Looking on the Life Sciences page, I am really confused as to what courses I NEED to take. People keep telling me different answers..

Do i have this right?

2 biology courses
2 chemistry courses
2 psychology courses
1 math
1 physics
2 electives of anything I want
plus the 2 online lab tutorials for the first 2 hours

If this is right, I can't find anywhere where this says take these courses :(

Thank you!

here you go: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...nt/pg1957.html

you need bio 1A03 and 1M03
chem 1A03 and 1AA3
psych 1X03 and 1XX3
math 1LS3
either physics 1L03 (easier one) or 1B03 (harder one)
and 2 electives of your choice

those are the courses that most people take during first year...to determine which courses you NEED to take, you should look up your second year program

I think the OP is just talking about Life Sciences 1, which is NOT the same as Honours Life Sciences. Everyone enters Life Sciences I in first year and then you get to choose second year programs (you can go on to Honours Life Sciences, or into more specialized majors such as chemical biology, biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, etc.)

For just life sciences I, go here:
http://future.mcmaster.ca/programs/lifesci/

You don't actually need the second psychology (psych 1XX3) since you just need 3 courses out of the 2 bios and 2 psychs. Most people take it though because it is required for Honours Life Sciences - you don't have to take it if you want to go into something else. I recommend going through the second year majors and seeing what you like and their pre-requisite courses.

Thank you so much everyone

Make sure to research your intended level 2 program to make sure you are taking the prerequisites for it! Trust me you don't want to finish your first year courses only to find out that you didnt take a course that you needed (ex kin) when applying to your second year programs! Also make sure you have an idea of what kind of marks you need to get! Many second year programs say that you only need a level 6 average (on mcmasters 12 point grade scale) when in reality a competitive average to get into that program is a 9 or 10.

For general first year Life Sciences, the absolute minimum is:

3 courses from the following: Biology 1M03, Biology 1A03, Psych 1X03 and Psych 1XX3 (I'm taking Biology 1M03/A03 and Psych 1X03.
1 Course from: Calculus for the Sciences I 1A03, Calculus for Life Sciences 1LS3 (I'm doing 1A03)
1 Course from: Physics: Mechanics and Waves 1B03. Physics for the Life Sciences 1L03
3 Courses from a whole bunch of Life Sciences fields: Could be chemistry, astronomy, earth sciences, Kinesiology etc. I'm taking Chem I and II + Kin I
2 Electives: Taking Kin II and Economics

I agree with what everyone else has said, but do look into possible second year options, especially in terms of physics.. because many of them require physics 1b03 to be completed at least by year 2, and you may be better off doing that one, instead of both 1l03 AND 1b03

again, that's all your choice, but good luck

I advise you to take Psych 1XX3 regardless whether it is required or not (unless you absolutely hate psych). I did not take it, and regret not being able to take all the cool upper year psychs that all my friends are taking.

Psych 1XX3 is actually pretty interesting, and if you enjoy the material a lot, you can consider going into the Bio/psych program in second year. Most of the advice here is pretty solid. Since you won't know which program you'll want to be in for second year, it's best to cover all the bases first .

I'd be careful choosing electives...some people here will say how some course is easy, and by the time you take it, they made the course hard...

It's like that for econ now. I'm enrolled in both Micro+Macro (summer) and it seems that Micro is no longer a bird course...while Macro is. Idk though, that's just me...might be different, but the questions for micro are not the same as they were from previous years...actually quite tricky...where it used to be the opposite.

Originally Posted by mastercool

I'd be careful choosing electives...some people here will say how some course is easy, and by the time you take it, they made the course hard...

It's like that for econ now. I'm enrolled in both Micro+Macro (summer) and it seems that Micro is no longer a bird course...while Macro is. Idk though, that's just me...might be different, but the questions for micro are not the same as they were from previous years...actually quite tricky...where it used to be the opposite.

I agree with the point to be very careful when someone says one course is easy (or "bird"), because it very honestly will always come down to a lot more factors than just how the course is designed, it has a lot to do with you as a student and your own preferences+abilities .

But, I still was always confused why some people are saying Micro is hard now (again I might be biased with my own individual qualities). I took it this past year with Holmes and it was simple and straightforward with bonus marks, so if you goto lectures and try a bit, you'll be fine. Maybe the summer versions are just really different lol

In terms of OP, I agree with everyone else in this thread, take a look over second year and further upper year courses to get an idea on pre-reqs you might want to have, but otherwise your list seems pretty solid to me. I think the 2nd psych is pretty good to take since so many interesting courses at mac imo are within the psych department and require it as a pre-req! Good luck

Originally Posted by mastercool

I'd be careful choosing electives...some people here will say how some course is easy, and by the time you take it, they made the course hard...

It's like that for econ now. I'm enrolled in both Micro+Macro (summer) and it seems that Micro is no longer a bird course...while Macro is. Idk though, that's just me...might be different, but the questions for micro are not the same as they were from previous years...actually quite tricky...where it used to be the opposite.

It seems like everyone has a different idea of how easy certain courses are. I've heard that micro/macro are no longer as easy as before, but that macro was actually the harder one now. I took micro last year and it wasn't as bad as the reviews made it out to be. I'm a bit nervous to take 1bb3 though.

^Well, the average for the first micro test was like a 90%, which is the mark I ended up getting...but the questions just seemed to be much different than her previous tests. It was a bit tricky (even though the average was so high).

You're also right in the sense that Holmes gives tons of bonus marks, which contributed to the higher than normal average...