<p>Hi, I am attending Penn this fall, and I had a few questions concerning my freshmen schedule. As of yet, I plan to major in neuroscience and possibly minor in either Arabic or Spanish. I was wondering whether any of you guys had advice on which level Bio class to take (Biol 101 or Biol121). As for my background, I've taken AP Biology and gotten a 5; but that was in junior year, so I don't remember the material as well right now. So, does anyone have any pros and cons of either class (aimed for a pre-med student)? </p>
<p>Also, I am still unsure of whether I should minor in Arabic and Spanish. I have absolutely no background in either, and I would like a class that I can do well in and that looks better for med school admission (if, indeed, one of them offers an advantage)</p>
<p>I'd take Bio121. It's tougher, but you should have the background to do well so long as you work hard.</p>
<p>Spanish has classes called "Spanish for Medical Professions" or something like that. While it probably won't help you get into medical school too much, knowing Spanish, and having a little exposure to medical situations with Spanish, could help later on when applying for residency.</p>
<p>Take Biology 101 if your highschool background is weak, or if you want an easier time and/or less work. Take 121 (which is certainly much more demanding) if you're willing to work and are more interested in the learning/application side of things (though your grade may suffer).</p>
<p>Personally I took 121, I am glad I did in terms of what I gained, but my grade suffered a little (which as a pre-med as well is not exactly ideal, hopefully one gets credit for effort :P). I personally feel that you should just pick a minor not for med school admission, but because you feel like learning about the stuff in the minor (there are interviews), though certainly Spanish would be very useful. Personally thinking of a double biochemistry/English major as they are the two subjects that I am just the most interested in/enjoy.</p>
<p>What I remember from undergrad that has proved useful in my daily doctor job: nada. What I use todos los dias: Spanish. What I majored in: bio and music. Do what you love. It's your last chance before the grind.</p>
<p>exactly how intense is the biol 121 class? specifically, is it very hard to get an A? Also, how much effort/time would it require to get an A? as for the minor in spanish, i got the idea from various med school admission sites that strongly suggest applicants to have studied spanish. do you think that taking spanish on the side in the future, like at a local college over the summer would suffice? thanks for all the comments so far :)</p>
<p>some assorted thoughts on this, noting that I graduated this May doing the neuroscience concentration and will be attending med school in the fall:</p>
<p>keep in mind that for your premed requirements you need two semesters of Bio WITH LAB, which is why I tend to advocate taking the 101/102 sequence as opposed to 121/whatever. All of the intro bio classes give out relatively few A/A- grades (about 20%), and really, I don't think 121 is appreciably harder than 101, it's just more focused on a narrow range of things already covered in 101. 102 is a class I really enjoyed and highly recommend taking, as the labs are pretty good.</p>
<p>If you do go the 121 route, bio 251 (which you need to take for the neuro concentration) would suffice for your other class with lab, but you would want to plan on taking it junior rather than senior year so it's finished before you apply to med school.</p>
<p>Generally, do not take classes at local colleges. Summer courses are generally ok as long as it's alright with the department (though avoid taking many of your premed requirements this way), but it's much better to take them at Penn if at all possible. The classes you take beyond the med school requirements matter very little for med school (this isn't like for undergrad, where people care about degree of difficulty), so take whichever language interests you, though clearly Spanish would be more useful down the road in a medical setting.</p>
<p>I highly, highly recommend the neuroscience concenration. In the upper level classes you get to work pretty closely with the faculty, most of whom are fantastic (particularly the team that does Bio 251 - Ted Abel and Marc Schmidt especially are very approachable and offer excellent 400-level seminars). It is important that you get plugged into research relatively early, because you do have to do a thesis as part of the concentration (though it doesn't have to be in neuroscience-mine wasn't). I would definately recommend doing the Neuroscience concentration over BBB, it is definately tougher but you come out with a much stronger science background.</p>
<p>Wow I'm glad I saw this thread--I'm pretty much in the exact same situation as the OP. </p>
<p>I'm going in with the Neuroscience concentration in mind, with a 5 in bio which I received my junior year. I originally was going to take Bio 121, but both my pre-major, and my peer-advisor recommended that I just take 101. They said that it'd help make my first semester less stressful, and that there would be no drastic penalties for staying in 101. Plus, the higher grade I receive in 101, the higher my science gpa (which I didn't know med schools look at) would be. </p>
<p>Anyway, as an entering student interested in neuroscience, I'm just following the schedule thing they provided on the website: Math 104, Bio 101, Spanish, and a Writing Seminar.</p>
<p>One question: Is it possible to study abroad with the Neuroscience concentration? My advisor sort of implied that if I wanted to go abroad, the a summer abroad would be best.</p>
