Walking into University blind - need ground basic help

[VivaTequila]

Howdy,

Well I accepted an offer into Bachelor of Science, and then got to my subject selection page, and then realised I had no idea how university worked at all.

All I know is that essentially you have a 'Major' in your Science Degree, which you likely can specialize into a specific path, and in this Major you have to have certain subjects that you can complete.

Now looking at the online university handbook, I'm discovering everything is incredibly cryptic unless you're already in the know.

A lot of the handbook is requirements saying that you have to attain points, with requirements on the amount of points accrued at each of many levels. Can someone explain what these levels are and how this works? Specifically, phrases in the handbook like this are confusing me:

Students commencing the BSc from 2011 onwards

Successful completion of 300 points comprising:

225 points of science subjects including:
At least 62.5 points at Level 1
At least 62.5 points at Level 2
At least 75 points at Level 3 (including 50 points of a prescribed science major at Level 3)
50 points of breadth subjects including at least 12.5 points at Level 2 or Level 3
25 points (either science subjects or breadth subjects) at Level 1, 2 or 3

Additional requirements:

No more than 125 points at Level 1 may be included in the BSc
No more than 37.5 points of breadth at Level 1 may be included in the BSc
Progression: Students must normally complete 50 points of study at one subject year level before proceeding to the next subject year level.
Diversity of Level 1 science study: Students must complete Level 1 subjects from at least two different areas of study. A maximum of 37.5 points at Level 1 from any single area of study may be completed. The areas of study available are: Biology; Chemistry; Earth Sciences; Engineering Systems; Geography and Environments; Informatics; Mathematics and Statistics; Physics; Psychology; Vision Sciences
Science points.

Subjects attracting science points in the BSc are listed below.

Special Arrangements:

In the case of the study area of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), students who seek to undertake further subjects in order to complete the equivalent of a major in HPS will be permitted to take up to 25 points of additional breadth study in HPS, replacing 25 points of the science requirements of the BSc. For a BSc student, the equivalent of a major in HPS is the completion of 100 points of HPS subjects (25 points at Level 1, 37.5 points at Level 2 and 37.5 points at Level 3 including HPSC30035 Knowledge in the Making. These students will be required to satisfy all other completion requirements of the BSc. This arrangement is only available to students who have not completed any other breadth subjects for credit in the BSc. In order to complete the 112.5 points required at Level 3 within this arrangement (i.e. across science and HPS studies), students should consider undertaking a Level 3 HPS subject in the second year of their course.

From there on in, these are the following majors that look appealing to me:

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biotechnology
Cell and Developmental Biology
Chemical Systems
Chemistry
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Human Structure and Function
Microbiology, Infection, and Immunology
Neuroscience
Pathology
Pharmacology
Physiology

I'm assuming all of them except for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology would be able to open up a pathway into MD later on?

So from here, I don't know whether or not I'll like each of these courses and whether I'd want to study them. I want to keep my options open, and so I'm guessing that in first year university I would need to pick generic subjects that satisfy as many pre-requisites as possible.

I've ascertained that a major has pre-requisite subjects, and these subjects have previous pre-requisite subjects. Using Chemistry (specialising in Medicinal Chemistry as an example), the university handbook says:


Meaning that to complete this major, I would need to have done those four subjects. Taking the first subject; CHEM30016 Reactivity and Mechanism, it has the following pre-requisites:


I'm pretty sure that it means that in order to do the Medicinal Chemistry Major, I need to do all of those four subjects, and then in order to do those four subjects they will all have their individual pre-requisites that I need to do beforehand?

If thats right then how on earth do you satisfy all the prerequisites to keep your major options open?? It seems like you will need to decide on one major from day one and then stick to it if you ever hope to complete it?

Sorry, just a massive university noob that has only started doing my research for it now... and thanks for all generic advice on the actual course structure.

[mark_alec]

Levels correspond to year levels and roughly to "difficulty", "advancement". Level 1 is first year subjects, level 2 is second year subjects etc.

A subject is normally worth 12.5 points, normal load (four subjects) is 50 points a semester, 100 points a year.

The part about HPS (History and Philosophy of Science) is a special condition that allows you to take more arts subjects in a science degree if those subjects are HPS; you can probably ignore it.

Since you know that you want to go into the health sciences, you should do in first year: biology, chemistry and physics (for the GAMSAT). That should keep open all the majors you have listed as being interested in, the system becomes simpler if you work from the bottom up (what can I do this year, limited to: biology, chemistry, physics, maths, engineering, informatics, psychology) than looking at third year subjects and trying to work out how to satisfy all the prerequisites.

That being said, go along to Academic Advice Day, they will explain how things work.

[jasrulz63]

Thing to remember is that if you want to apply for Melbourne's MD, you need to satisfy second year (level 2) prerequisites, which are (well the recommended ones);
PHYS20008 - Human Physiology
ANAT20006 - Principles of Human Structure
BCMB20002 - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The prerequisites for these are satisfied by completing Chemistry 1/2 and both semesters of Biology in first year. So that's four subjects right there. Not all majors will include all three of these subjects in their pathways, so make sure you keep this in mind. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology for example doesn't have these subjects in it's pathway, but when you do a major, not every single subject slot will be taken up by subjects relating to that major, therefore you have slots where you can complete the MD prerequisite subjects. Therefore the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major can still lead to MD.

If you look at most (if not all) those majors you listed, you will most likely need to do chemistry and/or biology in first year for most of them (in order to eventually satisfy the third year prerequisite subjects). I personally didn't decide my major until after my first year. Second year is the year where you have to start narrowing them down, and start choosing subjects more specific to a major.

When you're looking at subjects, the format of the subject code, i.e. PHYS20008, the number right after the letters (that indicate department) is the level of the subject. 1 is level 1, 2 is level 2 and 3 is level 3 (there are other numbers for postgrad subjects and such).

With your medicinal chemistry major question, what you said is right, to have that major you need to do all four subjects, and that those subjects have prerequisites that have to be met. Taking a quick look at it, to complete all four subjects you showed there (all which are level 3), there are four subjects in second year (level 2) that you have to complete. Those four subjects in second year have chemistry and biology as prerequisite level 1 (first year subjects). However as I mentioned above, doing chemistry/biology in first year, doesn't suddenly limit you to only that major, because pretty much any major in that list you provided has chemistry/biology as first year prerequisites. It's once you get to second year where you begin to need to narrow down majors.

In all three years, provided you do what I mentioned above for that major, you have two free slots every semester, 4-6 will be taken up by breadth, and the other 6-8 can be science subjects you find interesting, that don't necessarily focus on your major (and to also complete the MD prerequisites), but ensure you meet the prerequisites for these too.

EDIT: Should mention that you don't have to do level 1 subjects in first year, level 2 in second year etc. however you have to make sure you keep within the credit points
limits you mentioned in your OP.