1st year courses at u of m

[Guest Vitor Belfort]

Hi everyone!

In about a week i'll be picking classes for my first year undergrad at the university of manitoba.

 

As im sure everyone at the u of m knows that in my first year i will be enrolled in the faculty of University 1...and then transfer to my faculty(sciences) in my 2nd year.

Some of the classes that i know i will be taking for sure are:

 

Semester 1: Semester2:

Biology Biology

Chemistry Chemistry

English Physics

 

Any other suggestions at what classes i can take to fill up a full course-load??

 

I know the most obvious suggestion would be to take what i like....but i never took many options in high school...so besides the typical math, physics, bio etc...i dont really know what these other courses are like.

 

Also, any suggestion for some "bird" courses??....i hope im using the correct terminology..i havent even COMPLETLY finished high school...(one week left):rollin

 

PS: easy courses are referred to as "bird" courses right?

 

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

 

Oh by the way, just so you know...im thinking of majoring in the biological sciences.

[Guest Vitor Belfort]

Im sorry, i'll fix up my timetable so everyone can see it clearly.

 

Semester 1:

Biology

Chemistry

English

 

Semester 2:

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

 

Thanks again!

[Guest Lactic Folly]

If you're not sure if you would like a certain course for an option, try looking at the department's home page on the web and reading the course syllabi and materials. It's also helpful to go to the bookstore or library and flip through a textbook you'd be using for the course, to see if you wouldn't mind reading more about the area.

[Guest ManitobaMed]

Much as I dislike encouraging the "bird course" approach...:\

 

People with "math brains" tend to find intro Logic courses rather avian in nature. They're usually listed as philosophy courses. The downfall to intro logic is that, in the grand scheme of things, it's absolutely useless, though admittedly kind of fun (in a really nerdy way) at the same time. I double-check with my brother to ensure that it's as bird-ish at UM as it is at BU.

 

That being said, Lactic Folly offers some excellent suggestions for selecting other courses.

 

Some options to explore:

Language courses

Astronomy

Math classes (such as intro statistics, which is vaguely useful 1st year med and is a pre-req for application to U of A meds)

Various arts/humanities courses (such as in classics, history, philosophy, etc.)

 

If you're interested in medicine, there might be other pre-req's to fulfill for some schools. USask, for example, requires a full-year equivalent (6 credit hours) in physics, as well as a full-year equivalent of humanities or social sciences. U of A also requires 6 credit hours of physics.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Vitor Belfort]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

I'm VERY interested in applying to med school after my undergrad years...in fact thats what ive been dreaming about since the starting of my grade 12 year!

 

About the Physics pre-req....i was planning on taking 3 credits of Physics my first year and 3 my second.

 

I'll definetly squeeze in Statistics somewhere in my schedule for first year.

 

Just one other question though....should i try to finish up my last 3 credits in Physics before my second year starts??....Because i heard 2nd year sciences is alot tougher then first year because i have to take organic chem and biochem etc?

 

Thanks again!

[Guest ManitobaMed]

Hi again,

 

I'm just curious as to the reason you're leaving 3 credit hours of physics for 2nd year. (Not to suggest that you shouldn't -- I'm just curious if there's a reason you are. ) If you're planning to take both orgo and biochem in the same year, my main concern would be the added burden of physics labs on top of the labs for the aforementioned subjects. However, not having attended the U of M for undergrad, I'm not sure whether this would really be an issue as I don't know how time-consuming the labs here are in biochem and orgo (or in physics, for that matter). This might be something for you to find out. Other options include:

- taking all 6 credit hours of physics in 1st year

- taking some or all of your physics in the summer session after 1st year

- taking orgo in the summer session after 1st year

- taking biochem in the summer session after 2nd year

- taking biochem (which is actually a 3rd year course at many schools) in 3rd year

 

Regardless of what you choose, just make sure your prereqs are covered, and you should be fine.

[Guest VS12]

seeing as how you want to transit into sciences anyway, I'd suggest:

 

1st term:

chem: structure and modelling

physics I

stats I

english

bio

 

2nd term:

chem: intro to physical chemistry

physics II

calc I

english

bio

 

that's a fairly normal route to take, and will allow you the opportunity to get in alot of your med school prereqs and your science degree prereqs. I would suggest taking calc I in the 2nd term because I've heard that it's normally a bit easier than in first term.

 

as well, I would suggest that you stay away from certain profs. I had a few bad profs this year, but that may be simply that I didn't gel with their teaching style. anyway:

 

dr.wallace for chem is pretty bad...

prof. campbell for representative literary works is pretty good...

i've heard that dr. smirnova for chem: struct&modelling is a great teacher because she really helps her students out, but her classes are run everyday, instead of the usual MWF or TTh schedule, so I dunno how that will fit into your schedule...

dr.bhakar and dr. davison for physics are pretty baddddddddddd teachers...

 

by the way, I dunno how applicable this is for you... but I would not suggest scheduling more than an hour off between classes in the mid-day, as suggested by the U1 counsellors. you may as well take classes straight on from the morning till whenever, to save yourself that time spent doing nothing. but that's just my view on that. in the first term, I had scheduled a 3 hour break on MWF and i really regret that because that was wasted time... I could have gone home alot sooner.