Which GIR is easier, bio or chem?

<p>I noticed on the fall 2009 that Nelson and Klibanov are teaching 5.111. Does anyone know anything about them? They don’t have the greatest ratings from the student evaluations from prior years. I see that Lander is teaching 7.012 in the fall but how do you know which class/section he is teaching? Also, how are the other spring lecturers: 7.013 Jacks and Sive and 7.014 Walker and Chisholm. I had planned on taking 5.111 in the fall but after reading this thread am thinking of taking 7.012 with Landers instead. Thanks for your honest advice.</p>

<p>There’s only one 7.012 lecture, so Lander will be teaching it.</p>

<p>7.012 is great, but people are not generally advised to take 5.111 in the spring, because the quality of lecturing is distinctly not as good. Would it be possible for you to either take both 5.111 and 7.012 freshman fall, or to take 5.111 freshman fall and 7.012 sophomore fall?</p>

<p>I took 7.013 and really liked it. Tyler Jacks is goofy and fun, and Hazel Sive is a decent lecturer as well.</p>

<p>So, what’s advisable for someone who is technically pre-med <em>though loads to admit it</em>.</p>

<p>Want to take 7.12 in fall, but is it bad to delay chem?</p>

<p>You could just not take a HASS first semester, and take 2 in one semester later, thus leaving room to take 7.012 and chem in the fall. OR, if you place out of 18.01 or 8.01 you could put 7.012 into one of those open spots and not have to delay taking a HASS. It isn’t advisable to delay chem, because if you’re premed you’ll want to take 5.12 (organic chem) in freshman spring, and some version of intro chem is a prereq for that.</p>

<p>Yeah, since 5.13 (Orgo II) is fall only, you’ll definitely want to take 5.12 spring of freshman year. Otherwise, you’ll not only NOT be taking 5.13 right after 5.12, but also not until junior year. That means chem GIR your first semester is basically a must for pre-meds.</p>

<p>Part of the problem is also what major you aim to go into. If you’re going to be Course 7, you’ll not want to delay taking 7.01x (especially if you’re keen on taking fall’s 7.012). I imagine you could push 7.012 to fall sophomore year and then take 7.03 & 7.05 spring, which would not put you behind most other Course 7 majors, but it’s probably inadvisable.</p>

<p>^You can also take 7.012 concurrently with 7.03 – the material is not really necessary as a prerequisite.</p>

<p>Premeds really need to take 5.111/2 in the fall so they can take 5.12 in the spring, then 5.13 the following fall.</p>

<p>So the options are more or less:

  1. Deal with not taking 7.012 and take 7.013 in the spring.
  2. Take 7.012 concurrently with 7.03 sophomore spring.
  3. Don’t take a HASS one of the first two semesters, and make it up later.</p>

<p>I would actually not advise anyone to choose between 7.012 and taking chem in the fall. Either take both or put off the bio GIR until a later semester.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for that information. </p>

<p>What about Biochemistry, 5.07?</p>

<p>

7.03 is offered both semesters now, and the spring offering is basically preferred over the fall offering as much as 7.012 is preferred over 7.013/7.014, so you can’t take them concurrently and get the “best” out of both anymore.</p>

<p>5.07 is a toughie. Unlike 7.05, you will not survive 5.07 without having taken 5.12 first. (5.12 is technically a pre-req for 7.05 as well, but suffice it to say that, really, knowing orgo isn’t the least bit necessary for 7.05.)</p>

<p>hmm, I didn’t realize how complicated and involved just fulfilling pre-med requirements would be. </p>

<p>I’m definately not going to be a biology major, probably either course 8 or 9. I was potentially thinking double major, but I don’t know if I could fit that in with pre-med.</p>

<p>if you have credit for 18.01, is it a bad idea to push back 18.02 until spring so i can take 3.091, 7.012, 8.01, and a HASS? because ive heard 7.012 is harder for msot people than 18.02? is this true? im definitely better at math than bio but i don’t know if itll be the same at MIT. but i think i want bio on p/nr and i don’t want to take four GIRs at the same time.</p>

<p>im thinking about courses 8 or 18, so i might try to take 18.02 and 18.03 spring semester, with 8.02 and a HASS. is that doable/make sense?</p>

<p>comshy - That sounds perfectly reasonable.</p>

<p>

It will probably be difficult. 8 and 9 have no overlap, and “pre-med” also has no overlap with either Course. You might as well look at it as if it were two majors and a minor, with all 3 being pretty much mutually exclusive in terms of class requirements beyond the GIRs.</p>

<p>With so many classes to choose from for chem and bio, how do I go about choosing the right class for me. (i.e. 7.0XX). This applied to all courses for that matter.</p>

<p>I would go to Core Blitz during Orientation, in which the classes’ professors elaborate on what each GIR class covers, the types of students they are aimed at, etc.</p>

<p>You can also read the course descriptions in the course catalog for an initial look into what separates the different “flavors” of any particular GIR subject.</p>

<p>So, I’ve been considering what you guys said earlier and wondering if this first semester schedule seems doable.</p>

<p>5.112 Principles of Chemical Science
8.012 Physics I
7.012 Biology
21F.076 Globalization: The Good, the Bad, & the In-between
21F.792 Spanish Conversation & Composition - Globalization</p>

<p>Hopefully I’ll pass the 18.02 ASE, to make up for not taking math first semster.</p>

<p>there is a 4 class limit for first semester no? Plus it might be a good idea to ease into it. Mollie has stated that a 5-class semester is not something that is a walk in the park by any means.</p>

<p>No there is a 54 unit limit for first semester. The 2 Hass classes are 9 units each.</p>

<p>That’s a pretty standard first-semester schedule, especially if you might be interested in 8.</p>

<p>As for double-major plus premed, I would say what I always say when somebody wants to double: take the classes you need to take freshman year, then sit down at the beginning of sophomore year (when you’ll have a more realistic understanding of your capabilities) and decide if it’s possible and worth it to you. In most cases, a double major is not worth it – you’re better off just picking one major and taking any classes that interest you in the other. </p>

<p>Particularly for someone on a pre-med path, the marginal benefit of actually completing a double (if it exists; I certainly didn’t feel the double per se helped me in grad school admissions) is often outweighed by the cost of having to take so many classes and potentially not doing as well in them as you could if you had more flexibility and fewer classes to take.</p>

<p>

Talk to upperclassmen during orientation. If I had a dollar for every time I did the rundown of all the typical freshman classes for a group of wide-eyed freshmen, I’d be doing pretty well for myself.</p>

<p>Ah, didn’t realize the HASS classes were 9 units not 12</p>

<p>but the other HASS classes are 12 units, right? </p>

<p>I’m still thinking if I should take 3.091 or biology for the first semester. If 3.091 first semester, then def biology the fall in sophomore year?</p>

<p>I’m thinking about this:</p>

<p>18.01A
HASS-D + CI-H
8.01
3.091 (or Bio taught by Lander + Weinberg)</p>

<p>But I plan to be in one of those freshmen learning communities, esp ESG or Concourse, but I’m leaning towards ESG. So, what do you think?</p>