Hi Guys,


So I'm going to be in life sciences first year next year, and am having difficulty choosing my courses.

My main problem is that I have no idea what I want to do second year. I would like to have as many options open as possible. (I don't really care about the work load, I just don't want to limit second year opportunities...)

I realize that as a science student at mac, for second year I can specialize in anything in physical, environmental & earth, math & stats, and life. I want to keep as many of these options open as possible.


Here's what my options are:

First year students normally complete 30 units (10 courses) including:

3 of BIOLOGY 1A03, 1M03, PSYCH 1X03, 1XX3

1 of MATH 1A03 or 1LS3

1 of PHYSICS 1B03 or 1L03

3 courses from Life Sciences I Course List

ASTRON 1F03; BIOLOGY 1A03,1M03; CHEM 1A03, 1AA3; COMP SCI 1FC3, 1MA3, 1MD3; ENVIR SC 1A03, 1B03, 1G03; GEOG 1HA3, 1HB3; KINESIOL 1Y03, 1YY3; MATH 1A03, 1AA3, 1B03, 1LS3, 1LT3; MED PHYS 1E03; PHYSICS 1B03, 1BA3, 1BB3, 1L03; PSYCH 1X03, 1XX3



Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!





Thanks

Okay. Take Bio 1M03 first semester with stone... i had it with the profs who are doing it second semester this year and it was SO MUCH HARDER than the ppl who had it first...literally 75% of the class failed the first midterm.
Bio 1A03 second semester with kajiura..i had both of the profs (they did a split class) and the other teacher literally just read of the slide. kajiura is more interactive and engages the audience.
Math 1LS3 (this is the math for life sciences..more application based that Math 1A03) -- get lovric first semester
If you havent taken grade 12 physics you have to take Physics 1L03 term 2 with Nejat (not the best but hes the only teacher) if you have taken it then take Physics 1B03 with Hughes.
Chem 1A03 first semester-- get BROCK if you can. he is the best teacher. Hes really young and still super passionate about chemistry..makes it alot more interesting.
Chem 1AA3 second semester -- Brock teaches this course as well but Dr. Lock (who i had) was also VERY good.

Then you have room for two unrelated electives.
This is what i did first year and you could pretty much go into any of the specializations with these done.. provided you meet their other requirements (ex: some say the minimum grade requirement is a 6 average when in reality the cutoff is a 10)
hope this helped!

Originally Posted by LauraV

Okay. Take Bio 1M03 first semester with stone... i had it with the profs who are doing it second semester this year and it was SO MUCH HARDER than the ppl who had it first...literally 75% of the class failed the first midterm.
Bio 1A03 second semester with kajiura..i had both of the profs (they did a split class) and the other teacher literally just read of the slide. kajiura is more interactive and engages the audience.
Math 1LS3 (this is the math for life sciences..more application based that Math 1A03) -- get lovric first semester
If you havent taken grade 12 physics you have to take Physics 1L03 term 2 with Nejat (not the best but hes the only teacher) if you have taken it then take Physics 1B03 with Hughes.
Chem 1A03 first semester-- get BROCK if you can. he is the best teacher. Hes really young and still super passionate about chemistry..makes it alot more interesting.
Chem 1AA3 second semester -- Brock teaches this course as well but Dr. Lock (who i had) was also VERY good.

Then you have room for two unrelated electives.
This is what i did first year and you could pretty much go into any of the specializations with these done.. provided you meet their other requirements (ex: some say the minimum grade requirement is a 6 average when in reality the cutoff is a 10)
hope this helped!

I'm thinking of taking Psych 1XO3 and 1XX3 -- cuz I've never taken psych and want to be open to psych & neuro. How did you find ur prof and the course?

for math get erin clements over lovric, she does examples in class that are identical questions on the test. psych and neuro psych work like this: you have modules which act as lectures that you watch every week and theres a quiz at the end of the week. Only neuropsych has 1 actual in class lecture per week. There are tutorials that you should really attend and participate in because its worth a nice 10% of your mark. Take notes and read the book cuz the tests are made to screw ppl over. And also theres no guarantee that the professors that taught courses this year will teach next year, so for bio i happened to luck out my taking m03 1st sem and a03 2nd, getting decent profs. kajiura is crazy btw and she teaches both a03 classes for atleast half the semester so there probs wont be any escaping her

also, keep your mind open to the kin courses, they are the best courses ive taken so far! its great if you're thinking about a career in medicine or some other form of healthcare. you learn a lot and the labs are super cool (if you aren't squeamish :p )

The courses i listed with my recommended profs ARE the ones teaching it this year...i checked on the master timetable because my cousin is going to mac next year in the same program as me so i planned it all out for him.

Originally Posted by Danielrus

also, keep your mind open to the kin courses, they are the best courses ive taken so far! its great if you're thinking about a career in medicine or some other form of healthcare. you learn a lot and the labs are super cool (if you aren't squeamish :p )

Actually the Kin courses starting this September will no longer be available to Life Science students.

Psych is a really good thing to have esp with getting into second year programs i would def recommend it. Psych 1XX3 is done entirely online through modules that you watch.. and then you have a tutorial. Weekly tests happen EVERY friday for both Psych 1X03 and 1XX3 which suck but they dont take that long and i found that my marks benefited when i worked in a group with other people. Psych 1XX3 is alot more memorization i found then Psych 1X03 which has questions that are primarily application based. There are some really cool second year and third year psych courses i plan to take that im super excited about too. You should def consder taking Psych as your minor. a minor is 24 units --but if you take Psych 1X03 and 1XX3 you only need 18 units (6 courses) and only 12 of those units (4 courses) have to be elective to your major. So you can be doing your major in something like...honours life sciences (like me) and some of your required courses would go towards your minor too! just something to think about come second year

it says nothing of that sort in the calendar, they just updated the pre-reqs
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...808.html#91967

Originally Posted by Danielrus

it says nothing of that sort in the calendar, they just updated the pre-reqs
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...808.html#91967

Yeah but an email was sent out afterwards. And it's been updated in the 2013/2014 calendar: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...14/pg1808.html

The one you linked to is for 2012/2013; it's no longer current or valid.

Originally Posted by Quiver

Actually the Kin courses starting this September will no longer be available to Life Science students.

^ i meant to quote http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...808.html#91967

Originally Posted by Danielrus

^ i meant to quote http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...808.html#91967

Still not valid...lol. That's the same one you linked to before.

oopps i was looking at last years calendar :S sorry. that's quite too bad it was a really awesome course :(

That's weird....Its in the life sci course list
http://future.mcmaster.ca/programs/lifesci/

Life Science and other science program students have to wait until second year in order to take the kin course now (now named Kin 2Y03/2YY3)

You can see it in the link that was posted already:
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...14/pg1808.html