Here's a sort of "guide" to picking your courses. I sent it to a few people and figured, why not post it?

Your mandatory courses will be:
- Biology 1A03
- Biology 1M03
- Chemistry 1A03 (1st term)
- Chemistry 1AA3 (2nd term)
- Psychology 1X03 (1st term)
- Pscyhology 1XX3 (2nd term)
- One math - a lot of people recommend Calculus 1LS3 (generally speaking, it's easier)
- And then it is recommended to take Physics 1B03 or 1L03 (Physics 1B03 requires either of physics 1L03 or a grade 12 physics credit as a prerequisite).

That leaves you room for 2 electives. You can use the 2013-2014 McMaster course listings to find those two electives: http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /calen...13-14/pg4.html
On that note, a lot of students take an Econ because they're considered "bird courses." I took it and enjoyed the material and the mark.

Then, you can check 1st year course reviews on Macinsiders:
http://www.macinsiders.com/forumdisp...views-104.html

Finally, this is the MASTER schedule for 2013-2014. In put each course and you can see the different "cores" and the different profs offered:
http://registrar.mcmaster.ca /scheduling/coursett.html

With the help of the master schedule, you can see how your profs will be (in case you're curious or such...):
http://www.ratemyprofessors. com/Se...jsp?sid =1440

You can make a mock schedule to make sure there's no conflicts on this site: http://www.timetablegenerato r.com/

FINALLY, you'll sign up for all of your courses at the end of June once "SOLAR" opens up. That's the course-picking program that MAC has. It opens at midnight - so get in as quick as possible and get the courses & cores you want before they fill up.
As a side note, you CAN e-mail professors if a course they teach is full. Certain professors will let you in if you provide a valid reason. Not always the case, but it happens.

If you ever have any questions or need reassurance, definitely post here on MAC Insiders!

This is awesome

I just want to point out two things though - for first year life sci, the chemistry courses are not mandatory anymore (although you should REALLY take them), and psych 1XX3 isn't required either. When I was in life sci you had to pick three from bio 1A03, 1M03, psych 1X03, 1XX3. I tried to check to see if it's still the same or if it's changed, but Mac's website appears to have crashed just in time for course selections

Take a look at second year program requirements when selecting courses - don't just automatically go for the "easy" ones (*cough*physics*cough *). This info is in the course calendar, which Afsha-noon kindly linked to

psych 1xx3 is required by 2nd year if you want to stay in life sci thoo