<p>Not sure if I want to do Integrated Life Sciences, because it's new. Anyone got any advice?</p>
<p>Does gemstones look good?</p>
<p>ILS is a very small program compared to the others (60 students), so you become really close with everyone on it. You take honors versions of bio classes together, and the program does a lot of fun outing days or activity nights with everyone. The program is definitely geared towards pre-meds, but there are a lot of future researchers in there, too.</p>
<p>Gemstone is more geared towards group work. You form a small research team and take on your own project. It’s a great program and a lot of work.</p>
<p>I guess it comes down to whether you like biology A LOT or the group work aspect of gems.</p>
<p>I’m in the first year of Integrated Life Sciences so let me know if I can answer any of your questions 'bout it. :)</p>
<p>Yes! Thank you, I definitely have a lot of questions!!!</p>
<p>1) Are the courses very work intensive, or are they relatively easy? I’m doing bioengineering, so doing the ILS program would be additional work on an already tough course load! About how much do you have to study?</p>
<p>2) How is it geared more towards pre-med? Do they talk about medical topics in class, or is it just the class topic?</p>
<p>3) ILS is relatively new, so is there any downside to that?</p>
<p>1) The first semester, you take HLSC207 (equivalent of BSCI207). If you’ve heard anything about bsci207, then you know it’s a very hard class. memorization intensive. Dr. cooke and dr.jensen try to take out the memorization aspect of the ils version. You learn “concepts” rather than facts, so you don’t have to study as much. Work wise, you occasionally have to do short worksheets in groups and do summaries of science articles. Those can be time-consuming but they are not difficult at all. The other class is Univ100, and that’s a joke no matter which honors program you’re in 
Also there are a few bio-e kids in here and they seem to be holding up just fine! They all study together haha.</p>
<p>2) Well in my experience so far, most of the ils kids are pre-med, so the topic comes up a lot. The “concept” style of teaching Dr. Cooke takes on is sort of based on changes to the MCAT. We were often told about how in Med School, you won’t need to answer multiple choice questions, and so on. We also talk a lot about biomedical news/discoveries and their applications to medicine. none of the classes focus on pre-med, but you’ll just find yourself in a pre-med atmosphere. I have no intentions of becoming a doctor, however, and am still getting a lot out of the program.</p>
<p>3) Of course. Even though people haven’t really heard of ILS yet, Dr. Cooke is trying really hard to get the program’s name out there (so he’ll write everyone stunning letters of recommendation). The program coordinators are also VERY involved and helpful and getting everyone internships, since one is required to complete ILS. The goal is to set up a network so future students can more easily get internships; consequently, us newer kids are sort of the guinea-pigs of the program. Things are also sort of disorganized… I’m pretty sure there’s no honors video for the ILS program, haha. I’m sure in a few years, ILS will become better-known, since it’s the only program of its kind; right now, however, there is some risk in being in it.</p>
<p>Wow! Sounds like Dr. Cooke is an incredibly involved and enthusiastic professor! That’s great. </p>
<p>Some more questions; hope you don’t mind!</p>
<p>1) Did you class follow this sample syllabus pretty closely? Again, I’m kind of worried about work load especially as an engineering + pre-med.
<a href=“http://www.ils.umd.edu/files/docs/HLSC207Fall11.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ils.umd.edu/files/docs/HLSC207Fall11.pdf</a></p>
<p>I looked at the classes I have to take and my first semester probably looks like this.
