Moravian College
Division of Natural Sciences
Biochemistry majors must take a minimum of 13.5 courses which have laboratory components. 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, but don't avoid lab courses completely in your first semester, or it will put you at a serious disadvantage. CHEM113–114 is a one-year sequence, so if you don't take it in your freshman year you won't be able to begin until sophomore year, which will delay all the subsequent courses in your major.
Based on past experience, the Chemistry department strongly recommends that students intending to major in Biochemistry but who have Math SAT scores below 500 should not take more than one laboratory or calculus course their first semester (i.e. you should just take CHEM113); if you have questions, you should contact a member of the Biology or Chemistry faculty.
take MATH170 (Analytic Geometry and Calculus I) in the fall and MATH171 (Analytic Geometry and Calculus II) in the spring.
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 Biochemistry majors.
optionally, take either General Zoology (BIO112) or Introductory Botany (BIO119) in the fall or spring. To understand the pros and cons of this choice, here are a couple of possible four-year course sequences for Biochemistry majors.