you a first year? if you are, then i don’t recommend taking bio 201 with calc III, neural basis, and symbolic logic. those are all pretty tough classes, and bio 201 with kittlesen requires a lot of attention (his class average, even with a curve, is about a C-). don’t take bio 201 unless you are willing to keep your nose shut in that bio book for a couple days a week. it’s a second-year class so it can be more challenging as a first-year and let me tell you, it is VERY difficult because it’s kind of a theory-based class. i’m sorry if i’m scaring you, that’s not my intent. i took the class as a first-year and i managed to pull an A with ~35 hours of work per week, but there were students in there with ~30 hours of studying and managing a D. so look at how difficult your classes are going to be.</p>
<p>I am a first year. I am coming in with 44 credits from AP exams so basically I am trying to plan out the best way to complete the neuroscience prereqs and major reqs in time to graduate in 3 years. I’m not pre-med and I have thought about the cognitive science approach but I don’t know how I feel about the focus on computer science and linguistics. Thanks for the honesty…with that being said I think I’m going to wait til spring semester to take on bio and possibly my first chem lab as well?</p>
<p>well, bio 201 is only offered in the fall whereas bio 202 is offered in the spring (bio 202 is much more manageable with a difficult course load). chem lab isn’t bad first semester; it may be difficult to fit in your schedule because it’s 3.5 hours. but i think that with your schedule, chem lab isn’t too difficult a stretch. how many credits per semester is ideal for you? </p>
<p>for the cog sci major, you only need to take one computer science and linguistics class and considering you’re taking intro to symbolic logic, you’ve already gotten rid of a req. right there. anyway, good luck with your classes!</p>
<p>I’m looking to take 16-17 credits per semester. The only thing is I’m not sure if it’s possible to take bio 202 without having taken 201…is that correct? Chem lab would give me 18 credits this semester, a little too much.</p>
<p>no. you can take bio 202 without taking 201. while it is suggested that bio 201 is a prereq for bio 202, you really shouldn’t have trouble dealing with bio 202. they are very different topics. and the textbook you use reiterates any details you need from bio 201 very well. since you are enticed by understanding the brain/neuroscience, you will thoroughly enjoy bio 202’s info.</p>
<p>as a first year, i do not recommend going beyond 16. 16 science credits was tough for me and i remember my sister taking 17 credits her first year and although she got straight A’s, she would never re-experience that horror again. if you do ever intend on taking 18+ credits though, you have to fill out a course overload form which can be found at monroe hall.</p>
<p>Awesome, that’s definitely good news. So basically, the understanding that I have gotten is I don’t need to immediately start on these prereqs first semester to finish in time, about which I’m certainly glad.</p>
<p>And noo way, at this point in time I’m not quite that much of an academic masochist…maybe second year haha. Thanks for the input everyone, just started stressing about trying to forecast my schedule</p>