Quote:
Originally Posted by ishk33
Hi,
I am a first year Life Science 1 student and I am reall comfused about this university stuff.
I want to know exactly how many courses am I suppose to apply for?? What are the electives??? And how many of them could I take??? How many electives do I take in the first semester... 
SO far... I have applied for (first semester - september to december)
BIOLOGY 1M03
CHEMISTRY 1A03
PHYSICS 1L03
PSYCHOLOGY 1A03
MATH 1A03
So these are five subjects with 15 credits in total...I feel as if this is going to be one heck of a load for a semester....and now I am not sure about electives???
AM I going wrong anywhere??? I think I need to finish the requirements stated for LEVEL II Biochemistry Program, which is going to included lots of biology, chemistry, physics (kind of) and it has asked to choose from LIFE SCIENCE LIST....
Please help me out with this issue...How does this work??? Am I overloading my semester with unnecessary courses or not??? 
Thanks |
hey ishk, relax!!!! dont' worry!! we've all been there before. university can be confusing and overloaded with so much information and you dont' know what to do. take a deep breath!! and lets figure this out together step by step!
So here is what you picked for first sem.
BIOLOGY 1M03
CHEMISTRY 1A03
PHYSICS 1L03
PSYCHOLOGY 1A03
MATH 1A03
This looks exactly like what i had first year and trust me alot of other science students will have this too!! So generally you have to complete 30 units of courses during your first year. So ideally you would have 15 units first sem and 15 units 2nd sem. You would have to take the required courses for your program. In your case, your bio, and chem are mostly the required ones. Then you want to go into biochemistry, so make sure you have all the prerequisites. Then those are the courses you need to take.
For some people, they might take another program that doesn't need as many required courses and they are allowed to take "electives". Electives just mean any type of course they want to take to broaden their interests. People might take things from a different department, taking a new language, etc. If you have the room, you can do that. Generally, people that have electives try to take things they are interested in and are easier to lighten up their load. Majority of the required courses in your program will be tough and requier alot of work and effort. So if you take an elective you like, am good at and less work load, it will be easier for you that semester.
5 courses a semester seems pretty crazy at first, but that's what everyone else is doing too. That's one of the biggest changes in university. If you do want to, you can take a less units of courses and make it up during the summer at mcmaster for summer school, but then that's another decision you have to make and discuss with an academic councilor about.
PSYCHOLOGY 1X03 (previously known as Psych 1a03) can fulfill your biochem requirement of a "life science course list"
i hope this helps a bit. post more questions and i'll try and reply asap to help!
rmb to relax!
Electives aren't mandatory!! they are just course you need to take to fulfill 30 units and you don't have any required courses for your program to take. 
hope that helps! relaxxxxxxxx before school starts !! enjoy the summer and don't stress out too much!
