Hi, I completed my first year in Life Sciences (more like survived it lol) with an 8.8 CGPA and I got into H. Biology, H. Biology and Psychology and H. Life Sciences but not into H. Biology (Physiology) but I met all the prerequisites and I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation for this...

Also, although I'm not going to take H. Life Sciences, I'm debating between H. Biology and H. BioPsych. I've done my backgrounds into each and I'm leaning toward H. Biology since I applied to H. BioPsych because I liked Psych 1X03. But then came Psych 1XX3 and although I got a 10 in it, I did not appreciate neuroscience as much as social psychology and learning. So does H. BioPsych go much into social psychology and learning while still maintaining Biology or is it more neuroscience and is the workload torture?

While I'm here, I'm eventually going to have to take Biology 2F03 and I'm wondering if it has any resemblance to 1M03 Biology (Which I loathed!)

Lastly, are the second year biology courses more structured in terms of lectures/labs/tutorials than the first year courses because this is what I noticed from biology 1A03 and 1M03.

Thank You!

(P.S I know it's BioPsych not BioPysch, I misspelled!)

Certain programs have limited seats and therefore have grade cutoffs. I guess you just didn't make the cut for Physiology.

As far as Biopsych goes, your best bet is to check the program requirements and what classes are needed. On the whole, there are many psychology classes at Mac that cover a broad range of topics in psychology and I'm fairly certain you'll have some choice over what psych classes you're taking.

As far as your question about 2nd year classes, what exactly do you mean by "structured"..? Their focus narrows in and you start doing more relevant things to those fields, but If you mean "well planned" I feel like that didn't come until 3rd year lol.

Originally Posted by redasangay

Hi, I completed my first year in Life Sciences (more like survived it lol) with an 8.8 CGPA and I got into H. Biology, H. Biology and Psychology and H. Life Sciences but not into H. Biology (Physiology) but I met all the prerequisites and I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation for this...

Specializations have a seat capacity, you may have met the requirements but you probably didn't have a high enough average to compete with all the other applicants to that program.

From what I heard, the honours degree portion of psych is very neuroscience based and the social psych stuff are moreso electives. You could always minor in psych if you find those courses interesting.

I took Bio 2F03 last year. The material was kind of... dry. It's purely an ecology course and focuses on conservation, habitats, landscape features etc.

As James mentioned, any honours PNB program has a neuroscience aspect to it. That's because PNB is made up of the core aspects of psychology, "psychology", "neuroscience", and "behaviour". We don't really have any PNB courses that touch on social psych concepts, unless you choose to take Psych electives like 2AA3, 2AP3 etc. I think it's also important to note that we're not allowed to take more than a certain number of "Psych" courses to count towards our degree.

The non-honours psych degrees are pretty much purely social psych.

Biopsychers are required to take the regular pnb courses:
2XA3 - cognition and perception (memory, learning, etc.)
2XB3 - neuroscience (very biological, focused on physiology)
2XC3 - animal behaviour (social learning in animals, aggression, mating, etc.)
2XD3 - (optional) integrative pnb (combines all core subjects in an effort to facilitate writing skills)
2XE3 - descriptive statistics
2XF3 - (optional) research methods (addresses current and future subjects in research)

and then they have their biology course requirements as well.

Originally Posted by redasangay

Hi, I completed my first year in Life Sciences (more like survived it lol) with an 8.8 CGPA and I got into H. Biology, H. Biology and Psychology and H. Life Sciences but not into H. Biology (Physiology) but I met all the prerequisites and I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation for this...

Also, although I'm not going to take H. Life Sciences, I'm debating between H. Biology and H. BioPsych. I've done my backgrounds into each and I'm leaning toward H. Biology since I applied to H. BioPsych because I liked Psych 1X03. But then came Psych 1XX3 and although I got a 10 in it, I did not appreciate neuroscience as much as social psychology and learning. So does H. BioPsych go much into social psychology and learning while still maintaining Biology or is it more neuroscience and is the workload torture?

While I'm here, I'm eventually going to have to take Biology 2F03 and I'm wondering if it has any resemblance to 1M03 Biology (Which I loathed!)

Lastly, are the second year biology courses more structured in terms of lectures/labs/tutorials than the first year courses because this is what I noticed from biology 1A03 and 1M03.

Thank You!

(P.S I know it's BioPsych not BioPysch, I misspelled!)

Yeah, when they say you need a 6 average, that's bare minimum to be considered, but there is also a note saying that there's limited enrollment...so say they decide to accept 50 people, the 50 people with the highest averages will get accepted...so your grades probably weren't high enough. I think the cutoff for bio (physiology) is typically quite high, around 10 or so.

also keep in mind that you can literally take all the same courses as bio+physio people in second year, third year, and fourth year except for 1 course if you are in regular bio. what im trying to say is that the degree that says 'physiology specialization' is just a label. but you will definitely have a harder time on SOLAR getting into some of the courses because they're mandatory for bio+physio, but not in regular bio, so you aren't guaranteed a seat.

Realistically, the program that you go into really doesn't matter. Bio/Biopsych/Bio + Phys take all of the same courses anyways. All your degree will say is "Honours Bachelors of Science".

Yeah in terms of the psychs for BioPsych it is much more neuro-based. If you like psychology, but not the neuroscience aspect, you could always do a minor in it (that's what I'm doing). That way you're more free to take the psychs that interest you rather than required neuroscience ones. Also, bio 2f03 is easy but it can be a bit dry at times. Lastly, second year bios are generally pretty structured I guess. Not all of them even have labs/tutorials so it all depends on the course and prof.

Originally Posted by Lois

Realistically, the program that you go into really doesn't matter. Bio/Biopsych/Bio + Phys take all of the same courses anyways. All your degree will say is "Honours Bachelors of Science".

Uhm... this is not true.
Although there is a bit of overlap (especially in 2nd year) the courses you are required to take are not identical. Take a look at the undergrad calendar for the differences (http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /CALEN...3/pg1470.html), and yes, your program does matter. If you plan to pursue a Masters in Psychology for instance you should go into BioPsych not general Bio. Take a moment to contemplate what you want to do in the future (if you are forced to do something other than med, dentistry, optometry etc.) and maybe that will help you decide.

You probably didn't get in because there is a cap on the amount of students they let in to the program, and they accept applicants with the highest averages.
But you can still take most physio courses and learn the same material if you choose to (the physio specialization only gets an advantage if the course is full and there aren't seats left). Other than that, you have the same opportunity being in Honours Bio, with more freedom in courses/electives if you choose to do other types of biology.

In terms of structure, most second years in Biology take the same bio courses are regardless of program, so it doesn't feel that much different, although specializations have less elective space. Lab/tutorial structure varies between each course, some were notoriously disorganized (Bio 2A03) and others weren't too bad.