# Biology major. Stressed.



## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

Can't fight the feeling like I am mentally retarded in the field. It also doesn't help that I am transferring this Fall and will most likely have to take General Biology (since my 5 on AP Bio may not exempt me at this school), and I feel like I am behind. I haven't done any real bio lab work at all freshman year, so the last time I did any was in high school. It is ridiculous, I don't even remember how to use a real pipet. I'm afraid I'll get in the lab and be like, "****, I haven't done any of this stuff since high school." I took an upper-level invertebrate zoology course last semester, and the lab was a damn joke. It was all sketches, only one experiment. The last school shouldn't have wasted my time with a once a week bio seminar that was required, and that taught us absolutely nothing. BS. Ugh, I just feel very worthless in the field of biology, and coming up as a sophomore I seriously feel like I have learned nothing. I know more chemistry than I do biology at this point. :afr


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## seafolly (Jun 17, 2010)

Wait, don't complain about not having to use a pipette! :b

Have you thought of transferring to a school with a more reputable program? When I realized biology is what I want I transferred after three years...brutal on the transcript but I got what I wanted. Now instead of taking the same courses as everyone else due to lack of options, I'm at a school that has so many biology related programs I feel like a kid in a candy store, particularly in regards to course selection. There's a course on just viruses for heaven's sake. And the workload is definitely up there. First year labs can be pretty pointless everywhere I think. But here we do use pipettes. Unfortunately.


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## lostinlife (Jun 2, 2010)

When I took general biology there wasn't that much advanced lab work. A lot of dissections and microscope work, some DNA sequencing but the lab TAs ran those and we just had to interpret the gels. My AP bio class was tougher so if you have taken AP bio + zoology before it should give you familiarity with the material; it's more of the same at the intro level. It is intro/general bio so they aren't going to make you do an advanced technique w/o outlining it first; my class was a mix of premed and nonscience majors who need to fulfill their science requirements. Also, you'll have a lab manual where you can read the lab beforehand if you think something will trip you up, then look for an instructional video of it, like for pipetting technique: http://www.woodrow.org/teachers/esi/2002/Biology/Projects/lab_skills/ls7/ (everything really is on the internet)


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

Does the program suck or do you just not enjoy bio?

Pick up a bio journal or a popular science book after class and read it. If you can't get through any of them, maybe it's time to look into another field. If you can, then keep reading! The best students are the ones that eat, breathe, sleep, and **** their topic of choice. I know I've learned as much or more about my fields of study from my own reading than from classes. If they won't teach you, teach yourself.


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## Faded Lines (Sep 22, 2006)

I greatly enjoy bio, my situation just hindered my early development, though. I go on science daily at least 4 times a week and read through all the latest research (not saying much, but I do try to learn). The point of this post was just to vent about how I feel like my last institution wasted an entire year of my quest for excellence in bio.

PS-Are you a bio major?


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## Belshazzar (Apr 12, 2010)

Faded Lines said:


> I greatly enjoy bio, my situation just hindered my early development, though. I go on science daily at least 4 times a week and read through all the latest research (not saying much, but I do try to learn). The point of this post was just to vent about how I feel like my last institution wasted an entire year of my quest for excellence in bio.
> 
> PS-Are you a bio major?


I doubled in psychology and history, but I relate to what you're saying. If you keep up with current research (something that most schools seem loath to teach for some reason), you're far ahead of most students. As Twain said, "I never let my school interfere with my education."


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## bowlingpins (Oct 18, 2008)

I majored in bio. 

By the end of first year, I had taken 3 general chemistry classes with labs, 3 math classes, an assortment of general ed classes and 1 biology class. I didn't get to upper level bio. till 3rd and 4th year. It is normal to take more chemistry than biology early on because chem. especially organicv is useful in understanding biology.


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## phobiaphobe (Mar 16, 2010)

I majored in bio, too. It sounds like you think that you are lacking in practical skills to work in a lab, but you may be very knowledgeable from books and research papers. I read a book called "At the Bench" and I think that might help you because it assumes the reader is new to doing lab work and introduces you to how to do fundamental things and why things are done a particular way. It's like a reference for some basic tasks.

I think it's OK that you don't know how to pipette. You can learn that this coming year or the next. What would be useful for you is to do some small research project with a professor at your school. Most of them have biological questions in their genius minds that need your hands to find the answer. The lab will most likely have some graduate students, post-docs, and technicians that can answer all of your questions on how to do things.


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## creativedissent (Oct 25, 2008)

right.. I had these two awful sexually harassing professors during this BIO 172, which is basically Gen. Molecular Bio everyone takes. Didn't understand a thing even though I signed up for study group. Couldn't concentrate while staring at the notes, couldn't memorize what we had to study in the class. Oh Gosh. What a nightmare. I have this BIO book from the UK that sits in my room collecting dust.  Only time recalling getting some one-on-one attention on the field was through The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Beautifully passionate professors that work there... The greatest people.


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