Quote:
Originally Posted by vinny06
Regarding Chem-bio, could some describe a typical week in that program?
Its been my top choice for quite some time now and I've talked to some of the profs from the department of Chemistry about it, but some 'uncensored' input would be appreciated 
Thanks! |
I am in my second year of chembio, so many of the experiences are still fresh. A 'typical' week would be like any other.. You'll have one or two labs (each 3 or 4 hours long aka orgo or analytical) which you will need to prepare for in advance and work up data for each week (analytical), lectures, tutorials. But the work you do at home can be quite different each week. In first sem of second year you, you'll in an inquiry course which has a lot of group meetings, not to mention biochem 2b03 will have such a project as well. These meetings are time consuming but are very well necessary for the success of the projects. You'll be studying for midterms too, on top of that. Chembio 2p03 this year had 4 midterms, with an option to not write a final exam, the last midterm could be the 'exam'. So there's 3 midterms throughout the term already. You'll have midterms in biochem, orgo and analytical as well. In the inquiry course, you'll be expected to write reports and present your findings, so that in itself is also time consuming.
That's about all that comes to mind when I am asked to describe a typical week of a second year student. There's a lot of balancing to do, so each week you're ensuring that you get weekly work done and that you are moving forward in your projects. Second semester is more or less the same.
So all in all, lots to balance but a very fulfilling program having coming out of all that stress and work.
PS. I don't think the professors in the department are skewing the view of the program in anyway. I was helping out with the level II program fair at the chemistry booth and a professor had told me we were out to inform people, as oppose to get you interested. But by informing you about the program, we hope to raise your interest in it.
The reason I chose Chembio over biochem was that in chembio there is a heavier focus on the chemistry (which I enjoyed more of) in biological systems. I didn't want to give up biology either, as cells and proteins were also interesting to me. So chembio seemed to be the perfect fit, and not to mention the small class we have due to lab space makes it easy to find people to study and work on projects with!
If you have any more questions feel free to PM me or leave them here!