ENES100 3 (Intro to Engineering)
CHEM135 3 (Chemistry for Engineers)
CHEM136 1 (Lab)
BIOE120 3 (Biology for ENGR)
BIOE121 1 (Lab)
HLSC100 1
HYLSC207 3 (Organismal Biology)
ENESH102 3 (Mechanics)</p>
<p>Which comes to about 18 credits! Is that a managable load considering I have 3 1 credit courses? Which brings me to another question- what exactly do you do in the “Lab” periods, and are they hard to get good grades in?</p>
<p>2) What exactly do you learn/do in UNIV100 or HLSC100? How hard do you work or how much work do you have to do to get an A?</p>
<p>3)I know you haven’t taken the other courses, but are they more mathematically inclined, or are they all mostly memorization and conceptual? Such as the course for next semester “Mathematical Modeling”</p>
<p>Please keep me updated on how your Genetics class is doing Your information has been MORE then helpful in picking an honors program. I dont know if I should pick this or Gemstones before February 17th!!</p>
<p>can any of the honors kids take any other honor course? if i were in dcc, could i take something from ils or university honors?</p>
<p>You can take any courses from University Honors i belive since its the general category. I dont know about other programs though</p>
<p>@AvgAzn: You can check course listings on testudo; it’ll say whether a class is restricted to students in a certain program. I know all honors kids can take honors seminars, but there are also program-specific classes.</p>
<p>@yodelo:</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s exactly how much work you do. It seems like a lot, but the TA’s grade EVERYTHING, and in my experience they’re pretty generous. Like, as long as you do the scientific reading with some semblance of effort, you’d get a 100%. And the homework questions are very broad and concept-based- exact reflections of the exam questions. All of that work really is really just busywork that ends up padding your grade. I went into the final exam with a 96% thanks to that. :)</p>
<p>You have to petition to take more than 17 credits, just so ya know. I took 15 credits and probably would have been able to handle a little more, but college is very different so be wary. Labs are also A LOT of work. I wouldn’t take more than 1 in your first semester. I took organic I lab my first semester, so I can’t speak for 136, but it was a big time commitment. Lab periods are 3 hours; during that time, you take a pre-lab quiz, do the experiment, and turn in your data. Afterwards, you’ll do post-lab assignments. The averages in the labs are pretty low (like 60%), and a lot of how you do depends on which TA grades your work. And the midterm and final are pretty close to impossible. That being said, the curves tend to be generous, so if you’re willing to work hard and study for a 1 credit class, you’ll do okay.</p>
<p>UNIV100 is just an introduction to the university. You might do weekly journals about what you’ve been learning, adjusting to college life, etc. You also learn about campus resources, getting involved- that sort of stuff. And you read the first year book. The course load differs among teachers but in general, it’s a low workload for an easy A. I think the most work I did in that class was make a powerpoint of all pictures.</p>
<p>Well in the second semester, I’m taking Genetics and Genomics (HLSC322). It’s genetics, so there isn’t really much math beyond probability. Seems like a lot of facts, but I’ve only been in it for two weeks, so I can’t say much. The course is actually very similar to HLSC207- we read a lot of case studies and do mini online labs for grade fluffing.
All I know about the mathematical modeling in biology is that there is a computer lab involved. It’s probably going to be more conceptual, since there’s no math requirement for ILS (there are kids in here with a wide range of math backgrounds), but I really don’t know. Sorry :(</p>
<p>kitty - what happens to ILS kids after first two years? The ILS is only for two years, right? Do they stay in Honors college? Even if they do, what honors classes/activities do they do years 3 and 4?</p>
<p>I called another of the Honors Programs (Entrepreneurship and Innovation - EIP) to ask what happens after 2 years. They said the students are part of the Honors Program for the entire 4 years and can take Honors courses all 4 years. The EIP program requires 2 regular Honors seminars in addition to the specific EIP courses, and I was told a student can take those 2 seminars any time within the 4 years. Even thought EIP is listed as a 2 year program, it is only the EIP specific courses that occur within the 2 years. Everything else can last all 4 years. So a student can continue to participate in everything else the Honors program offers until graduation.</p>
<p>Yeah what momofapplicant says. But with ILS, you don’t need to take any honors seminars, because the ILS classes fulfill that requirement (but you totally should because they are fantastic).</p>
<p>So you can just keep going to the free ice cream socials and parties and such n_n</p>
<p>Aghh!! I have to take CHEM135 Lab and pretty sure about BIOE Lab o:</p>
<p>I will heed your advice and try to do 15-16 credits each semester, and not do too many labs.</p>