<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My son is planning to take BIOSC 0160 (Bio 2 lecture) during the fall, but BIOSC 0060 (the coordinating lab) is not offered in the fall. Can he take the class in the fall, then the lab in the spring?
E-mailed his advisor but she's on vacation.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
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<p>Yeah he’ll just have to remember everything from the fall. The labs and the class are supposed to correspond-- so the theories you learn in class you apply in lab. As long as he remembers everything from class he should be okay in lab.</p>
<p>you might want to check with his advisor to see whether or not that is a recommended approach. Does he need to take Bio 2 this fall for some reason or can he wait until spring to take it?</p>
<p>I heard from my daughter that the intro Bio sequence courses are two of the hardest courses to do well in at Pitt. If your son is a freshman (which I’m assuming from your prior posts) maybe he would be better off delaying Bio until spring semester and taking it easier for the fall? why is your son skipping Bio 1?</p>
<p>He’s not skipping bio 1 - he has an advisor who strongly recommends that students do not take bio 1 and chem 1 together first semester of freshman year (although that is “normal” sequencing) due to the number of kids that fail/drop/repeat. She kinda scared the **** out of him. He therefore chose to take chem1 in fall then bio 1 in spring, with bio 2 planned next fall. We just discovered that there is no bio 2 lab offered in fall (weird), and that threw a wrench in everything. He wants to major in bio - pre-med track and can’t fall behind in bio.</p>
<p>He got lucky and a seat opened up in bio 1 class and recitation with a prof he would choose over the others (kind of a lesser of 4 evils) but he had to drop calc to get in. I figure he can pretty much take calc anytime and it won’t throw him off schedule. BTW he is now taking bio1 and chem1 first semester, with 2 gen eds.</p>
<p>Just thought about this - I’m sure there are kids who come in with AP bio credit - a 4 on the exam lets you skip bio 1 - so they must come in and start bio 2 in the fall. I wonder what they do for the lab?</p>
<p>Chem and Bio are both supposed to be pretty hard, with Bio the hardest one.</p>
<p>Have you looked at these pages? [Scheduling</a> Tips | Department of Biological Science | University of Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://www.biology.pitt.edu/undergraduate/advising-and-support/scheduling-tips]Scheduling”>Scheduling Tips | Department of Biological Sciences | University of Pittsburgh)</p>
<p>[Biological</a> Sciences Sample Schedule | Department of Biological Science | University of Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://www.biology.pitt.edu/undergraduate/academic-programs/biosci/samp]Biological”>Biological Sciences Sample Schedule | Department of Biological Sciences | University of Pittsburgh)</p>
<p>Note that Awesome Oppossum was an honors/scholarship student in the engineering school (if I’m remembering correctly) so you can understand the context of her advice as to difficulty of courses at Pitt. I personally would be inclined to follow advisor’s recommendations.</p>
<p>Did your son already take Calc in high school? Did he take any AP Bio or AP Chem classes?</p>
<p>Yes thanks we’ve read and re-read the bio curriculum and scheduling pages. My son did take AP bio but since he’s pre-med, he’s not taking the credit. (Heard from several sources that med schools don’t want AP credits for science pre-req’s.)</p>
<p>When planning to take the MCAT (spring of junior year), not only do you need your bio 1 and 2, chem 1 and 2, organic chem 1 and 2, and physics 1 and 2, it’s strongly recommended that you take biochem and physiology, and even genetics. All of those bio classes leave less room for laxity in the schedule in terms of bio sequencing.</p>
<p>He’s coming in with 17 college credits already earned in high school (physics is already done!) so that gives him some wiggle room.</p>
<p>wow that sounds intense! so when does he get to have fun in college? (LOL)</p>
<p>I’m sure after the first semester, your son will have a better idea of the difficulty of the coursework and workload.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that summers can also be used to take some of the harder science classes.</p>
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<p>You’ll also want Calc 1 and 2 IIRC (helps with the physics, maybe with other sections too). But that isn’t a problem if you use AP credit for it as it’s not a traditional pre-med science course.</p>