Question to current/former Nova Biology students

Colleges and Universities A-Z Villanova University
1

<p>I received a letter about Nova's biology program, and part of the letter explains a bit about the 5-year combined BS/MS degree (completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in five years). I just have a few questions about the program.</p>

<p>1) What is this program like? Part of the letter also says that lab rotations begin during the first semester, which somewhat frightens me, but is it as difficult as it sounds?</p>

<p>2) If I decide not to pursue biology, I would probably declare a major in business. I know that it is difficult to remove oneself from many X-year, single focus programs. How difficult would it be to leave this program, IF I ever decided that something else was starting to hold my interest? Not that I will, or am even considering doing this at the moment.</p>

<p>3) (For biology major students not in the program) What is it like? Classes, teachers, labs, anything.</p>

<p>Thank you guys.</p>

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<p>1) you need to maintain a certain gpa. i have a friend in that program, he seems to be doing fine, but he does work at it. you’re not gonna coast your way through without any effort.</p>

<p>2) don’t don’t don’t. DON’T. i had the same thing in my mind at the beginning of the year. if you got into VSB start out there and if you hate it then switch to A&S it’s MUCH EASIER because starting in A&S and switching to VSB is next to impossible. you can always take A&S classes when you’re in the business school. i know business majors with bio minors. please take my advice on this.</p>

<p>3) a lot of us switch out because it sucks. don’t declare biology right away. trust me don’t do it. take the classes first then declare. try and take humanities courses applicable to all schools in case you do want to transfer later on so you don’t waste any credits by taking classes you needed for one major, but not for another when you decide you don’t wanna do it anymore. good for you if you have AP credit. have fun if you don’t. sciences here like to harass your gpa. i hope you have AP credit.</p>

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<p>That just frightened me a bit more lol. The thing is, I was already accepted to A&S, but I’m not DIE HARD about biology; it was just the only thing I’ve had my mind set on for the past four years. I’m not even taking AP Biology, I’m taking AP Chemistry. I can definitely take on business though, and I enjoy it.</p>

<p>I guess there’s nothing I can do right now, but since I have not taken any classes yet until August, is there any way to switch from A&S to VSB before the semester begins/at the beginning of the semester?</p>

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<p>whyorwhynot:</p>

<p>You have only heard the opinion of one person, and that person has a strong negative opinion. Maybe some other Bio students are more upbeat about the program and the major. My son will be entering Villanova A & S Undeclared but leaning toward Bio, and I would be interested in hearing more, too.</p>

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<p>whyorwhynot, </p>

<p>like i said, i know some kids who like it and have no problem. i didn’t mean to give such a “strong negative opinion.” i just felt inclined to mention all this because i had the same idea in my head when i was in your shoes. yes, bio might be for you. BUT if you really want to take business classes then you should call and get it changed ASAP before science grades bring your spectacular high school 4.0 to a more average ranking and you’re competing with other kids who weren’t originally eligible to get into the business school before they started taking humanities classes here, you know? it is also difficult to take business classes since your schedule will be set for you already and you’ll be on the sciences path and most business classes will be restricted to business kids. i agree with kelly37 that you shouldn’t base it solely on what i said, but also don’t just base it on the fact that you did science all throughout high school if you don’t really like it. i was in the same situation and did it just because i didn’t really know what else i could do since it’s all i’ve been doing since high school as well. trust me though, you can take A&S classes when you’re in business school and, again, it’s much easier to transfer OUT of the business school than to transfer in. </p>

<p>good call taking AP chemistry. please do well on the test you don’t wanna have to take it again here! labs can be a painnnnnn (take so much time working on them for just 1credit) there are some good teachers but it’s not like high school where they definitely grade easier </p>

<p>ADVICE FOR KIDS WHO DO PLAN TO TAKE BIO: find out if your roommate or someone close to you in your dorm is taking it cuz the tests are based almost purely on the powerpoints (for gen bio II! ), thus, buying the expensive book really makes you sad :frowning: </p>

<p>whyorwhynot you’ll prob need it for gen bio I though, definitely look for places online that’ll sell used ones if you still want one they’re much cheaper. a bunch of kids got the international versions for half price and it’s lighter than the hardcover too.</p>

<p>umm… classes in bio have a huge lecture based portion… where you can choose to pay attention so you don’t have to study later or you can sleep in and study (just read the book) later. then there’s a bio lab section. the lab books… you don’t really need to buy them… they tell you you do… but then you forget it in your room half the time and find out you were alright without it since they give you handouts anyway. occasionally you’ll need info in the book but it’s nothing you can’t quickly borrow someone else’s and jot down knowing that extra little effort saved you $90 (that you cannot resell because they make it specifically for one class semester)</p>

<p>depending on what high school you went to, you may have done all these labs already. except with not so much work (long response questions) so if you have old lab reports (ex. drosphlia … (probably spelled that wrong) fly, sand cube, water potential…) bring them along with you they might help you out</p>

<p>chem classes are usually also big lectures as well paired with a lab. </p>

<p>as a bio major, they will by default throw you into calculus for life sciences. do yourself a favor and drop this class and replace it with regular calculus. just about everyone in that class would likely switch to regular calculus if we knew we had the option. IF YOU TAKE TAKE ANYTHING FROM THIS POST take advantage of this piece of advice. take normal calculus.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the additional information dbear :slight_smile: I’m going to pass it on to my son.</p>