Moravian College
Division of Natural Sciences
Biology majors must take a minimum of 12 courses which have laboratory components (2 semesters of General Chemistry, 2 of Organic Chemistry, Zoology, Botany, Genetics, Cell Physiology, and 4 biology electives). Given an 8-semester undergraduate career, you're clearly going to have at least some semesters with more than one laboratory course, and there's no point in delaying the inevitable. If you're apprehensive about getting in over your head too soon, just take CHEM113 and your math course in the fall semester and tackle your first two-lab semester in the spring. Don't listen to those non-science-major sissies who try to scare you into delaying it any longer than that, or it will complicate your life unnecessarily.
Based on past experience, the Chemistry department strongly recommends that students intending to major in Biology but who have Math SAT scores below 500 should not take more than one laboratory or calculus course their first semester. If you're planning on entering medical school after graduation, take just CHEM113 in the fall, don't also take calculus or a biology lab course; you'll need to take Chemistry now in order to be ready for the MCATs in your junior year. If you don't plan on applying to medical school, an alternative would be to take BIOL112 or BIOL119 in the fall and put off CHEM113–114 until your sophomore year. If you have questions, you should contact a member of the Biology or Chemistry faculty.
take both semesters of General Chemistry (CHEM113 in the fall and CHEM114 in the spring). These courses are pre-requisites for Organic Chemistry (CHEM211 and CHEM212), which is typically taken in the sophomore year. All four courses are required for Biology majors.
fulfill your mathematics requirement with one of the following:
[Note that MATH106 plus MATH166 is the equivalent of MATH170, but takes 2 semesters to complete. If you are thinking about possibly going on to graduate or professional school after graduation, taking Physics is strongly recommended (but not in your first year!) and therefore you should strongly consider MATH170 or MATH106/166. For those of you considering going on to medical school, you will ultimately need to take either the calculus-based Physics courses (PHYS111 and PHYS112) or Physics for the Life Sciences (PHYS109 and PHYS110).]
take either General Zoology (BIO112) or Introductory Botany (BIO119), preferably both. What's the sense in not taking a biology course in your freshman year if you're interested in majoring in Biology?