<p>I'm planning on applying as a Biology major and I had two questions.</p>
<p>1) How much sleep do you average a night?</p>
<p>2) I heard biology is one of the harder majors at Cornell. If it matters, I'm not looking to go into pre-med, but rather, I want to be a researcher. How manageable is your course load? I guess this sort of ties in with #1.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>You should be able to get the full 8 hours. Back when I was a bio major, I typically slept 6-7 hours a night with an one hour nap in the afternoon.</p>
<p>2) Having good research experience is key. GPA-wise, getting mostly B’s with some A’s is probably sufficient. It’s not very heard to get a B or B+ (which is what most classes are curved to). It’s getting A’s that’s the challenge. But, whereas premeds have to get mostly A’s with only occasional B’s, you can afford to get mostly B+'s with occasional A’s. That’ll make your life much easier.</p>
<p>I see. How hard is biology compared to other majors? Well I suppose it depends which majors, but how about say… a major of average difficulty? </p>
<p>I’m committed to biology, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to the expanded social life in college as well. I remember when I took AP biology, granted with a lot of other courses, I averaged around 6 hours a night, and sometimes down to 3… it was bad. (It paid off when I got a 5 on the AP test though haha.)</p>
<p>Also, I’m basically averaging straight A’s, so the B’s you mention are rather scary. I know that in college, getting straight As becomes significantly harder, but will mostly B+'s with a few A’s still be “amazing”?</p>
<p>It would hardly be amazing but you don’t need an amazing GPA for grad schools. They are nowhere near as GPA-centric as med schools.</p>
<p>Whew, that’s a relief! :)</p>
<p>What were your friends’ courseloads like (the ones who were not biology majors)?</p>
<p>I’m a current bio major, and like you, I’m not pre-med and never was or wanted to be. I just like biology.</p>
<p>I sleep quite a bit. This past semester I was getting about 7 hours of sleep most nights, and I supplemented this with naps occasionally. there were a few times when I was up late and going on far less sleep, but that was due to poor time management (not anticipating how long an assignment would take) or just bad choices (watching shows on youtube) and not because of the workload itself. for the most part I felt adequately rested, which was not something I could claim in high school. freshman year I tended to stay up later, but I think part of that was being away from home and noticing that I <em>could</em> stay awake if I wanted to.</p>
<p>I think the course load is manageable. I’m in CALS, which is different than CAS because I don’t have a lot of college requirements to fulfill, so I’ve been taking mostly courses that have to do with the biology major since I started. no matter what, you need to not be distressed by the prospect of getting Bs. you have to work hard and earn those grades, so it doesn’t mean you’ve failed at any thing, it means you’ve learned a lot. I had a very high GPA in high school, and I have a very average GPA at Cornell. I do with some of my grades were higher, but I’m still getting through it, learning, and definitely enjoying myself.
I don’t really know whether biology is that much more difficult than other majors. I know plenty of people in other majors who clearly have very challenging course loads as well. </p>
<p>also note with norcalguy said about research experience. I vaguely thought about that before I started school, but it soon became clear during freshman year exactly how important it is. now it’s one of my top favorite things I’m missing about school during break, and another reason I’m glad to be at Cornell. you don’t need to be stressed about getting into a lab immediately, but have it in your mind as you go to lectures or meet people.</p>
<p>I’n really close friends with lots of bio majors. It’s definitely hard but not impossible, and they aren’t sleep-deprived. I think it has more to do with how much you’re willing to work. It’s not too bad if you’re just aiming to get the median grade in all of your classes, but if you want straight As obviously you’re going to have t work hard. Also, some of them seem to spend ridiculous amounts of time at their labs doing research, but that’s really out of their own will.</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you guys so much! Biology, here I come!</p>