<p>thanks phillysaser for the amazing advice. i think i will go ahead with the biol 101 class also; i really want the first semester to be a good transition period for me. also, i had another question: about how large is the group of students majoring in neuroscience?</p>
<p>I'm in the same position- trying to decide between 101 and 121. I saw that 101 includes plants, and I absolutely hated that in high school.. but then I hear that 121 is harder so I'm still really confused.</p>
<p>again, i would dispute that 121 is harder, as both classes give out roughly the same number of aids and have essentially the same number of students. If you hate, hate, hate, plants, then maybe skip 101 in favor of 121, as plants make up about the last third of the course, and are not covered on the MCAT. A lot of the genetics in 101 though, is not covered in 121, and genetics is quite important. You'll get that in 221 though. It is also an option to take 121 and then 102 i believe, which may be a good idea for some and I know a lot of people who did that, as 102 is by far the best of the intro bio courses.</p>
<p>Regarding study abroad - science majors in general, and premed science majors in particular, definitely study abroad less frequently than other students, but it is done. A summer abroad (most likely between sophomore and junior years) is probably your best bet though in terms of still fitting everything in easily.</p>
<p>the number of students who do the neuroscience concentration is generally quite small, between 10 and 20 people out of over 100 bio majors. This is true for a number of reasons:</p>
<p>neuroscience and molecular bio concentrations require a thesis and independent study, which turns some people off.</p>
<p>the neuroscience concentration is a pretty hardcore major with a lot of requirements, which turns a lot of people off.</p>
<p>the less hardcore people interested in neuro-type things do BBB, which is a huge major in its own right (the result of this in many ways is that the neuroscience concentrations are treated like a special subset of the BBB population as well, because the neuro/BBB faculty are mostly the same).</p>
<p>The neuroscience concentration also is a bit more geared to people who are actually very interested in science, whereas most BBB and bio majors are premeds who didn't know what else to major in.</p>
<p>Overall, this small number is really great, you know most everyone in your concentration as well as get a lot of face time with the faculty in the neuroscience-specific courses (the 400-level courses are glorified journal clubs)</p>
<p>what are your thoughts about doing a dual degree of neuroscience (CAS) and finance (wharton)? i heard about some people doing that combo, and i was wondering what are the advantages/disadvantages. how hard is it to work in the requirements of both schools, and how exactly does one go about doing that? i've always wanted to have a science and business background, so i wanted to look into what exactly goes behind doing dual degree before seriously consulting my academic advisor.</p>
<p>doing that would be extremely difficult and I don't see the point at all. You can take all the non-management 100 wharton classes you want if you want a bit of a business background (I did the BBB/HCMG minor). If by 'heard about some people' you mean other prefrosh speculating about what they're going to do then ok, but I would be very surprised if you found anyone who actually followed through with that course of study. I know people who have done a dual degree with wharton while majoring in bio in the college, but they in general take an extra semester to get everything done and even then don't do a concentration in the bio major. The people you're talking about may be in LSM, but ultimately they actually do not get a dual degree so the requirements are less.</p>
<p>For premed purposes, the crazy schedule that you would need to get everything in would be bad as far as fitting in the other things you need (ECs, volunteering, research), and benefit you not at all.</p>
<p>I was wondering whether anyone knows how hard it is to AP out of intro Biol. If so, do you reccommend it? What are the advantages/disadvantages? Also, how should one go about preparing for the test? thanks for all the advice so far</p>
<p>Yeah I think you only need a 70% or better on the placement test to receive credit for Bio 121.</p>
<p>I got a 5 on AP Biology last year, am I'm taking the placement test in the fall.<br>
I think if I receive credit for 121, I can go straight to taking Bio 102, but I'm not sure. As a SEAS student, I have yet to meet my advisers.</p>
<p>the only issue with testing out of intro bio for premed purposes is that you must then take upper level bio classes that have a lab component to compensate. If you place out of 121 and go into 102, you must still take one bio class with a lab. This can be a bit challenging as a SEAS student, as most of the other bio classes with labs have prereqs (usually genetics or cell bio), and unless you are BE it could be a scheduling pain.</p>
<p>when i mentioned AP, i was actually talking about the placement exam (sorry about the confusion). i have taken ap bio and gotten a 5, yet that was in my junior year of high school. for an SAS student, would taking the placement exam be any help? as in, would an SAS bio major be taking upper division bio with labs either way, with or without the placement exam? or would their upper division classes be mostly lecture only. im wondering b/c i would like to know why an SAS bio-major pre-med student would or would not choose to opt for that route.</p>