Can anyone advise me on first year life science courses?

[Guest itfo]

Hey,

 

I am planning to go into U of T life sciences next year and was wondering if someone who has gone there could advise me on my courses.

 

So far, I have picked out BIO150Y1, PHY138Y1, MAT135, CHM138&139. From the calender, it is my understanding that these are the appropriate courses I want to take if I want to specialize in the life sciences. Are all these courses reccomended for difficulty level and preparation/prerequisites for future courses that I will need to write the MCAT?

 

I have to fill another year-length or two half-length courses and am wondering what is a course which is relatively fun and not that hard to get a good mark in. My interests are very varied so any suggestions would be good. I have heard bad things about getting marks in psychology so I'd rather not take that.

 

Your help is greatly appreciated, Thanks.

[Guest Steve MD09]

Those are pretty much the standard 4 courses for 1st year life sciences. The physics and chemistry courses help for the MCAT, although calculus and bio aren't directly relevant to that.

 

Many people pick up a social science or humanities course as their 5th course to fulfil that degree requirement. I took anthropology, which was pretty good. Sociology is another popular one. The first year seminar courses are a really good option as well.

[Guest Maelswarm]

I took psych as my elective, but at UT it's considered a science so you'll have to take a SOC and HUM still. By not taking SOC101 or ANT, you'll be limiting your upper-year SOC and HUM courses just a bit (since PSY will only get you more PSY courses, which are still sciences while you're IN science!). BUT, if you wanted to do a psych major or specialist, then you'll need PSY100 in first year.

 

As for MCAT preparedness, a lot of people feel they're most prepared after 2nd year (esp. if you're in LMP). I say LMP because we'll have taken physiology, both orgos, genetics, physics, biochem, molecular bio, and phys chem by then. Taking the MCAT after 3rd year is even better (you'll be better at reading papers). I barely studied the Bio section (didn't bother memorizing any orgo reactions).

[Guest Dockrh]

What degree are you taking? I know you say life sciences but what specialization do you want within that. My older brother did a Bsc in Psychology at U of T and loved it. As his social science he picked sociology. He said was a really interesting course. I'm 1st year Bachelor of Health Sciences at Mac. So I can't really speak much about these courses. I would say take courses in anatomy, physiology, ethics. These courses are fun and will give you some idea of what you will be learning again in med school!

 

ttyl

 

dockrh

[Guest itfo]

Hey,

 

Thanks for all the responses. I haven't picked a specific specialization yet.

 

I'm considering anthropology or sociology. I am wondering what methods of evaluation are used for each of these classes? I am better at writing tests with short answer/multiple choice as opposed to writing essays and doing research projects.

 

Thank you.

[Guest lizard11]

i don't think anthro requires any essays, but i know sociology requires 1 or 2, worth 15-20%. Honestly, if you want an easy mark, take a 1st year seminar course - they're extremely easy. However, if i had to pick between soc and anthro, i'd choose anthro. I've heard terrible things about the soc prof. Good luck choosing! PS - you could also take a language such as french or spanish.

[Guest itfo]

Why do you say the first year seminar courses are so easy? I know they have no exams but it seems like you have to do a lot of essays, research and projects. Marking like this seems very subjective.

[Guest lizard11]

I took a seminar course this year, and i found the workload to be significantly less than all my other courses - it was a nice GPA booster. But you have to be careful with seminars, since some do require lots of reading. But from my experience, if you like talking, they're great. Participation was worth like 40% of my grade - which benefitted me tons. However, these seminars are really just there for distribution credits. I think you should look into soc or anthro. good luck!

[Guest itfo]

What seminar did you take?

 

Also, I'm only looking to take this final course for a distribution requirement also. I'm pretty sure that I don't intend to continue any studies in anthropology and sociology.

 

Also has anyone taken JMB170? zardoz.zoo.utoronto.ca/zo....asp?ID=31

 

From what I can see, it's just a repeat of calculus but applied to biology. It seems like it wouldn't be hard to do well in it, especially if you were taking calculus.

 

Thanks.

[Guest Steve MD09]

Back when I took ANT100, there was a major essay, as well as some short answer/essay style exam questions, but that was quite a few years ago, and I think the current evaluation involves mostly multiple choice questions.

 

I haven't taken JMB170, but from the looks of it, it probably isn't too difficult. Keep in mind that it involves statistics as well as calculus. I can't believe that URL is called zardoz.zoo.utoronto.ca. Zardoz is a really obscure Sean Connery film from 1974, and I think that's the only thing that website could be referring to.

[Guest leafs123]

ECO105 if Professor Hare is still teaching it.

 

Excellent course but you must be comfortable dealing with numbers, graphs, and learning about national/international events (no prior knowledge needed).

 

VERY Predictable TESTS and EXAMS since he re-uses old tests and exams of his.

[Guest itfo]

Hey,

 

That ECO105 course sounds really great. I think I will try to take it. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Guest lizard11]

Hey, my roomate took JMB170 and she said it was easy as long as you kept up. You have lots of problem sets, but it you do them all, you can easily get perfect on each of them. However, she hated going to it because it simply was so uninteresting. But I think Eco105 will look better on your transcript. Remember, you can always enrol in both courses and drop one of them after sampling them each for two weeks.