Anyone has this problem in 1st year?

[Guest smooth operater]

Hello Guys!

 

I just finished my first yr science in univeristy and I have to decide my major in 2 monthes. But I don't know if I shall go with life science route or math/physic route. Like most first yr science student, I took chem,physic, and bio.

 

I got A's in physic and math, but B's in chemistry and biology. I didn't enjoy physic and math in first yr, I just do them cuz I have to, but for some season I got pretty good marks without much effort. Wherease, I spent so much time on studying Biology and Chemistry b/c I actually enjoy the content, but I ended up getting B's in those courses. In fact, biology ended up to be my worst course, but most enjoyable one.

 

I talked to a friend about it, he told me I should go for the major that interest me the most, cuz first year courses can't really gauge how well I will do in 2yr and on, and students tend to do better in 1st yr math and physic, b/c they require mostly plugging in equations. If I go for biology route, there's a chance I will not do too well. Is he right?

 

Anyone here encoutered this situation? How did you manage it?

 

I really want to go in Microbiology and Immunlogy, but according my first biology marks, I don't have the confident that I will do well in it. Am I worrying too much?:smokin

 

Thanx!!

[Guest aneliz]

My 1st year bio mark was my worst mark of first year...and one of my lowest marks of my undergrad career... base your decision on what you are interested in, not who has told you what about 'easy' courses vs GPA wrecking programs... neither one of these things exists...if you like what you are doing and you work at it, you should be fine. Most people do better in first year physics/math - because there is a *right* answer that you can get quite easily if you did the prep work to learn the concepts...in contrast, bio can be a lot 'fuzzier'... but things do change in the upper years...the phys sci courses do get harder...and the bio sci ones, well, you get used to how to learn the material and do well in them. Pick the major that you are interested in.

[Guest moo]

Well I hated bio in undergrad. I just didn't like memorizing things and regurgitating them back out in an essay. So I majored in math and physics. I can tell you that upper division math and physics isn't "plug and chug", especially if you decide to do honours. In math, you start proving things in second year, and in physics things become a lot more difficult pretty quickly. So I would tell you to major in micro, but take a few physics or math courses along the way, especially the regular majors courses.

[Guest CTU24]

I don't know how it works at other Universities, but at U of T you can do double majors, one major and 2 minors...stuff like that. (sorry, specialist = 15 courses one one topic, major = 8 courses, minor = 4 courses)

 

this allows you to be flexible in your course selction and is smoething looking back I wish I had done instead of a speciliast. (and please don't buy the silly rumour that med schools want you to have a specialist degree)

 

as far as first year relevancy to upper years...it was basically zero at U of T. For instance, first year bio was evolution/ecology...I loved this course but it was absolutely no help in upper year immuno and microbio course that I took. I think the best way is to base your deicsion on how much you like the upper year courses, not the lower year b/c they are so general.

 

Also, I found little correlation b/w marks and learning experioence. Some courses I got 90s in and learned nothing, and many of my lower marks I learned tonnes in

 

In the end, make a deicsion you will be challenged by, enjoy, and WANT to workk at for all of undergrad/

 

--CTU24

[Guest squeegy80]

1st year math and physics is a cake-walk compared to 2nd year of the same. Don't expect to do as well in these unless you are gung-ho about the material. I had the exact same situation, chose Biology as my major and have loved it. My Bio marks have also steadily gone up once the material started getting more specific, and not just Intro courses. I say for sure pick Science from the tone that I sense from your post.

 

Good Luck!

 

squeegy

[Guest peachy]

I think you've gotten some great advice on this thread. I just wanted to add that although this is a big decision to which you should give careful thought, you don't need to feel (imho) that you're making the one, final decision that you're stuck with for the rest of your life. If you decide in a semester or two to switch majors, it might be a bit of a pain because you'll be a few courses behind, but it should still be doable.

 

[ That said, math is obviously always the best thing to major in ]

[Guest mitchie41]

Yeah. Math is totally the best subject to major in!

 

Just take some Math courses in your second year to see if you really enjoy the subject. Take an intro course in Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, or Multivariable Calculus and see how you do. Those courses shouldn't kill your GPA(since there's little or no proof if you don't take the honours stream) and they should give you a decent start towards your math\physics degree if you decide to switch in after your 3rd year. And if you're REALLY hardcore(and you really wanna see if you can take some rigour and abstraction), take an analysis course.

 

After first year, I was also considering life sciences. So, in my second year, I took 3 math courses and a whole buncha life science courses to keep my options open. And after taking those math courses, i'm totally sure now that I wanna be a math major and i'm able to switch into the major while being only ONE course behind of everyone else.

 

Hope that helps.

[Guest smooth operater]

thanx for all the advices, they are really helpful.

I am studying in UBC right now. I did some proofs in my previous math courses, and I didn't enjoy them. I am taking multi variable calculus atm and find the course pretty ez, maybe they make summer course easier. The content didn't really catch my attention, I only like how we can use double intergra to find volume, I find that's pretty cool. Other than that, vectors didn't really entice me.

 

So, I think I will go with Science route. Now, I have to choose between Microbiology and Immu or Biochem !