Hey guys, so I'm trying to decide on what to take next year and I'm really really confused. I'm planning to go for Honours Biochemistry in my second year, and since it's a Limited Enrolment Program, my backup is Honours Life Sciences. Here's what I decided on so far:

BIO 1A03
BIO 1M03
CHEM 1A03
CHEM 1AA3
PHYSICS 1B03
PSYCH 1X03

Now I can't pick between Math 1A03 and Math 1LS3... I understand that 1LS3 is easier, but will picking one over the other limit my choices in the future?

Oh and, for Honours Life Sciences, I have to pick one more course from these 3:

KIN 1Y03
KIN 1YY3
PSYCH 1XX3

And again, I can't make up my mind... Any suggestions?
I am so lost.

Thanks.

I don't think picking 1LS3 over 1A03 will limit your choices. I would recommend you take 1LS3 unless you really really love math and you're good at it, then either one is fine.

And I noticed that not counting the three at the bottom, you only have 7 courses. Have you already picked two other electives? Otherwise, you have space to take all 3.

I took Psych 1XX3 and I found it better than 1X03. You learn things like parts/function of the brain, how we see/hear/smell/taste etc. It's very biology based and there's more memorization than 1X03.

I haven't taken the kins, but from what I've heard from my friends, it's a fun course, especially the labs. But there's A LOT of memorization and there's a quiz every Friday, which can be a little annoying after a while.

If you like math, take 1A03. You'll get more out of it and you study integration indepth which is useful in science.. eventually lol. From my understanding, 1LS3 probably won't limit your choices except maybe if you're going for math major.

For Honours Life Science, admissions anyway, you need psych 1XX3, so you don't have a choice there (http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /calen...t/pg1490.html). That leaves you for one more elective. I also considered biochemistry as a major so I decided to take physics 1BB3 since it was recommended

Thanks for the quick reply. So I'm leaning towards Math 1LS3. And if I take PSYCH 1XX3, my courses so far would look like this:

BIO 1A03
BIO 1M03
CHEM 1A03
CHEM 1AA3
PHYSICS 1B03
PSYCH 1X03
PSYCH 1XX3
MATH 1LS3

So yeah, now I have two spaces left for electives. Any recommendations?

ASTRON 1F03, MED PHYS 1E03 and both Kins seem interesting, but...yeah...I don't know enough about any of the courses in the Life Science I list to pick on my own.

Just pick whatever interests you. If you like the kins, take them.

I took French 1A06 because I wanted to minor in French and I really loved the course.

Honestly, just take whatever you're interested in

Like Bernard said, take whatever you you like. Just to nudge you a bit in my direction, since you didn't mention any preferences, everyone I know who took the 2 kins loved it. NO ONE disliked it. With this in mind, I conclude that you can't go wrong with kin

Yeah I think I'll be taking the two Kins. Thanks for the help everyone.

Kin do seem like the best courses to take as electives. I wish I had taken them instead of ECON 1B03/1BB3.

If you ever want 2 ridiculously stupid and equally easy courses, ECON 1B03/1BB3 are the way to go.

medical physics needs math 1aa3 so you would need 1a03 for that, that is if your considering med physics.

Didi you have difficulty getting into FRENCH1AO6 with your initial course selection in first year or did you have to pick them up later? I've heard they're hard to get into because the spots are held for Humanities students.

Originally Posted by PEBBLES

Didi you have difficulty getting into FRENCH1AO6 with your initial course selection in first year or did you have to pick them up later? I've heard they're hard to get into because the spots are held for Humanities students.

I don't recall having too much trouble. Last year, there were 4-5 cores, so plenty of space for students.

I've made my schedule with the mandatory courses needed for Life Science I but have several backup electives that will also fit into my schedule if French A106 isn't available. Is is usually the electives that can be challenging to get into or is it also the core classes (ie BIO 1A03, CHEM1A03) that can also be difficult. I've planned my schedule around around a certain CHEM class but once I change that then all the other courses and specific cores I've selected will be useless. Have you experienced alot of problems with this?

It depends on the prof that's teaching the core. I know that last year, Dr. Lock's class for chemistry filled up pretty quickly. So yea, it's kind of competitive for the cores too, but much less so than for labs/tutorials.

This will be my first time scheduling online. Have you also experienced alot of difficulty just trying to log into SOLAR like many others that I've read about. My day is Tuesday but I figure I better start at Midnight on Monday

Originally Posted by PEBBLES

This will be my first time scheduling online. Have you also experienced alot of difficulty just trying to log into SOLAR like many others that I've read about. My day is Tuesday but I figure I better start at Midnight on Monday

The problem is getting onto MUGSI, SOLAR is pretty easy.

If your time is 12:01 on Tuesday, then yea, start on Monday and hope you don't have to be up for 3 hours like I usually have to