Hello current students! Name is Sierra and I just had a really quick question about my future major of choice. I’m 29 and I’m going back to college after about 3 years off. I graduated community college but didn’t transfer directly to college at that time. Instead I chose to accept a job offer I had received which pushed any ideas of going straight to university out the window for the time being. I decided to go back and I really want to major in biology so I can then go on to graduate school to earn my Master’s degree in a specialized area of biology. The thing is though I have no biology background whatsoever really. Okay yes I took maybe the bio introductory courses but I really don’t remember a lot from them to be honest. Basically my question is do I have to have a decent understanding of biology already when starting as a junior in college in order to be successful in class? Can I begin classes without any of the basic knowledge of biology and work my way up and still be successful? Or should I wait until I have some decent knowledge of the subject and prepare myself more before I even think about beginning classes to earn my bachelor’s degree in biology? Thanks guys
General biology may or may not be important for more advanced biology courses. It would certainly give you basic concepts and a frame of reference/big picture that would make it easier in the more advanced courses. On the other hand, some advanced courses might just start at the beginning of the topic. They might move through the basic concepts faster if the instructor assumes most everyone in the class should know them. It also might depend on how a particular department structures its general biology course. In most schools use it to give a broad frame of reference, but a few see it as a core course that goes into greater depth. (It would be more possible in a department where there is one general biology course than in a department where there are separate general biology courses for majors and for non-majors.)
It might be possible to forego the general biology course in certain subspecialties, e.g., microbiology or botany, where you could start out with a general microbiology or general botany course. (This is more likely to be possible in a school that has separate micro or botany depts. than in a school where these are specialty tracks within a general biology major.)
For a biology major, you would need the requisite courses in supporting sciences and math----general & organic chemistry, general physics, calculus/statistics. If you haven’t yet completed these (especially general chem), you might not have the prerequisites for many of the advanced biology courses.
In my experience, biology majors usually require a set of prerequisite classes that are taken in the first year or two of college, including general biology, general chemistry, general physics, calculus, and organic chemistry. If you’ve completed those prerequisites already, then you’re likely on track to graduate in two years after transferring. If you still need to take those courses, then it’ll take longer. You can still do it, of course, you just need to take the courses to complete the degree. Looking specifically at what is required at the school you are planning to attend will give you a better idea of how long it will take you to complete the degree.
As for how much background in biology you need, if you’ve already taken an introductory biology course, then that’s pretty much it. The rest will be more advanced biology coursework. You can relearn things that you don’t remember there’s not much else you would need to do to move on to more advanced/detailed topics.