<p>I have a 3.8 GPA </p>
<p>I have all of my IGETC done EXCEPT for a literature class which I'm taking this semester and Science with a lab (Astronomy and Lab).</p>
<p>The thing is I feel like I will fail Astronomy... I want to drop it and the lab. Will it hurt me if I am applying to Berkeley and UCLA if I drop it and just take it in the Spring? I am applying this semester for Fall 09 admission.</p>
<p>My major is Sociology.</p>
<p>Also when do I apply?</p>
<p>hey man, don't stress out. i took astronomy in the summer and at first, thought it was pretty stressful since i am not a science person. but as the class progressed, the topic got more interesting and i ended up with an A. just man up and take it this semester or take it for pass/fail (if u can).</p>
<p>Thanks for the response but this teacher is know to be very tough... I found this out a little to late and I can't risk my GPA falling. I should have picked biology... at least that has no math. Anyway... how much will it hurt if I drop astronomy and the cooresponding lab?</p>
<p>Certain aspects of Bio require some calculus knowledge.</p>
<p>Oh and w's will not affect you at all. It might be an issue if you want to go on to grad school.</p>
<p>I don't think it will hurt at all to drop Astronomy and take something else in the spring semester since it doesn't sound like a major pre-req. I took Plant Biology with a lab to fulfill that part of the science GE credit and really liked it. It didn't involve one bit of math. You might also take Physical Geography with a lab, which is really cool. It does involve some math, but not nearly as much as Astronomy.</p>
<p>how long have you been in school this semester? Do you still have time to drop classes without receiving a w? Because if you do, then dropping the class and the lab will not be a problem - the school you transfer to won't even see it. If dropping the class will get you a w, I've heard that it's not as big of a deal as I once thought. I was stressing over the one w I had and thought for sure it would jeopardize my chances at being accepted to UCs, but I got into UCSD even with the one w, so it's not really too big a deal to have a couple w's on your record.</p>
<p>I took Physical Anthropology and the lab as one of my science requirements...it was kind of like biology, but way easier, and it was really interesting...I really suggest that class...the lab for it was really fun.</p>
<p>hey feesha,
can you explain physical anthropology more? i'm curious on what it's all about.</p>
<p>This is from the school's catalog: Introduction to the anthropological study of
human evolution. Topics include the mechanisms of evolutionary change, genetics, human variation, and the reconstruction of human evolutionary history through an examination of the fossil record and through the use of comparative studies of our closest biological relatives, the living monkeys and apes.</p>
<p>We learned about evolution, including some lectures about cells and genes, as well as how genetic mutations occur over time. We studied primates, the differences between different primates and learned about different bones in the body. The lab was really cool because we got to study and handle real (and fake) human and other primate bones and we were assigned a trip to the zoo to observe 3 different classifications of primates.</p>
<p>The class was honestly so much awesome...I was expecting it to be lame, but it turned out to be my 2 fave classes that semester. I would recommend trying to get a good professor, though, because with a bad one, it could turn out to be a drag.</p>
<p>hmm... sounds cool. i'll look more into it come spring semester. thanks for the insight.</p>
<p>"Certain aspects of Bio require some calculus knowledge."
Everything has a bit of calculus in it, people just don't realize they are applying it. Stop trying to make bio sound like a multivariable calc class. What intro bio class has calc? Come on...</p>
<p>^haha, thank you. That needed to be said.</p>
<p>thank you suwaifo...</p>
<p>lol, proton-proton chain</p>
<p>I suppose that would depend on the professor teaching the class, no? We were taught by a former stanford prof, could that have something to do with it?</p>
<p>We used it when we were evaluating population growth in an idealized, unlimited enviornment. By no means was an extensive amount of calc knowledge required...</p>
<p>"We were taught by a former stanford prof, could that have something to do with it?"
No. </p>
<p>I didn't know all stanford profs applied calculus to every subject across the curriculum.</p>
<p>Probably not, but I'm sure they hold their students to higher standards.</p>
<p><a href="game,%20set,%20and%20match">size=1</a>[/size]</p>
<p>Calculus? In an Intro Bio course? My prof. in my Bio+Lab got his PhD at Columbia and the most we had to do was some Algebra when we were talking about the Harvey-Weinberg Law. </p>
<p>Yes, there is SOME math involved in Bio, but I was taking pre-algebra the same semester that I took Bio+Lab and I still got an A, if that tells you anything.</p>
<p>That may be true but the fact at hand is your claim of "Certain aspects of Bio require some calculus knowledge." Calc isn't required. You can still understand what a carrying capacity is without applying integrals. It's called being pretentious to tell a person in the OP's situation "Certain aspects of Bio require some calculus knowledge".</p>