<p>How strong are the "basic science" undergraduate programs at Georgetown? (Particularly chemistry / biology and to a lesser degree physics.)</p>
<p>How would they compare to Rice, Pomona, Duke, Wash U St. Louis?</p>
<p>While it doesn't speak to a comparative nature, it's probably a good place to start.</p>
<p>How tough is the grading on theses intro science classes one would take on the pre-med track? Is it possible to do well?</p>
<p>Georgetown is not known for science. While I'm sure the programs are well above average, they lag behind Georgetown's peers in terms of overall academic ranking (like Carnegie Mellon).</p>
<p>My best friend is majoring in Bio at Georgetown.</p>
<p>That said, I still don't think Gtown is the place for you if you're doing science.</p>
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<p>I was a science major at Gtown, though in NHS (human science), and I took sciences in the College too.</p>
<p>Georgetown is great if you want programs that are small with great opportunities for research. The intro classes are around 100-200 people each, though this is still small compared to the big name science schools. Facilities wise, Georgetown definitely lags. The new Science Center will definitely provide new state of the art facilities, but for now, it's still a little behind. Biology department facilities are generally older. Everything does what it needs to do, but you won't be blown away by anything. Organic Chemistry facilities are in new labs in the Medical campus, so that's nice. Human Science in NHS is great because NHS has a new (2005 or 2006 i believe) teaching laboratory for all the NHS science classes, and it's REALLY nice with new everything, and facilities you won't have in the College.</p>
<p>The really great thing is that yes, the facilities suck in comparison to schools like JHU, Cornell, etc. But you have so many opportunities to do research, esp. with small departments. The Medical Center provides opportunities as well, and it's right on the same campus.</p>
<p>There are lots of interesting science courses available to you, and there are new majors such as Neurobiology, Biology of Global Health, and Environmental Biology. Biochemistry is probably the hardest science major, with a lot of requirements. The pre-med courses (aka the intro level courses) are all 140-200 students, and there isn't much cutthroat competition like you hear rumors about at other schools. Organic chemistry is pretty difficult at Gtown, however you learn a lot. Overall, the level of rigor and quality of science teaching is great, though obviously some profs are better than others. I think the main thing holding back Gtown sciences is the facilities. However you will still get a good science education at Georgetown, as many people have for decades. </p>
<p>No idea about Pomona or Rice, but science at Duke and Wash U would be a lot better.</p>
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<p>that was very helpful, thank you jason</p>
<p>JasonHoya -- If you had strong interests in nutrition would the NHS program be a good fit?</p>
<p>Well that would depend I guess. A foundation in basic science is good for nutrition (and I'm pretty sure that actual nutrition programs include basic sciences like anatomy, physiology, etc.). So if you do Human Science, you'd be able to take anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, immunology, general chemistry, etc. You'll also have to take Nutrition and Disease Prevention:
HEST-112</a> Nutrition and Disease Prevention | 2008-2009 Course Catalog | Georgetown University
There's also exercise physiology, which can be related to nutrition and overall health studies. And of course you can take biochemistry in the biology department (or take the easier biochemistry and human functioning course for nursing majors in NHS). Some international health courses would most likely discuss aspects of nutrition related to public health issues.</p>
<p>So while you won't have lots of courses in nutrition, you'd take courses related to nutrition that'll give you an overview of all body systems, as well as public health and water/food access, and nutrition comes up in various aspects in these studies.</p>
<p>If you're strongly interested in nutrition it might be better to go for an actual nutrition major though.</p>
<p>I was in the business school so I cannot comment too much on this, but the one thing that is very nice about Georgetown and science is that there are many opportunities to take unique science courses that relate to foreign affairs. In fact, in the SFS there's an entire major called Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA?, I believe?). Someone from the SFS/NHS/College would obviously be able to comment more on this. Check out the courses at registrar.georgetown.edu.</p>