Favorite/Least Favorite Science Prerequisite?

[kitty613]

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I saw a similar thread that asked about least favorite college course overall in the pre-vet forum. I'm interested in hearing what your favorite/least favorite science prerequisite. (or maybe one you are really dreading??)

Favorite: Zoology😛

Least Favorite: (I think) I am terrified of organic chemistry!

 

[Coquette22]

Favourite (so far): Microbiology
Least favourite: Organic Chemistry

 

[psilovethomas]

Favorite: microbiology
Least favorite: physics sequence

 

[SocialStigma]

Fave: pathoanatomy (get to dissect cadavers and perform surgeries on them!)
Not-so-fave: orgo

 

[Cautionary Tail]

Favorite: 👍 Microbiology (also loved Anatomy, but as far as I know, nobody requires it.)

Least Favorite: 👎 Organic Chem II (I hated Physics, too- especially the second semester, but I always took it in the summer, so it was less painful.)

Statistics was pretty lame, too.

 

[scb44f]

Favorite: Physics or Biochem

Least Favorite: Organic I

 

[pennyonthefloor]

Favorite: Histology (I don't think it's really a prereq... but hey... it's the one science class I absolutely LOVED. Spent every spare minute I had that quarter in the lab...)

Least favorite: Organic....

 

[168135]

Favorite: Physics (had an AWESOME professor) and Organism and Evolutionary Biology (first year course required for my degree that counts as an animal science for my vet school)
Least Favorite: General Chemistry (both professors were horrible and chemistry isn't my thing)

All five of my electives are biology courses and I loved ALL of them 🙄

 

[Whyevernot55]

Least Favorite: Organic chem (1 and 2) and biochem, because the professor was AWFUL. Ugh. 👎 Oh and calculus. Barf.

Most Favorite: Parasitology was wicked cool, even though the professor was a total drag. And I absolutely loved Endocrinology this fall! Great professor who really loves the material and teaching it, and he made it a lot of fun. Plus I think it's so darn cool.

Too bad I didn't really love any ACTUAL pre-reqs, since I don't think anyone requires those, but let's just let that slide, shall we? 😉

 

[KKibo]

Favorite: embryology, organic series
Least favorite: cell bio 🙁

 

[168135]

Too bad I didn't really love any ACTUAL pre-reqs, since I don't think anyone requires those, but let's just let that slide, shall we? 😉

My school has actual pre-reqs 😛

 

[GellaBella]

Favorites: Microbiology and Genetics, Organic Chemistry

Least Favorite: Intro Bio courses...ecology etc? ...BORING.

 

[Cautionary Tail]

Favorites: Microbiology and Genetics, Organic Chemistry

Least Favorite: Intro Bio courses...ecology etc? ...BORING.

I forgot about Genetics 🙂thumbup:!!!) and Ecology 🙂thumbdown!)... I hated Developmental, too... not because of the material, but because the professor was awful. Started with 35 students, ended with six... two of which had gotten special permission to drop the course if they didn't do well on the final. I think, in the end, five of us passed. 👎

 

[bonaparte]

Favorite: Gen Chem (great professor), Animal Phys

The Classes In Which I Had a Love-Hate Relationship: Organic Chemistry (You were so fun, but so difficult...)

Least Favorite: Calc

 

[farmgirl12]

Favorite: Anatomy

Least Fav: Analytical Physics (Yuck!!!)😱

 

[scb44f]

The Classes In Which I Had a Love-Hate Relationship: Organic Chemistry (You were so fun, but so difficult...)

This is how I felt about organic II, but organic I is still on my least favorite list.

 

[futurevet3000]

Favorite: Behavioral Ecology (almost made me want to go into research)!

Least Favorite: PHYSICS (almost made me want to quit school)! I hated physics with a passion. Sorry to those who liked it...

 

[Coquette22]

I forgot about Genetics 🙂thumbup:!!!) and Ecology 🙂thumbdown!).

