Principles of Human Structure in Semester One

[robikish]

if you're enrolled in this subject for semester one you got sent this in an email:

"Students enrolled in ANAT20006 Principles of Human Structure should note that this subject is offered in both first and second semesters. Currently, we have nearly four times as many students enrolled in first semester as in second semester in this subject. Students may like to consider the impact of a large first semester class
size on their likely experience in this subject and consider changing their enrolment to semester 2."

what does everyone think?  for those not aware this subject is one of the prereqs for grad medicine/dentistry etc. so no surprise its very popular.  probably will be 2nd and 3rd year science people, and crazys from other degrees doing this as breadth.  im currently planning to do it in semester one, doing it in semester two would mean swapping it for physio and that just gives me a yuck timetable

at the moment there are 4 practical classes scheduled, so for a subject 4x the size of an average 2nd year subject (presumably), can the facilities in medical building cope or will they have to schedule more? 

[Russ]

They won't schedule more classes until they hit max capacity in every available practical session. Having a small group in labs is really good, because you'll get to spend time playing with the prosections and actually exploring them. If you've got to share with 20 other people it's much less accessible.

I wouldn't really worry about it though unless it becomes apparent that the overcrowding is a real problem, generally the uni is just trying to cover themselves with those emails

[bridger]

LOL im doing it second semester
Everyone I know is doing it first semester though so I can understand why theres why theres so many more people in semester 1

[jasrulz63]

I'm doing it first semester, and it stuffs up my timetable too much to do it second semester. Human Physiology was also really highly filled first semester that they had to move their lectures from Wright to Sunderland theatre. Also, got another email saying that Techniques in Molecular Science was really full in second semester. Looks like a lot of people have similar study plans when it comes to med prereqs and such.

[Edmund]

Anatomy and Biochem were initially single semester subjects (first sem). Then they decided to run it in 2 semesters after everyone had enrolled so not many actually bothered to change their study plans haha!

[Russ]

I'm doing it first semester, and it stuffs up my timetable too much to do it second semester. Human Physiology was also really highly filled first semester that they had to move their lectures from Wright to Sunderland theatre. Also, got another email saying that Techniques in Molecular Science was really full in second semester. Looks like a lot of people have similar study plans when it comes to med prereqs and such.

Techniques is because it clashes/has really bad synergy with the biomed core subject (or at least it did last year) so you've immediately got 400 people who will only want to do it 2nd semester

[robikish]

I wouldn't really worry about it though unless it becomes apparent that the overcrowding is a real problem, generally the uni is just trying to cover themselves with those emails

thanks for the tip russ but i'm still a little concerned... theres only a few pracs in the semester (four i think) so what if your first one is 3 weeks in and overcrowding is a big issue??  may not be past the census date but its a lot of work to catch up on if you decide to switch..

also strictly speaking, techniques in molecular science isnt a prereq for the grad programs, so i suppose biochem is the major most of the med hopefuls are going for?  thats pretty much the case in america.  im going for an anatomy major myself hopefully, surgeons are complaining that too much anatomy has being cut out of the med school curriculum

[Russ]

Nah biochemistry definitely isn't the major most med hopefuls are taking, it's just that it's the standard lab subject for a bunch of majors and if you're in biomedicine you could only do it 2nd semester without having a crappy timetable. To be honest, your major is really pretty irrelevant as it's a fairly minor part of your education in the graduate medicine pathway (and it certainly won't make you a more attractive candidate in 10 years time.)

If I had to pick the most popular majors, probably anatomy/physiology (obviously) and then maybe microbiology/defence and disease

[jasrulz63]

I'm doing Human Structure and Function

I'm doing Techniques in Molecular Science, because I want to do the Exploring Human Disease subject, which I think sounds fascinating.

[robikish]

pathology sounds great, going to take two 3rd year pathology subjects as a part of the anatomy major

[Russ]

Pathology is just wannabe microbiology/immunology

[robikish]

pish, pathology is fundamental