2nd year science subject choices

smtp95

Hi all,

In a few weeks I'm going to have to decide on my subnets for second year. I've emailed both the science programme office and the health sciences programme office for advice but they haven't been able to help me decide.

Basically, I am going to major in biology. I need to choose at least three biology subjects for next year. I have decided on two- neuroscience and physiology. But I really do not know what I should choose as my third subject.

No other subject really appeals to me that much. In the future I think I would like to pursue graduate entry medicine. With that in mind, what biology subject do you think would be of most benefit to me? I've (kind of) narrowed it down to; pharmacology, genetics, biochemistry or microbiology.

I'm not a big fan of chemistry, but if biochem would be useful to me I would definitely consider doing it.

If anyone can offer any advice at all it would be most appreciated, cheers

nerd95

Hi there, I’m in the middle of deciding on my subjects for 2nd year science in UCD too so I know exactly how you feel!! (I’m going down the biology route also!!). For a while I had no idea what I wanted to do- I kept changing my mind everyday which made things quite stressful but I then sat down and really tried to work it through. Firstly, you could look at the module descriptions on course search for the various modules e.g principles of microbiology or pharmacology etc to give you an idea of what you will be learning for that subject. Also, you could look at the 3rd year modules in the UCD undergraduate handbook for a particular subject and see if they appeal to you or not- that’s basically what I did! However, I think the best thing to do when you are unsure of what subjects you want to take is to email the individual lecturers about them. For instance, I emailed some of our lecturers about genetics and it really appealed to me after I got an insight into the things we’ll be learning. So, if there is a subject that kind of appeals to you like pharmacology for example, then you can look at the module description on course search for PHAR20040 and see who the module coordinator is and email them, call them or even schedule to meet them in their office (provided it is not too far for you to travel of course). You can explain to them that you may wish to purse graduate entry medicine and if this would be a good subject for that and if not then what subjects would they recommend. You could also ask them what career that subject could lead onto should you decide not to pursue graduate entry medicine or you could ask them if the course involves a lot of chemistry given that you are not a big fan of chemistry. You could also email some of the lecturers in the Health Science department and explain your situation. Generally speaking, they really do want to help you and I found that if they can’t answer your questions then they will forward your email to someone who can! Thankfully, the lecturers do give you a fair reflection of a subject rather than trying to get you to buy into it (based on my experiences anyway)! I even met with some lecturers in their office and they went through everything in a lot of detail! They also respond very quickly to emails which is good! Anyway, good luck with your subject selection and if you have any questions feel free to ask!!

smtp95

nerd95 wrote: »

Hi there, I’m in the middle of deciding on my subjects for 2nd year science in UCD too so I know exactly how you feel!! (I’m going down the biology route also!!). For a while I had no idea what I wanted to do- I kept changing my mind everyday which made things quite stressful but I then sat down and really tried to work it through. Firstly, you could look at the module descriptions on course search for the various modules e.g principles of microbiology or pharmacology etc to give you an idea of what you will be learning for that subject. Also, you could look at the 3rd year modules in the UCD undergraduate handbook for a particular subject and see if they appeal to you or not- that’s basically what I did! However, I think the best thing to do when you are unsure of what subjects you want to take is to email the individual lecturers about them. For instance, I emailed some of our lecturers about genetics and it really appealed to me after I got an insight into the things we’ll be learning. So, if there is a subject that kind of appeals to you like pharmacology for example, then you can look at the module description on course search for PHAR20040 and see who the module coordinator is and email them, call them or even schedule to meet them in their office (provided it is not too far for you to travel of course). You can explain to them that you may wish to purse graduate entry medicine and if this would be a good subject for that and if not then what subjects would they recommend. You could also ask them what career that subject could lead onto should you decide not to pursue graduate entry medicine or you could ask them if the course involves a lot of chemistry given that you are not a big fan of chemistry. You could also email some of the lecturers in the Health Science department and explain your situation. Generally speaking, they really do want to help you and I found that if they can’t answer your questions then they will forward your email to someone who can! Thankfully, the lecturers do give you a fair reflection of a subject rather than trying to get you to buy into it (based on my experiences anyway)! I even met with some lecturers in their office and they went through everything in a lot of detail! They also respond very quickly to emails which is good! Anyway, good luck with your subject selection and if you have any questions feel free to ask!!

Thank you so much for your very informative reply! I'll sit down and look though the guidebook now. Out of interest, which subjects have you decided on?

nerd95

smtp95 wrote: »

Thank you so much for your very informative reply! I'll sit down and look though the guidebook now. Out of interest, which subjects have you decided on?

