Classes Classes

So today I'll get into classes and what you should be studying. You might think that it's beneficial to study marine science right off the bat. Wrong! The important thing is to study basic biology, chemistry, physics, geology and math, all of which you can accomplish with a biology, chemistry, etc. major. Make sure that if you do study marine science, your program recommends - or better yet, requires - these courses. I've herd through the grapevine that at least one undergrad program doesn't require all of these courses. Unless you know to take them, you'll be out of luck in you want to continue on to grad school. As far as what courses I'm talking about...(and this is from the POV of a biology major...this will be different if you're studying one of the other sciences)...

Intro Biology - Your run-of-the-mill basic bio class for science majors. This should be a repeat of what you learned in high school, but on a more in-depth level.

Cellular and Molecular Biology - At some schools, these are two separate courses. At mine, this was one course.

Genetics - A lot of people dislike it, I love it. Punnett squares get more complicated, and there's more math involved. But come on, population genetics is awesome!

Ecology - I personally found it ridiculously easy and boring (partially because my instructor is a plant ecologist....sorry, plants aren't my thing)

Physiology - Almost forgot this one! My class was on comparative physiology. Really tested my poor memorization skills, but I got through it.

But wait, there's more! (Man, I can still hear my art history instructor's voice when I write that)

Intro (inorganic?) Chemistry - again, an in-depth repeat of high school chemistry.

Organic Chemistry - You'll need at least one semester unless this is your major. It sucks, no matter how, no matter where, it is unnecessarily difficult and there's no way around it. Embrace it, go into it with an open mind and you'll get out alive (God help you if you have to take the second semester though as I did :/). The labs were far better/fun.

Physics - For all the grad programs I applied to, you just needed a year, no level specified. My school has two level: University is Calculus-based and is usually taken by overachievers or younger students with Calculus fresh in their minds. College is Algebra-based and is for the masses who just want to get by alive. Guess where I was...

Geology - This is sort-of the wild card....you might not need it, but if you can fit it into your schedule you'll be that much more well-rounded in the sciencesgo for it, so I say . I don't have much to say about the lecture: honestly, my habit was to read the school paper and then pass out (In my defense, I later realized it was because the lights were always off. My instructor left the lights on for the last class and I was unnaturally alert.). The lab was by far one of my favorites, and I've gushed to other students about how awesome the lab instructor is.

Math - You should take Calculus I, which will be decently easy if you've taken AP. Calculus II gets a little more dicey.

So that's the minimum you should take as an undergrad. But if your institution has a marine science major or marine science faculty, then you'll be lucky enough to take marine science courses. I had four required courses and some electives.

Intro Marine Science - In my program, this is the "Let's dabble in everything possible and separate the real marine scientists from the dolphin trainer wannabes" class. Yes, most of the class was on the dull side. I'm not terribly excited by the Coriolis Effect, and I hope to study plankton as little as possible from now on. But someone who is genuinely interested will see the relevance of all this and appreciate it. The ones who just want to swim with whales will give up - and about a quarter of this class did. We also had a lab on our marine science campus which introduced us to different topics. The includede pic is from this lab.

Marine Biology - Now it starts getting fun! This is what most people want to learn about, marine organisms. A bit dull at the beginning with smaller invertebrates, but you eventually get to the better stuff like corals, fishes, mammals, and birds. This class included my favorite lab, where we explored different local communities and ended by designing our own projects (on a small scale) which we later presented.

Chemical Oceanography - You know how I said earlier that you have to find the relevance to get by sometimes? Yea....that was this whole course for me. It was rough, it was so hard, it involved a cruise in which I spent most of the day in the fetal position on the deck of the research vessel. And personally, I can only learn so much about chemical processes in the ocean before I toss my hands up in defeat. But it was required. And this pains me to say it, but for the record: the lab was very relevant to my research internship....damnit.

Physical Oceanography - I'd put this class in the middle...not at "Chem O" level, not at marine biology level. This class focused on physical processes, and much of it focused on the relationship between the atmosphere and the ocean. Class material was a bit hard, but we could complete writing assignments for points, which helped me better grasp concepts. It ended with a large paper (not mandatory) where you chose 500 km of your favorite coastline and reseached every physical aspect possible. I must admit it was one of the more rewarding papers I've written on marine science.

I also took classes in...

Marine Mammals - The class to be in at my institution. Finally, we get to learn about dolphins and whales! My class was physiology-heavy.

Readings in Marine Science - One of the best classes I've taken. Every week we read on or two articles (My specific class was on diseases in marine organisms) and once a week we met to discuss and critique.

My only other advice would be to remain interested in other non-science topics. A lot of people in my classes liked to take the easy way out and focus solely on science. That's great at times, but I would rather be in an interesting class than a boring class. (However, PLEASE don't even take a 300 level philosophy class. Talk about testing my sanity!) My primary interests are in biology, but I also love art and history and took many classes in them (Alright, they were required gen ed courses but still). Hopefully you're a bit more excited now!

Next up - extracurriculars!

How I Got Here

Summer '09 - hard at work in my summer internship.
I'll get into those later.

My first post! As I have two weeks at home before moving south and getting into my new life, I thought I'd use this time to focus on my undergrad experiences and what I've learned.
So the obvious first question....how did I get here?

So, I grew up in DC...I know, not the best place to lear about marine life right? But anyways, I was always interested in science. Around pre-school/kindergarten, I decided that I was going to be a paleontologist (luckily that fell through, that requires studying geology o_0). I was immediately whisked away to the National Museum of Natural History for years to feed my curiosity (props to Ma for that!), and my dream stuck until I was nine and we visited my godparents in San Diego.

In San Diego, we visited - what else - Sea World. And as I told a friend, Shamu showed me the light. I don't know why exactly, but from then on I was hooked on marine life. I read a ridiculous amount of books on marine life at the public library and trips branched out to include the National Aquarium in Baltimore. In high school, I worked hard in science and math and took AP courses in both. The summer before my senior year, I interned at the local aquarium (that's right, y'all didn't know DC had an aquarium did you?) as an education docent, which really cemented my interests in marine science. And with that, I applied to marine science programs at five schools, four in Florida and one in South Carolina. Yes, I am not a fan of winters (well, I wasn't, I appreciate seasons much more now). I ended up at a school in Florida, and here I am four years later with a degree in hand and a new adventure in front of me.

I think I'll go into my college experience - specifically classes - tomorrow.