Echo on both accounts. Genetics rocked, especially the labs. Ecology made me want to die. The labs had the most nitpicky fussy instructor ever, and the prof's lectures consisted of her reading directly off her slides. She always ran over her allotted time and would get very huffy if you left when class was supposed to end. Her exams were made up of multiple choice questions about every tiny little insignificant detail we covered.

 

[hunterjumper12]

Favorite - Animal Physiology (loved that course! 🙂 )

Least Favorite - Organic II

 

[hunterjumper12]

Echo on both accounts. Genetics rocked, especially the labs. Ecology made me want to die. The labs had the most nitpicky fussy instructor ever, and the prof's lectures consisted of her reading directly off her slides. She always ran over her allotted time and would get very huffy if you left when class was supposed to end. Her exams were made up of multiple choice questions about every tiny little insignificant detail we covered.

Your ecology professor sounds like mine! She was AWFUL! And very anti-agriculture, which caused her and I to butt heads very frequently. Her tests would consists of questions about tiny insignificant details from examples that she talked about in class for like 1 minute 😡 So glad to be through with that class!

 

[chyactnate]

Favorite: Organic (1 & 2)😍 and Virology
Least Favorite: Ecology and Calc

 

[bonaparte]

Echo on both accounts. Genetics rocked, especially the labs. Ecology made me want to die. The labs had the most nitpicky fussy

I'm guessing most genetics labs are pretty similar (Drosophila melanogaster breeding supplemented with a computer program). In my lab, none of our breedings gave the right phenotypic ratios, so we just ended up using the computer program to determine what kinds of traits we were observing... it was kind of frustrating having to count out hundreds of flies only to end up having to use a computer! Heehee.

 

[Coquette22]

I'm guessing most genetics labs are pretty similar (Drosophila melanogaster breeding supplemented with a computer program).

Nope, that sounds more like my Evolution lab, actually! In Evolution, we raised Drosophila for 5 generations (I think) over a semester, tracking changes in eye colour (red vs white).

Genetics lab consisted of a few projects mostly using DNA electrophoresis and PCR. We mapped a plasmid using digestion mapping and did a class-wide study of the frequency of a certain gene using our DNA (cheek swabs). We did one lab on meiosis using a fungus too.

 

[NStarz]

Your ecology professor sounds like mine! She was AWFUL! And very anti-agriculture, which caused her and I to butt heads very frequently. Her tests would consists of questions about tiny insignificant details from examples that she talked about in class for like 1 minute 😡 So glad to be through with that class!

Huh, I'm not sure why your ecology professor was talking about agriculture, because that has nothing to do with ecology

Faves: Vert zoology, genetics!!!, enjoyed biochem even though it whooped my butt

Not so faves: Orgo II for the win!

 

[twelvetigers]

My general genetics did not have a lab. I could have used those points, too! My animal genetics didn't either, but that course was fine and I loved it.

Amazingly, I thought microbiology was boring when I fist took it back in 2005 or so. If I could say Advanced Microbiology, then yeah, that's my favorite. Otherwise, prolly Biochem.

Organic can go rot in the depths of wherever - I NEVER want to see that stuff again. Physics II was also no fun - who understands circuitry conceptually? It's just a bunch of equations, and it's a damn mess.

Also, I second ecology being painfully boring.

 

[kaydubs]

Favorite: Microbiology, comparative anatomy (not a pre-req for most places but one of my favorites by far), gen chem, Animal Nutrition

Least: OChem (esp. II), Physics (esp. II), and Biostats (my teacher was terrible - I was sick and walked into the test late, he wouldn't let me take it, and everyone scored really well & there was a curve. I'm still sore about it if you can't tell haha)

 

[bonaparte]

Nope, that sounds more like my Evolution lab, actually! In Evolution, we raised Drosophila for 5 generations (I think) over a semester, tracking changes in eye colour (red vs white).

Genetics lab consisted of a few projects mostly using DNA electrophoresis and PCR. We mapped a plasmid using digestion mapping and did a class-wide study of the frequency of a certain gene using our DNA (cheek swabs). We did one lab on meiosis using a fungus too.

Now that sounds really cool! I wish my genetics lab was like that... The sad part about my class is that we only got 2/3 of the way through the material we were supposed to cover because for some reason a lot of students in that class were having difficulty with simple Mendelian genetics *pulls hair out*.

