Hate biology as a major...Help?

[JerryAf]

I came on here once before to debate whether I should switch from biology into biochemistry or biophysics.

Thing is, I hate biology. I hate sitting down and writing endless notes on plants/animals or learning about evolution and ecology - I have 4 biology courses next year, none of which I have even a % of passion for:

*Molecular/Cellular biology
*Evolution
*Ecology
*Zoology

I ripped through first year general biology with an 86% or 3.90/4.00 (OMSAS scale) but I used brute force tactics to learn. I mean literally, I'd spend endless hours taking notes and memorizing them.


The only field that intrigues me beyond measure would be physics but it would involve taking 4 new courses (therefore basically spend a year to catch up to second year level courses), and I'm not the brightest in mathematics.

Any advice guys?


EDIT: Should add that my end goal is med.

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[bandgeek0295]

Would it be possible for you to take more medically related courses? Maybe you could take a class like Histology or Microbiology to revive your passion? You seem to be leaning towards the "less relevant" side of biology with the zoology and ecology classes.

And I think you definitely need a revamp in your study techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJFFcfvS-1o

There's plenty of good study advice all over Youtube. Google, Youtube, whatever. Find something you like and work with it.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Imma let you finish, but pharmacology is one of the best majors of all time.

Forreal, though, sounds like you should switch. Better to take an extra semester or two longer to save yourself some angst... and to save your GPA, hopefully. Browse through your university's list of majors and their curriculums to see what's out there. Also, I know some bio majors allow for "concentrations," so maybe look into that?

 

[bandgeek0295]

I know some bio majors allow for "concentrations," so maybe look into that?

I agree completely. My school offers has a human biology concentration, and that's what I'm going with.

 

[JerryAf]

Imma let you finish, but pharmacology is one of the best majors of all time.

Forreal, though, sounds like you should switch. Better to take an extra semester or two longer to save yourself some angst... and to save your GPA, hopefully. Browse through your university's list of majors and their curriculums to see what's out there. Also, I know some bio majors allow for "concentrations," so maybe look into that?

I don't think my school offers that, but it sounds so interesting! And that's what I'm thinking but I don't know what major to go into. Physics is beautiful but the mathematics throws me off. My GPA is more important to me so...

Would it be possible for you to take more medically related courses? Maybe you could take a class like Histology or Microbiology to revive your passion? You seem to be leaning towards the "less relevant" side of biology with the zoology and ecology classes.

And I think you definitely need a revamp in your study techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJFFcfvS-1o

There's plenty of good study advice all over Youtube. Google, Youtube, whatever. Find something you like and work with it.

Thanks for the link! Gonna watch it now. And you sir, have hit dead on - I hate the less relevant side and my school is going directly towards that. Funny thing is, the more relevant stuff is next year-ish. I don't want to spend a year doing things I despise Plus a biology degree is not so great...

 

[JerryAf]

Kinesiology you mean?

 

[Lya]

I have seen other bio majors who complain about evolution and ecology, in part because of horrible professors, so I can understand that to some extent. However, molecular/cellular biology seems to be one of key subjets even in medical school when studying biochem and genetics, isn't it?

In medical school, you and I probably have to spend endless hours taking notes and memorizing details, so it might be something you can think of as a practice at least. We'll see subjects that we love, while other subjects that we hate. However, there will be times where we have no choice but to excel anyways.

My advice would be to ask several questions whenever you go into those unfavorite classes:

1) Why would anyone want to spend a lifetime studying this subject? There must be something about this subject that some people with PhDs study this.
2) Are there any knowledge or philosophy in this subject that you think you can apply to your interests and other fields?


It was helpful for me when I went through my math major track. Hopefully, it would in your case too!


Edit: Well, you can switch to more medically related one too. My college didn't offer the one that I wanted, but hopefully you could find one.

 

[JerryAf]

I have seen other bio majors who complain about evolution and ecology, in part because of horrible professors, so I can understand that to some extent. However, molecular/cellular biology seems to be one of key subjets even in medical school when studying biochem and genetics, isn't it?

In medical school, you and I probably have to spend endless hours taking notes and memorizing details, so it might be something you can think of as a practice at least. We'll see subjects that we love, while other subjects that we hate. However, there will be times where we have no choice but to excel anyways.

My advice would be to ask several questions whenever you go into those unfavorite classes:

1) Why would anyone want to spend a lifetime studying this subject? There must be something about this subject that some people with PhDs study this.
2) Are there any knowledge or philosophy in this subject that you think you can apply to your interests and other fields?