I think I'm going down the education stream- so basically I'm doing biology and maths education, genetics and microbiology (although that could change by tomorrow haha). I would have preferred neuroscience or physiology more than microbiology but unfortunately there aren't many subjects in the BBB stream that are compatible with the education. That being said the genetics sounds good- according to the lecturers that I emailed, it doesn't involve that much chemistry and the evolutionary genetics sounds interesting. Just to let you know, I found out that several modules have changed from last year e.g plant and animals genetics is now principles of genetics and I think there are a few others that have changed so the modules on course search may not match the modules in the handbook we got during the advisory sessions in February. However, we got an email a few weeks ago that contains a PDF version of the new handbook 15-16 and a FAQ document- this handbook contains the updated modules

DaisyFay

If you're 100% on the neuroscience and physiology and just need to pick another subject for the sake of having 3, I'd recommend looking really closely at the core modules for pharm, genetics, biochem and micro because in practical terms, adding an extra subject of one of these will simple mean adding another module to your list of core modules (if even). AND, this extra module will probably be recommended for one of your other subjects anyway.
Many of the subjects for the biology streams have almost identical requirements - I was able to pick 5 subjects and still had room for 2 electives when I did it (I did all the subjects you listed apart from neuroscience, and I remember that had I wanted to add neuroscience, it would have just meant doing the principles of neuroscience module).
I don't think at the end of 1st year you really have experienced enough of any subject to make an informed decision about what to take to degree level, and I've ended up studying a subject that up til midway through 2nd year I wouldn't really have considered at all.
Of the subjects you listed though, I found the intro to pharm and micro modules were really interesting and well taught, even though I didn't have huge interest in either. Unless you like genetics though, I'd avoid the plant and animal genetics module.

EoghanIRL

Biochem would be handy because most clinical courses require you to study biochem in year 1 and 2. I think bio molecules and metabolism would have you covered.

smtp95

nerd95 wrote: »

I think I'm going down the education stream- so basically I'm doing biology and maths education, genetics and microbiology (although that could change by tomorrow haha). I would have preferred neuroscience or physiology more than microbiology but unfortunately there aren't many subjects in the BBB stream that are compatible with the education. That being said the genetics sounds good- according to the lecturers that I emailed, it doesn't involve that much chemistry and the evolutionary genetics sounds interesting. Just to let you know, I found out that several modules have changed from last year e.g plant and animals genetics is now principles of genetics and I think there are a few others that have changed so the modules on course search may not match the modules in the handbook we got during the advisory sessions in February. However, we got an email a few weeks ago that contains a PDF version of the new handbook 15-16 and a FAQ document- this handbook contains the updated modules

Thanks so much, and sorry for my delay in replying. I've decided that I'll go with pharmacology then either choose a micro or genetics module, sadly I have to do linear algebra in semester 1 so it's taking up one of my modules!

Wishing you all the best with going down the education stream. Thanks again and maybe I'll see you around, haha

smtp95

DaisyFay wrote: »

If you're 100% on the neuroscience and physiology and just need to pick another subject for the sake of having 3, I'd recommend looking really closely at the core modules for pharm, genetics, biochem and micro because in practical terms, adding an extra subject of one of these will simple mean adding another module to your list of core modules (if even). AND, this extra module will probably be recommended for one of your other subjects anyway.
Many of the subjects for the biology streams have almost identical requirements - I was able to pick 5 subjects and still had room for 2 electives when I did it (I did all the subjects you listed apart from neuroscience, and I remember that had I wanted to add neuroscience, it would have just meant doing the principles of neuroscience module).
I don't think at the end of 1st year you really have experienced enough of any subject to make an informed decision about what to take to degree level, and I've ended up studying a subject that up til midway through 2nd year I wouldn't really have considered at all.
Of the subjects you listed though, I found the intro to pharm and micro modules were really interesting and well taught, even though I didn't have huge interest in either. Unless you like genetics though, I'd avoid the plant and animal genetics module.

I've decided to go with pharmacology because in third year it kind of overlaps with physiology and neuroscience, I think I'll be majoring in one of those!

I have a spare module that I can do either genetics or micro in as they require all cores I need to choose anyway. Thanks for taking the time to reply

smtp95

EoghanIRL wrote: »

Biochem would be handy because most clinical courses require you to study biochem in year 1 and 2. I think bio molecules and metabolism would have you covered.

Thanks very much. I have one 'spare' module I don't need to decide on until September so I'll definitely read up on biochemistry a bit more

nerd95

smtp95 wrote: »

Thanks so much, and sorry for my delay in replying. I've decided that I'll go with pharmacology then either choose a micro or genetics module, sadly I have to do linear algebra in semester 1 so it's taking up one of my modules!

Wishing you all the best with going down the education stream. Thanks again and maybe I'll see you around, haha

Wishing you all the best too hope you will enjoy your chosen subjects!!!! It sounds like a good combination!

