So i'm kind of in a predicament here, I have the opportunity to go into second year Honours Life Science or Honours Biology. My main interest is biology so it would make sense to go into Honours Bio.

However, Honours Bio does NOT offer co-op positions (whereas Honours Life Sci does). I'm torn whether to choose a major I'm more interested in (bio) or one that i'm less interested in that may make me some connections/experience in the associated co-op

So i guess my question is: How important is co-op? (whether in general or related to these programs)

Thanks!

You can always take time off school to do a coop

Originally Posted by MovingTarget

So i'm kind of in a predicament here, I have the opportunity to go into second year Honours Life Science or Honours Biology. My main interest is biology so it would make sense to go into Honours Bio.

However, Honours Bio does NOT offer co-op positions (whereas Honours Life Sci does). I'm torn whether to choose a major I'm more interested in (bio) or one that i'm less interested in that may make me some connections/experience in the associated co-op

So i guess my question is: How important is co-op? (whether in general or related to these programs)

Thanks!

Honours Bio and Honours Life Science are 90% similar in my opinion. Honours Bio do have to take a lot more Biology-only courses, whereas Honours life sci theroetically only have to take very few because they can also take courses from other science disciplines such as psychology, life science, biochemistry, etc. to meet their degree requirements, so Honours Life Science is a bit more flexible in that sense.

But Honours Life Science students can also take Biology courses that Honours Biology students can take, so I think co-op is the main factor in your decision. If co-op is not important to you, then you can pick Honours Biology, if co-op may be a possibility, then I suggest Honours Life Science.

Co-op is a great opportunity and not all programs have it, so I would take as much advantage of it as you can.

I would go for Honours Life Science (Co-op), because as you said, Honours Bio does not offer it, which is a major difference between the two, since otherwise, the programs are fairly similar.

Also keep in mind that you apply for the co-op stream at the end of your second year, and not everyone gets in. Life sci co-op is a very new program so be sure to find out how many student applied and how many were accepted this year as an indication of your competition next year.

As a co-op student, I don't know anyone who has regretted going into co-op. I actually narrowed down my program choices in second year based on the co-op option. I can't begin tell you how amazing my experiences have been. My career path has changed drastically thanks to some every different work terms in academia, government, and industry, and you have no idea how glad I am to have figured this out now instead of 5 years down the road.

Yes you can take a year off and find your own work, but the school has connections with employers in government and industry that you can't really get anywhere else. If however your goal is to work in research in academia, then you don't necessarily need co-op for those opportunities.

I must also say that co-op jobs are very competitive, and I have been very very fortunate. Most of us aim to work in government or industry, but some do end up in academia because they can't get the jobs that they really want. The school works hard to post jobs that students are interested in, but you need to work even harder to obtain them.

Since when did life sci have co-op? I know there are placements such as research or experiential based but I never heard of co-op.

With regards to your question, you can still take most of the bio courses as a life sci student in your elective/mandatory courses and life sci has A LOT of electives. Assuming there is co-op, go with the life sci option and take bio courses that you find interesting. All levels of bio courses could be used to complete the required courses for life sci. For example, in third year, I need to take at least 6 third or fourth year courses from the Life Sci program list and the list includes ANY course in biology. Just make sure you have the right pre-reqs to take them. I took most of mine from psych so there's a lot of flexibility in course selection.

Bio 3EP3 is an experimental learning course, which is really similar to co-op. You can get some experience in biology-related fields through this course (I am currently doing it in ecology). There are also a couple new courses that teaches you lab techniques (ecology field course and molecular lab course). You can also get experience by volunteering in a lab. My point is that you don't necessarily need co-op to learn skills+gain experience related to biology.

^ That's true. I also took Bio 3EP3 but most projects done via this course are volunteer stints.

Co-op isn't the only route to summer jobs that are relevant to your degree. You can find jobs at hospitals/research hubs on your own and focus your apps on local employment, so you don't have to potentially relocate provinces for the summer in co-op.