<p>Anyone heard of phage genomics, a new class at UF. I kinda enrolled in it on a whim. I heard it's like a class that allows freshmen to participate in research.</p>
<p>Yeah, you’re right. Looks like it’s a big research project that they get freshmen involved in. I haven’t heard of it but I looked it up out of curiosity when I read this and found this article on it: [More</a> Hands in the Dirt: UF Offers Year-Long Phage Genomics Course | UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences News](<a href=“http://www.clas.ufl.edu/events/news/articles/20110221-phage.html]More”>http://www.clas.ufl.edu/events/news/articles/20110221-phage.html)</p>
<p>Sounds interesting. One of my undergrad research projects involved bacteriophage, but it had no relation to this class/program.</p>
<p>Wow, im glad i enrolled in it because it lets me have research experience from the get go.</p>
<p>Is the class hard? And is it a big time commitment?</p>
<p>I would like to know more about this class too…</p>
<p>No, the class isn’t difficult. It’s basically a free A, if you just show up. The class sounds interesting, but for me it really wasn’t. Unless, you have an interest in molecular biology. Personally, after taking this course for two semesters, it was poorly taught and not really a good insight into research. But this was because of the professor. The first semester, is about isolating a phage, by following lab instructions. some students were successful others weren’t. It was kinda like trial and error, and became tedious. One lucky student got to name and publish a phage they discovered. The second semester which is optional (didn’t realize till later 
is basically a sit down class in which the professor tries to give background info and you annotate a phage genome using computer software. That class was 3 hours long per week! There was also about 15 students 1st semester. And second semester<br>
it was broken down to two sections, one section only had 5 students! And some students from first semester either didn’t enroll or dropped the class. Although this class was tedious and irrelevant for me, there were some potential pluses. I think there is a different professor teaching it this year, so there is potential for the professor to get to know you, which can be difficult at UF and because its such a small class, you could make friends. I say potential because it depends on the person and if u participate in class. You can learn something if the subject interests you, I guess. Hope this helps</p>