 

[vdrandal]

Favorite: Organic I & II and Biochem 👍

Least Favorite: Boooo to Physics 👎

 

[Coquette22]

Huh, I'm not sure why your ecology professor was talking about agriculture, because that has nothing to do with ecology

Eh, depends on the focus of the class. I've taken Intro Ecology and Environmental Ecology, and agriculture has such a huge impact on the environment around it, that it's hard not to at least mention it. Pesticides, impact due to habitat loss... That said, the prof definitely shouldn't have gone into bias. My Intro Ecology prof seemed to have no opinion on anything. My Env. Ecology prof had opinions, but they were always explicitly given as his opinions, and he backed them with data and always presented the opposing side, and he was open to students challenging him. Env. Ecology was boring, but not as coma inducing as Intro.

Bonaparte: I adored Mendellian genetics problems. Little puzzles! 😍

And I'm glad everyone else hated Calc. I took it and dropped it, and made up my mind to fulfill AVC's math requirements with two stats classes instead. Glad I did, I scored an A+ in both of them!

 

[scb44f]

And I'm glad everyone else hated Calc.!

Not everyone hates calc.... 😳

 

[Coquette22]

Not everyone hates calc.... 😳

Very true, bad wording on my part. I should have said, "I'm glad other people" hated calc. I loved math all through high school. I started calculus in university and tanked. This is one case where I blame the professor almost entirely. His lectures were slow and rambling, and the assignments never matched what we actually talked about in class. He spent one whole lecture talking about Newton's "standing on the shoulders of giants" quote. We had a project where our only instruction was "Find a mathematical model for a disease and explain it." Explain it how? A report? A presentation? How long should it be? Nope, all he said was "explain it". Tons of people failed, I dropped before that happened. It destroyed my confidence for math. The prof ended up having a heart attack and not teaching the same class the next semester. With a new prof, the students retaking the class suddenly jumped up in grades.

 

[NStarz]

Eh, depends on the focus of the class. I've taken Intro Ecology and Environmental Ecology, and agriculture has such a huge impact on the environment around it, that it's hard not to at least mention it. Pesticides, impact due to habitat loss... That said, the prof definitely shouldn't have gone into bias. My Intro Ecology prof seemed to have no opinion on anything. My Env. Ecology prof had opinions, but they were always explicitly given as his opinions, and he backed them with data and always presented the opposing side, and he was open to students challenging him. Env. Ecology was boring, but not as coma inducing as Intro.

That's because environmental ecology and ecology are two entirely different things. I took an "environmental biology" course which was focused on the things outlined above, pollution, overfishing, etc. However, ecology itself focuses on the interaction of organisms with their environment (which, I guess could include people but that's not really relevant). I learned about the effects of sea urchin grazing on coral and sea otters on kelp forests, the distribution of energy within an ecosystem, and how to carry out biodiversity indices which informs one as to the relative biodiversity within one area over another.

Sorry, that's a little pet peeve of mine.

 

[Coquette22]

(which, I guess could include people but that's not really relevant).

And that's the key. Some people include people, some people don't. I lean toward including them, simply because we generally effect everything else around us. I know ecology and environmental ecology are separate, but if it's just a basic intro ecology class, there's a good argument for touching on other parts of ecology. Like my intro micro course covered basic bacteriology, virology and immunology. Then you go into more specific courses. So intro ecology (in my opinion) should touch a bit on environmental, a bit on behaviour ecology, population ecology, etc. 🙂

 

[NStarz]

And that's the key. Some people include people, some people don't. I lean toward including them, simply because we generally effect everything else around us. I know ecology and environmental ecology are separate, but if it's just a basic intro ecology class, there's a good argument for touching on other parts of ecology. Like my intro micro course covered basic bacteriology, virology and immunology. Then you go into more specific courses. So intro ecology (in my opinion) should touch a bit on environmental, a bit on behaviour ecology, population ecology, etc. 🙂

Eh, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one, but to each his own 😉

I'll second the "I didn't hate calc" mentality. I actually took it in high school (through a program with my local CC allowing me to receive college credit for it), and my teacher was AMAZING. She would play Mozart for us during tests. Such a nice lady, made the class enjoyable.

