Is there a reason for taking Physics 1B03 other than medical school or as a pre-req for future courses/programs (i.e. Honours Biology).

I see so many Life Science students enter level I and take Physics 1B03. It is true that it does open up more options, but it's not needed for Honours Life Science, or even professional programs such as pharmacy.

it is needed for many 2nd year science programs and is required for bio 2a03 also. you need to take a physics course in all science programs here. if you did gr 12 physics already, why waste 700 bucks on physics 1l03 when 1b03 keeps more options open? and do more research. physics is required for tons of professional schools in north america.

Originally Posted by bradyr

Is there a reason for taking Physics 1B03 other than medical school or as a pre-req for future courses/programs (i.e. Honours Biology).

I see so many Life Science students enter level I and take Physics 1B03. It is true that it does open up more options, but it's not needed for Honours Life Science, or even professional programs such as pharmacy.

Some people are interested in the subject. Some people take it because it's on the MCAT (or at least, it used to be...with the changes to MCAT I don't know if it still is). Maybe that's what you meant by people taking it for medical school, since it's not a required course for all med schools.
Also, just because it's not required for pharmacy, that doesn't mean it's not required for other professional programs (for example, I know optometry requires it).

Personally, I think not closing a ton of doors is a good enough reason to take it. I didn't realize when I was in first year, but I ended up needing it, and if I had taken 1L03 instead, that would have been a waste of time and money. And really, it's not much different from high school physics anyways.

Yeah it makes sense if optometry or medical school is an option for students, but there's also a ton of professional programs it's not needed for (including medical school even though you need knowledge of it, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy)

Not sure if dentistry requires it or not.

I wouldn't take it unless if I wasn't sure I needed it, you can always take it afterwards if you actually end up needing it for some professional program.

First year students usually are unsure of their future plans, it worked out for me in the end not needing it for pharmacy or physiotherapy. When I was in first year, I wasn't sure about medical school or optometry, so I didn't take it, but I did know that I could take it any other time if I ended up needing it.

But I won't deny that you probably learn a lot more in Physics 1B03 alone than your other science courses and that Physics 1L03 is a waste of money

I disagree that you learn more in 1B03 than in the other science courses. Like I said, it wasn't that different from high school.

And like I said before, I think that taking it afterwards when you find out you need it is a waste of both time and money, since you would have had to take 1L03 anyways.

For you, it worked out, but that doesn't mean it would for everyone. You're extremely limited in the number of second-year programs you can be in, and it also limits your options for what you want to do after you graduate - remember the number of first-year life science students who think they're going to medical school.

I'd argue that it's a good idea to take 1B03 unless you know exactly what you want to do and you're sure you won't need it...and even then, I'd be hesitant. That's a lot of money to throw away, and I could take a course I'm really interested in instead, so I'm also missing out on that. Then again, I also value education - actually learning something and getting value for my money - and not simply taking the easiest path through.

Originally Posted by starfish

I disagree that you learn more in 1B03 than in the other science courses. Like I said, it wasn't that different from high school.

And like I said before, I think that taking it afterwards when you find out you need it is a waste of both time and money, since you would have had to take 1L03 anyways.

For you, it worked out, but that doesn't mean it would for everyone. You're extremely limited in the number of second-year programs you can be in, and it also limits your options for what you want to do after you graduate - remember the number of first-year life science students who think they're going to medical school.

I'd argue that it's a good idea to take 1B03 unless you know exactly what you want to do and you're sure you won't need it...and even then, I'd be hesitant. That's a lot of money to throw away, and I could take a course I'm really interested in instead, so I'm also missing out on that. Then again, I also value education - actually learning something and getting value for my money - and not simply taking the easiest path through.

I don't think you're "throwing" money away. You can still take an easy course and get your money's worth if you learned some interesting stuff, and you can take a hard course and not get your money's worth if you didn't end up taking anything out of it. In the case of 1L03 vs. 1B03, maybe you're not getting 100% the value of your money, but you're not throwing it away in my opinion.

It would limit options somewhat, but there's always that option of taking it after if you need it with no harm other than the money and time.

In the end, you're going to be taking on average, 40 courses in the whole year, I don't think one course will validate that "Yes, I value education and I'm not taking the easiest path through by taking Physics 1L03."

Your route may be easier than someone else's route but science itself is still not an easy path, there's definitely a whole lot of other challenging courses that you'll need to take.

While I am a bit biased on this matter, taking PHYSICS 1B03 definitely helps. Its been said already but a lot of upper year programs, graduate schools, and professional schools need it. Not to mention a lot of the knowledge which you learn in it is applied to practically every branch of science.

If you really hate physics or something, then the choice is of course up to you.

Good luck!