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SFU Major: Kinesiology, MBB, Biology, or Health Sci?

soggybread
edited June 2008 in General
I'm entering SFU this fall, and am looking around for what kind of major I want. There's basically 4 I've been considering:

-Kinesiology
-MBB
-Biology
-Health Sci

I'm signed up for biological sciences, but am having some second doubts about my choice.

I was just wondering if people who have taken any of these courses could give me some recommendations on how they are liking the class, is it interesting? hard? do the profs teach well?

Ultimately, I'd like to apply for a med school after this, what's the general consensus for the usual route people take? Which one would most easily get me a higher GPA?


And if I don't make it to med school (odds are I probably won't, so much competition...), I'd like to have a profession that directly applies to people's health, so I'm also wondering which major would lead me to the best path towards that.

Thanks very much in advance.

Comments

  • kiran
    edited June 2008
    hello there :)
    i graduated from sfu last summer and i majored in mbb so i'll give you some input on my experience, hopefully it helps you out. i personally really liked mbb. the classes were interesting and as you got into the upper division courses, you got to pick from so many classes, which were all cool - stuff like immunology, metabolism, and advanced mbb lab techniques. the profs were awesome too. my favourites were dr. sinclair, dr. davidson and dr. kovalyova. if you are looking into med (which i did myself as well while i was at sfu), the requirements for ubc med match the courses that you'll complete if you major in mbb prettyyy closely. one of the main upper division classes they look at is mbb 321. as for getting a high gpa, mbb is probably one of the hardest from the ones you listed. kinesiology is pretty tough as well from what i know - my sister is majoring in that. biology is a good one to major in because it has a lot of options and a lot of variety in the topics each class offers. i did my minor in biology and found the classes to be a lot easier than mbb. i did classes in health sciences as well, no upper divison because it was fairly new while i was there, so i don't know much about that faculty. so basically, mbb is more lab-based and research-based, kinesiology is more about the human body and anatomy and all that, and biology is more so a mix of it all, including environment and plants and animals. all in all, even if you don't go to med, you should be able to get a job in health care with any of the science degrees you listed. it just depends if it will be in a hospital or in a lab doing research that will benefit the medical field. i got a few job offers with companies as a research assistant (entry level) with my mbb degree. anyways, i know this is a lot of information, but it's better to know more than less so you can make the best decision for yourself!
    good luck with school :)
  • JayDub
    edited June 2008
    Wow one big block of text makes me not want to read that.

    Remember, grammar is your friend.
  • Simon604
    edited June 2008
    I would recommend Biology or Health Sciences. These programs consist of mid-level classes covering a variety of different topics, so the work load is interesting and manageable. From what I know, MBB is very research intensive and meticuolous (you'll see what I mean if you ever take CHEM 281 or MBB 221). As for medical school, keep in mind that you don't have to have a Science degree to be considered for admission. You can have an Arts degree for all they care as long as you have completed all the prerequisite courses. Unfortunately, the prerequisites are mostly Science classes so students usually end up pursuing a Bachelor's in Science as opposed to an unrelated field.

    Some other things to keep in mind are that everyone's interests and personalities vary. What you are interested in has a big part to play in how successful you will be in the faculty you choose. For example, if you genuinely like bird watching, camping, and are an outdoors type of person, you will love the Ecology stream of Biology which deals with Plants, Animals, the Environment and all the interactions between them. Or if you like human anatomy, sports, and how the body works you will prefer Kinesiology. Most students that are new to University don't really know what they like, so the best way to find out is by enrolling in the different classes. If you are undecided at this point, it's usually best to take a year or so to explore your interests before making a decision about which major to pursue.

    P.S. Make sure you have a solid Plan B, because UBC med is nearly impossible to get into. You literally have to be the "cream of the crop."
  • simmie
    edited June 2008
    how do you signup for a specific area?

    I mean i just applied for science year one...and i wasn't asked to choose any specific area
  • Kevin M.Kevin M.
    edited June 2008
    You have to declare a Major sometime in second year...I think thats what he meant. Go to the Applied Science main office one day they will have all the options there, or you can look online in the Program Planners

    Oh yea, and according to which Major you choose, those are the type of classes you will be taking in your upper division (year 3 and 4)
  • lazyGUY
    edited June 2008
    For now you don't really have to worry about picking a major, what you do have to think about is getting all the requisites you need to declare a major in your second year.
    You have been accepted in to science year 1 (surrey im assuming), look at the program planners that Kevin M. mentioned and pick and choose what classes you need for wtvr major you end up choosing. Im doing MBB right now and it is harder than just Biology but it really depends on what you want to become later on.

    In my first semester I took chem 121, math 154, phys 100, and bio 101, that was a pretty heavy course load and i didnt end up doing so well, so I would recommend throwing some Arts classes into the mix as well..... instead of all Science/math classes.

    Just make sure your knocking off some pre-requisites off the list of classes you need to complete your specific major, so you can get out of here as soon as possible..lol

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