 

[drwildlife]

I love how almost everyone has put Organic as their least favorite. That being said....

Least Favorite: Organic Chemistry I, the class itself is interesting but the material was just so difficult for me to understand. And, it kind of says something when the class average on one of the tests is a 54.

Favorite(s): Vertebrate Zoology, General Ecology, and Genetics. Zoology of course being the best and the other two kind of tieing. I love that I'm finally getting into classes that I care about. 😀

 

[Coquette22]

Eh, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one, but to each his own 😉

To each his own. 😉 Now that we've thoroughly hijacked the thread.

 

[168135]

In genetics, we grew mustard plants and studied the frequency of phenotypes. Then we crossed like 10 types of fruit flies, followed them through at least 2 generations and did chi-square analysis based on the phenotypes we observed. It was FUN... and not done on the computer!

I tanked pre-cal. Apparently our professor is a genius and well known in North America. He usually teaches upper level math classes and sometimes calculus. This was his first time teached pre-cal. I heard that he deliberately treated us like dirt and that we were the worst class he has ever have. Some of my classmates went to the dean and nothing was done. There were ~20 in our class. Half failed... highest mark was in the low 70s. Out of those who moved in to pre-cal II, half failed. So like 5 people passed them both.

He's on sabbatical now. I heard that the administration forced him to. They brought in someone new to teach pre-cal and cal. They wanted to see if it was the course material or if it was him. For the first time in the last few years, someone made a 98 in pre-cal with the new prof.

*head freaking desk*

I flunked. The prof embarassed me in front of the entire class. I hate it. I wanted to re-take it, but AVC won't let you. So I gave up and went with stats. I dropped stats the first time I took it because the professor was horrible. They forced that professor into retirement. Retook it the following year with someone different and did a trillion times better.

But I think I still like pre-cal better than stats... solving for x and stuff is kinda fun...

 

[EllieGirl89]

Favorite: Honestly? My humanities and social science courses. I've always found these things interesting and managed to pick up an A.A. degree with them. If I had to give a science class I would say my second semester of gen bio. I learned a lot and had a teacher who was tough but fair so I did well.

Least favorite: Where do I begin? I guess I would say ANY form of chemistry, mostly because I had the SAME bad teacher FOUR SEMESTERS STRAIGHT- for both gen chems and both ochems. It was horrible.

 

[168135]

If social sciences count, I'm adding "Introduction to Culture and Civilizations" and "Hinduism/Buddhism/Sikhism/Jainism" to my list!

 

[168135]

Sorry TT...

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=717933&highlight=year

Haha, if you want to move the venting over to that thread, go ahead 😛

 

[Trilt]

I really like biology... both sections of the class. My second one was taught by the professor I TA and work with now, though, so I may be biased. 🙂 In non-prereqs, I adore philosophy courses (and was a philosophy double major for a while).

Least favourite? Organic. I'm boring. For least favourite non-prereq, I hate hate hated ecology; it was just a poorly put together, poorly run class. The labs were a joke.

 

[scb44f]

Very true, bad wording on my part. I should have said, "I'm glad other people" hated calc. I loved math all through high school. I started calculus in university and tanked. This is one case where I blame the professor almost entirely. His lectures were slow and rambling, and the assignments never matched what we actually talked about in class. He spent one whole lecture talking about Newton's "standing on the shoulders of giants" quote. We had a project where our only instruction was "Find a mathematical model for a disease and explain it." Explain it how? A report? A presentation? How long should it be? Nope, all he said was "explain it". Tons of people failed, I dropped before that happened. It destroyed my confidence for math. The prof ended up having a heart attack and not teaching the same class the next semester. With a new prof, the students retaking the class suddenly jumped up in grades.

Yeah that sounds awful. I can't blame you for not liking it! I'd definitely be frustrated with that sort of professor for that class.

