<p>I was curious to know how competitive within the classrooms are the students taking Cornell's classes (in Biology)? Usually how deep does the professor go in terms of course breadth in the sciences? </p>
<p>I am really interested in being a biology major, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be to maintain a high GPA (3.75+) at Cornell?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know of any grade inflation/deflation at Cornell?</p>
<p>There is certainly not inflation (for the most part).</p>
<p>The courses aren’t impossibly difficult but some will require a lot of work (as should be expected). What makes achieving high grades difficult is the fact that most classes are curved to a B/B+ in a pool of really talented students. So to get in the A range you have to be near the top portion of your fellow Cornell classmates. Pre-med courses are normally curved lower also to a C+/B- just for reference which is how a lot of people get naturally weeded out.</p>
<p>Bio in general is not a very hard major. It is probably somewhere in the middle as far as difficulty goes. In general, course medians are curved to B+ in the upper div courses. So, the average bio major should have a 3.3-3.4 which is in line with the grade inflation that the rest of Cornell has.</p>
<p>How come nd09 said C+/B- and norcalguy said B+</p>
<p>Because he was probably just talking about introductory biology. That’s just 1 bio course.</p>
<p>The rest of the bio courses have medians of around B+. There might be a couple with medians around a B but the vast majority of bio courses have medians in the B+ or even A- range. </p>
<p>I was a bio major and took bio courses up to 600 level. The only one that I would classify as “hard” would be genetics. The rest were mostly in the “average” range as far as difficulty with a few being ridiculously easy.</p>
<p>ok, and the two into classes are cell development and evolution? I heard bio majors can no longer use AP credits…</p>
<p>These replies have been really helpful, thanks! Might I ask, would you say the same for a concentration in Biochemistry under the Bio major?</p>
<p>Also, I was wondering if Cornell in general (College of Arts and Sciences) have required courses that all Cornell students in CAS must take before they graduate, in addition to the courses in its major?</p>
<p>For biochem concentration, you’ll have to take a few extra chem courses like p-chem. Those will be hard. But, again, we’re talking about 3 out of the 30+ courses you’ll take at Cornell.</p>
<p>Yes, CAS does have some general education requirements. They aren’t terribly onerous. In general, you shouldn’t have trouble graduating. I had two 12-credit semesters, never took more than 16 credits in any one semester, turned down a ton of AP credit and still could’ve graduated a semester early.</p>
<p>there are actually three possible intro courses: ecology, physiology, and cell & developmental. more can be found here: [CALS</a> Registrar: Life Sciences Biology Distribution Requirement](<a href=“http://www.cals.cornell.edu/cals/current/registrar/current-students/cals-graduation/lifebio.cfm#biomajors]CALS”>http://www.cals.cornell.edu/cals/current/registrar/current-students/cals-graduation/lifebio.cfm#biomajors)</p>
<p>I didn’t think genetics was all that difficult. it was an average grade for me, and I knew what was going on most of the time. so far I’ve had the most trouble getting through orgo, even though that ended up being mostly successful in the end. (this is just an example of differing students and experiences, nbd.)</p>