It was helpful for me when I went through my math major track. Hopefully, it would in your case too!


Edit: Well, you can switch to more medically related one too. My college didn't offer the one that I wanted, but hopefully you could find one.

The thing is, my school is offering more of a botanist/zoologist biology stream and less of a human concentrated one. Even kinesiology here is streaming more towards physical education and less towards human anatomy. I would love to do physics but I know I will fail the mathematics portion.

 

[Lya]

The thing is, my school is offering more of a botanist/zoologist biology stream and less of a human concentrated one. Even kinesiology here is streaming more towards physical education and less towards human anatomy. I would love to do physics but I know I will fail the mathematics portion.

That happens many times. I totally agree with you.

What are majors that come even close to what you wanted? If there is none, I am not sure what else can be done besides trying to go through it anyways.

 

[Sportsmeddoc]

Do you have a general exercise science major?

 

[doritos4lyfe]

biochem and biophysics also require extra math, right?

 

[JerryAf]

Do you have a general exercise science major?

Yessir! But a general science major degree is valued even less... At least with biology I can still become a professor and make a decent living...

biochem and biophysics also require extra math, right?

Yes they do and they go into advanced mathematics as well. Plus, biochemistry is not as interesting as biophysics to me, but the math... God I know I will flunk my 3.73.

That happens many times. I totally agree with you.

What are majors that come even close to what you wanted? If there is none, I am not sure what else can be done besides trying to go through it anyways.

Seems like that's it then. Neuroscience/biology/kinesiology are the only majors that I can take with my current prereqs. Well, for kin I need 2 more courses, and for neuro I need 2 more.

 

[Bookish]

I know how you feel. My school is very small, so it only offers Biology, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Environmental Science. I only realized I hated my biology courses after freshman year. I still want to switch to a chemistry major, but there would be too much backtracking and it wouldn't be worth it.

I think the problem with biology programs, at least in my experience, is that a large portion of biology majors are premed, yet the school doesn't seem to want to recognize that and still tries to convert us into biologists and zoologists.

 

[JerryAf]

Because the unfortunate truth is that many don't make it... For all I know, I might be one of them... God I hope not.

 

[askamsky51]

I hated general biology topics (plants, animals and ecology nonsense). That being said I LOVED molecular biology (and cell for that matter). If you haven't had much exposure to it, I would check those out as well.

I loved biochemistry but hated dealing with things "quite" that small. Organisms seemed silly to me, and as a whole a waste of time to study (sure we learn a lot from birds or whatever, but I don't care one bit about their mating habits). As for biochem, I liked it but if I got stuck with my undergrad I felt dealing with things smaller than proteins was kinda "eh."

however Recomb DNA theory and virology changed my life. Awesome classes, awesome labs. I'll also note that these topics may change based on institutions. My cirriculum was definitely a molecular approach to theory on cell bio and what have you. Virology was more about integration and using recombinant knowledge to thoerize potential outcomes and lineages of genes found within the human body. It was NOT "memorize X virus and Y bacteria." They were more critical thinking classes.

Critical thinking, not gross memorization--but not the nitty gritty of mundane chemistry (which I liked, but only in smaller doses).

Anyhow, one too many beers into this to actively fight for my major, but definitely check it out.

 

[Urnathok]

Good morning sir, do you have a moment to talk about the humanities~?

Anyway, yes, I think switching out of Biology early would be a good course of action. And that said, I would not put all my chips on "Professor in X Biology" as a backup. Those teaching spots are hard enough to come by for people who go into biology for that express purpose.

I can empathize with being interested in physics if it weren't for the GPA risk, but you might try running down a few biophysics majors and asking them what that's like. Doctor Strange's pharmacology makes me super jelly, but it's a fairly rare major, so the closest I can get is working in a pharmacy.

I try to avoid rote memorization in classes where I can, and problem-solving classes are great for an escape from that, so biophysics may be the best of both worlds. Just don't get stuck in the mentality that you need to major in a science that you think will teach you med school before being in med school. If you want something that could get you a job with a Bachelor's if you didn't go for med school right afterwards, Chemistry's a good place to start too. Clinical Lab Science majors don't go unemployed either. But again, important to remember that these are separate parts of healthcare; every med student I've heard from has said that content from biochemistry majors and the like will help you for the first few months of your first year, but that's about it.

Figuring out how you think best, retain information best, and what interests you most is ideal. That reasoning took me to humanities, but it's taken others to physics or botany. From what I know of biology curricula though, it's hard to escape things like molecular/cell bio, ecology, etc within that field. The more industrially-minded Chemistry programs might be worth a look, too -- good science paired with economics and backup job security.