 

[racccjlm]

Favorite: Histology/parasitology/ecology

Hated with every fiber of body: Insert any of 5 chemistry courses 👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎

 

[idahoequestrian]

Favorite: Biochemistry, Vertebrate Biology
Least Favorite: O CHEM!!!!!!!!!! And Genetics (but only because of a horrid prof)

 

[Cautionary Tail]

Genetics lab consisted of a few projects mostly using DNA electrophoresis and PCR. We mapped a plasmid using digestion mapping and did a class-wide study of the frequency of a certain gene using our DNA (cheek swabs). We did one lab on meiosis using a fungus too.

You guys had the exact same series of labs we did. Our TA totally messed up the gene frequency cheek swab lab (I'd spent all semester looking forward to it, too!)... I think he left it sitting out overnight or something... I was so bummed! I still want to know what my alleles are, lol. 😳

(Yes, I am a total dork. I own it.)

 

[tuwest2011]

LIked: Animal Physiology Pyhysic I & II Intro Bio 😀😀
Hated: G Chem I & II Organic & Genetics 🙁🙁🙁

 

[drwildlife]

Not to add fire to the flame but...

Ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms to each other and their surroundings. This includes ecosystems. Humans use ecosystems for survival basically hence making themselves part of the ecosystem. But, ecology does not include the environment technically because ecology deals more with the biological processes themselves.

In the end, you're both right in some way 😛

It sucks that some of you had Genetics ruined by bad professors. It really is an amazing class! So many interesting topics.

 

[Cautionary Tail]

I hate hate hated ecology; it was just a poorly put together, poorly run class. The labs were a joke.

The labs we had that weren't a joke were all scheduled towards the end of the semester (fall) which resulted in unnecessary suckage.

Trapping and classifying rodents at the local Audubon sanctuary? Not bad.

Spending hours trapping and classifying rodents in a wet, swampy sector of an Audubon sanctuary in Southern New England... in late November... in the rain?

Lame.

It didn't help that our professor had an ungodly obsession with Statistics (no calculators), and was a former English major who liked to augment the textbook definitions with paragraphs of excess verbiage (generally pointless) and expected us to memorize everything word for word.

Basically the only part of Eco that wasn't horrid was the fact that she was forced to give me an "A" at the end of the semester. (She started things off by bragging about the fact that no more than three students in any given class have ever managed to get an "A" in the course. And she hated me because she kept confusing me with some chick that had previously taken her class and had to drop... more than once. I am sure that penciling that in at the end of the semester probably pained her almost as much as taking the class did me. Almost. Retribution! )

 

[Risika]

Favorite: Calculus and Genetics
Least Favorite: Organic Chemistry 1

 

[Trilt]

The labs we had that weren't a joke were all scheduled towards the end of the semester (fall) which resulted in unnecessary suckage.

Trapping and classifying rodents at the local Audubon sanctuary? Not bad.

Spending hours trapping and classifying rodents in a wet, swampy sector of an Audubon sanctuary in Southern New England... in late November... in the rain?

Lame.

It didn't help that our professor had an ungodly obsession with Statistics (no calculators), and was a former English major who liked to augment the textbook definitions with paragraphs of excess verbiage (generally pointless) and expected us to memorize everything word for word.

Basically the only part of Eco that wasn't horrid was the fact that she was forced to give me an "A" at the end of the semester. (She started things off by bragging about the fact that no more than three students in any given class have ever managed to get an "A" in the course. And she hated me because she kept confusing me with some chick that had previously taken her class and had to drop... more than once. I am sure that penciling that in at the end of the semester probably pained her almost as much as taking the class did me. Almost. Retribution! )

The statistics portion of my ecology is one big reason it was a major PITA - stats was not a pre-requisite for the course, but then it was magically assumed that we knew how to do a good amount of statistical analysis. Combined with really crappy labs (really? We're going to drive to a woods, hike two miles to count wooden doves you've set up in a 100 square foot area?) and a high emphasis on plant ecology in a zoology-required course made it miserable. urgh.

The coolest thing was actually arranged by the professor I said I loved above - behind the scenes tour of the Duke Lemur Center. 😀