Kicon

Hey I'm in the same situation as you I'm choosing neuroscience, genetics and pharmacology but to fill up my modules I was going to do physiology as I've always been interested in Medicine. The thing is do you guys have any idea if the modules for it are going to be really difficult? I'm just asking as I had a few physics modules last year that gave me the fright of my life and I never want to go through that again!!

nerd95

Kicon wrote: »

Hey I'm in the same situation as you I'm choosing neuroscience, genetics and pharmacology but to fill up my modules I was going to do physiology as I've always been interested in Medicine. The thing is do you guys have any idea if the modules for it are going to be really difficult? I'm just asking as I had a few physics modules last year that gave me the fright of my life and I never want to go through that again!!

Some of my friends are planning on doing physiology for 2nd year and according to them if you are interested in the human body and organ systems you should have no issue with it at all.They also told me that there are apparently essay components for the end of semester exam for some of the physiology modules but I think it will be fairly manageable. It seems like an interesting subject
The physics modules in first year gave me a fright too haha!!

Kicon

nerd95 wrote: »

Some of my friends are planning on doing physiology for 2nd year and according to them if you are interested in the human body and organ systems you should have no issue with it at all.They also told me that there are apparently essay components for the end of semester exam for some of the physiology modules but I think it will be fairly manageable. It seems like an interesting subject
The physics modules in first year gave me a fright too haha!!

Ok I was just super scared you know seeing it under the medicine school and I've a friend doing health and life sciences and the anatomy things that she was doing were immense so I was a bit scared. Thanks for clearing it up for me!
Calculus and Applied Maths were my killers failed Applied Maths by 3% in the first semester totally scares the **** out of me

ChromosomeT

physiology is a bit of a killer i did it this year (my 2nd year) and it takes a fair bit of work. The end of semester exam is 25% MCQ and 75% Essays , you pick 3/4! semester one physiology is all about cells and tissues and wasn't to my fancy at all. Most lectures say additional reading is needed but we never do it but for physiology you really do have to! Pocock physiology is amazing and 100 times better and clearer than vanders physiology imo! semester 2 physiology is all organs and system.. a lot of information but definitely more enjoyable! you have CAL's which are computer aided labs and you've to write up on what you see. It'll be an image of say a cross section of bone under a certain stain and you've to describe form and function and was all written into a lab book and handed up in one go at end of term. for organs and system physiology the CAL was typed and you screenshot the images instead of drawing them! you were given a title and had to be very specific on a part of say the lung endothelial cells. Baugh is a great lecturer but his notes are not great so definitely read up on his parts and if you're doing pharmacology there will be some great overlap from physiology in semester 1 to pharmacology in semester 2 on his section so pay attention :L feel free to ask me any Q's ... i could ramble on about it for ages hah

nerd95

ChromosomeT wrote: »

physiology is a bit of a killer i did it this year (my 2nd year) and it takes a fair bit of work. The end of semester exam is 25% MCQ and 75% Essays , you pick 3/4! semester one physiology is all about cells and tissues and wasn't to my fancy at all. Most lectures say additional reading is needed but we never do it but for physiology you really do have to! Pocock physiology is amazing and 100 times better and clearer than vanders physiology imo! semester 2 physiology is all organs and system.. a lot of information but definitely more enjoyable! you have CAL's which are computer aided labs and you've to write up on what you see. It'll be an image of say a cross section of bone under a certain stain and you've to describe form and function and was all written into a lab book and handed up in one go at end of term. for organs and system physiology the CAL was typed and you screenshot the images instead of drawing them! you were given a title and had to be very specific on a part of say the lung endothelial cells. Baugh is a great lecturer but his notes are not great so definitely read up on his parts and if you're doing pharmacology there will be some great overlap from physiology in semester 1 to pharmacology in semester 2 on his section so pay attention :L feel free to ask me any Q's ... i could ramble on about it for ages hah

Do you mind me asking what other subjects you did this year? I chose genetics as one of my subjects and there is a CAL component to it too- do you have any idea what the computer aided lab for genetics would consist of? Are they difficult and how long are such CAL's?

ChromosomeT

nerd95 wrote: »

Do you mind me asking what other subjects you did this year? I chose genetics as one of my subjects and there is a CAL component to it too- do you have any idea what the computer aided lab for genetics would consist of? Are they difficult and how long are such CAL's?

i picked physiology, pharmacology and chemistry and my second year choice and now i'm specialising in pharmacology. I know a few who did genetic and i think they found it alright. Geraldine Butler is a bit of a nightmare but she tends to warm up over time! the CALs are typically 2 hours long and there's demonstrators that go around, as well as a lecture and it's very helpful. Physiology CAL isn't graded on attendance btw but not sure on genetics.