Hey guys,

So its that time of year where first years are supposed to chose their second year programs. I have chosen: honours life sciences, honours biology, honours psychology and honours chemistry. as you can tell, i seem to like all of them , so that is why I was planning on doing honours life sciences. However I am really interested in psychology as well, but my first term mark in psych 1x03 wasn't that great and I'm scared that if I stay in honours psych I wont do well.

My question is, how is honours life sciences? I have talked to a few upper years and they really worried me by saying "you should specialize" or "you won't do well in honours life science". Is this true? What are some of your comments on the program?

Thank you so much!

You can make H. Life Sci a joke if you want. It's a very flexible program with regards to course requirements, so you can pick and choose quite a bit and get by. (I'm in it)

check the undergrad calender to see what courses u have to take in each program. and lots of ppl in psych did bad is psych 1x03.

I don't know what they meant by 'you won't do well in honours life sciences,' life sciences is not a hard program, you can take a lot of easy electives and be able to do very well in it but obviously you have put in the effort. It's also true that life science is a very broad program, you will learn a little bit of everything, unlike those other programs you mentioned. As for psych, like silver said a lot of people who don't do well in first year psych but they still take upper year psych courses and do well in them. If you like psych then you should take it, upper year courses aren't like the first year psych courses they're a lot better! Also, you don't have to be in the psych program to take psych courses, you can take the more 'easier' ones as electives. A lot of people in non-psych programs take courses like abnormal psych, personality, social psych, etc --> these are the elective types of courses that people find interesting.

But I think it also depends what you want to do after your graduate, if you aren't sure then I think you should do life sciences. Whatever you choose though, if you don't like what you're studying then there is always the option of switching after second year.

Don't worry about not doing so well in first year psych, because to be honest, most people don't, but it gets much better in upper years

Also, life sci is a program designed to give you a lot of flexibility, especially if you are thinking about applying to professional schools which have their own application requirements, then you will be able to take those courses. As for specializing, many people may choose life sci and shadow a program they are considering, and if you meet the requirements in terms of courses and your gpa, then you can also specialize later on too!

I love upper year Psych courses.
2NF3 = best course ever.
Dr. Ullal's a brilliant prof, too...and I've heard good things about Dr. Day...

Originally Posted by Zebedee

I love upper year Psych courses.
2NF3 = best course ever.
Dr. Ullal's a brilliant prof, too...and I've heard good things about Dr. Day...

Agreed! I have taken lots of courses with Dr. Day he's amazing =)

I'm in Life Science and have not regretted it one bit. It really is a program where you can make it what you want - it can be easy or hard. I had chosen Life Science because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, and didn't like the idea of being constrained by my program - taking required courses and wasting my time and money on things I have no interest in.

I also really like Psychology and am one course away from minoring in it. You can definitely pursue your interests. However, it's not a "tight knit" program as some of the others are because everyone IS taking a lot of different courses.

All in all, don't let other people tell you that you need to specialize, just do what you feel is right

And agreed, Dr. Day is freakin awesome.

Also, keep in mind that it's easier to switch from more specific programs to more general programs, rather than the other way around.

And for the record, I'm not a fan of Dick Day.

Originally Posted by starfish

Also, keep in mind that it's easier to switch from more specific programs to more general programs, rather than the other way around.

And for the record, I'm not a fan of Dick Day.

is it because of his m/c questions? lol

I don't know how a thread about honors LS turned into something about Dr. Day lol
But I must tell u all Dr. Day teaches you stuff that you can actually use in real life (unlike so many other courses)
The way he teaches his courses makes it so easy to understand
I've taken 3 courses with him and although the materials look very dry sometimes, he teaches them in a way that makes them interesting.

That being said, his tests can be challenging sometimes, especially if you don't have the online practice quiz (like positive psych)
But what I found more challenging was reading almost 1/3 of textbook per test..
Apparently some people find the textbook interesting but I honestly don't see how that's possible lol

for abnormal, we were required to memorize numbers/percentages of various disorders and subdisorders.

Did not enjoy that one bit

Originally Posted by escape

for abnormal, we were required to memorize numbers/percentages of various disorders and subdisorders.

Did not enjoy that one bit

I was specifically referring to abnormal actually haha..
Just had the exam 2 days ago and I'm in a recovery phase from that traumatic textbook readings

Originally Posted by kimjsi

I was specifically referring to abnormal actually haha..
Just had the exam 2 days ago and I'm in a recovery phase from that traumatic textbook readings

I know exactly what you mean.
The course was really interesting but is heavily based on memorization, not my cup of tea.


He's probably the only prof who sits in front of the webcam during his office hours.