 

[music2doc]

I came on here once before to debate whether I should switch from biology into biochemistry or biophysics.

Thing is, I hate biology. I hate sitting down and writing endless notes on plants/animals or learning about evolution and ecology - I have 4 biology courses next year, none of which I have even a % of passion for:

*Molecular/Cellular biology
*Evolution
*Ecology
*Zoology

I ripped through first year general biology with an 86% or 3.90/4.00 (OMSAS scale) but I used brute force tactics to learn. I mean literally, I'd spend endless hours taking notes and memorizing them.


The only field that intrigues me beyond measure would be physics but it would involve taking 4 new courses (therefore basically spend a year to catch up to second year level courses), and I'm not the brightest in mathematics.

Any advice guys?


EDIT: Should add that my end goal is med.

Do a non-science major. Med schools -- and your future classmates -- will like the variety anyway.

Of course... there is the issue with some of those topics coming back up in med school 1st yr. If you really hate molecular bio, you're going to find that that is, unfortunately, a pretty core set of concepts for much of medicine as those topics (and ways of learning the information) resurface in biochem, genetics, physio, immuno, neuro... probably also pharm, micro, path, and to varying degrees throughout the organ systems.

 

[ohanastomosis]

I had/am having the same issue. Didn't like my major, so over the summer I've been weighing my options.

Plants are definitely NOT my specialty, so biology was never an option. Its mind-numbingly dull to me.

I LOVE physics but hate that I would have to take 3 courses of calculus, which I would ultimately fail. However, I found that my philosophy department offered a concentration in metaphysics, which is almost like physics without the math! I'm not adverse to a humanities major, so I decided to give it a try. That mixed with a minor in biochemistry and spanish has made me much more excited for next semester. I figure I could take upper level physics courses (that didn't require calc) to even it all out. Do your research into your school majors and find what interests you most, there's gotta be something!

 

[Flashfan]

I went into school as biochemistry but switched right away to psychology. My school is TINY but full of research opportunities. Our bio department is focused on plants and ecosystems, but the psych department does a lot of research on the effects of drugs/alcohol on memory, etc. At least I am doing things related to humans.

 

[Urnathok]

I went into school as biochemistry but switched right away to psychology. My school is TINY but full of research opportunities. Our bio department is focused on plants and ecosystems, but the psych department does a lot of research on the effects of drugs/alcohol on memory, etc. At least I am doing things related to humans.

Those departments also tend to be less flooded with undergrad research applicants than bio/chemistry, from what I've seen.

 

[JerryAf]

I looked into my schools biology program. Third and fourth year gets really cool (genetic transmission, virology, etc...) but second year is shoot me in the head boring. Plus research is hard to get...

 

[askamsky51]

I looked into my schools biology program. Third and fourth year gets really cool (genetic transmission, virology, etc...) but second year is shoot me in the head boring. Plus research is hard to get...

Just gotta get past dem plants and organismal bio IMO. 👍

 

[getdown]

My personal advice is for you to major in something that's worth something in the real world. Sadly, Bio as a major is pretty useless unless you get into med school and that rate is not that high or research. And the funny thing is, you really don't need to major in bio to do well in med school so it's even more useless if you think about it.

Try majoring in chem, biochem ore even business so that you'll have a fallback option in case med school doesn't materialize for you since you'll need a job to payback those undergrad loans. Learn to never put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[487806]

I came on here once before to debate whether I should switch from biology into biochemistry or biophysics.

Thing is, I hate biology. I hate sitting down and writing endless notes on plants/animals or learning about evolution and ecology - I have 4 biology courses next year, none of which I have even a % of passion for:

*Molecular/Cellular biology
*Evolution
*Ecology
*Zoology

I ripped through first year general biology with an 86% or 3.90/4.00 (OMSAS scale) but I used brute force tactics to learn. I mean literally, I'd spend endless hours taking notes and memorizing them.


The only field that intrigues me beyond measure would be physics but it would involve taking 4 new courses (therefore basically spend a year to catch up to second year level courses), and I'm not the brightest in mathematics.

Any advice guys?


EDIT: Should add that my end goal is med.

Physics is awesome, though it's coming from a physics major here. You won't see much of math until the more advanced physics courses (i.e. astro, quantum, E&M, mechanics etc.), but essentially calc and maybe linear algebra/diff eq (and vector calc if you want) are the key math courses, which honestly are easy to learn.

My advice: major in what you're interested rather than majoring in something that will help you for medical school.