#IChoseKings - Bachelor of Science
Hello future King's students!
This Saturday marks our first Open House of the year here at King's! Our 6:01 blog theme leading up to Open House has been #IChoseKings, highlighting why our students have chosen King's Bachelor Degrees. Today we have the lovely Sarah van der Ende sharing her experience of the Bachelor of Science degree. Science degrees at King's are offered in 3 or 4 years degrees depending on the major of choice. There are 4 different majors available: Biology, Chemistry, Computing Science and Environmental Studies.
Check out my interview with Sarah, who is a 3rd year Biology Major:
What are the highlights of this program?
There's a lot of really great things about the science program at King's, but small classes and labs are two definite benefits. Small classes allows for a more dynamic learning environment in the classroom, and you build good relationships with your fellow classmates. Labs are almost like an additional class you have to take in conjuncture with the lecture. At King's, you get hands-on lab experience, not only in your undergraduate, but even in starting in your first year. There's a senior research project you'll do in your third or fourth year where you work closely with a professor, and you'll design and conduct your own research project. It'll be a lot of work, but I'm really looking forward to that next year.
What are your favourite courses?
Wow, there's a lot of really cool courses offered at kings. Some of my favourite so far are Ecology, Genetics and Organic Chemistry. We had a really awesome prof for Ecology who made the class so much fun, and we had a lot of lab field trips. For example, we went out to Elk Island and bushwhacked for three hours, counting the number of shrubs in marked out quadrants. Genetics and Organic Chem were both challenging courses, but enjoyable. There was a group of us that would sit together in class, go to all the help sessions, and we would spend hours studying together. If there's one way to make friends, it's by struggling through and learning Organic Chemistry together.
Who is your favourite professor?
I don't really have a favourite! Why? because they're all really cool, and I'm not just saying that in case they read this! Dr. Heather Prior is my academic advisor, and I have sat in her office drinking tea and talking about the courses I need, or just talking about how our summers went. Dr. Vern Peters was my Ecology professor, and he was awesome. He's willing to explain concepts until you understand, he's planned a class basketball game instead of a lab, and he has the most interesting stories. Dr. Leah Martin-Visscher taught Organic Chemistry, and she would take the time to hold help sessions for students each week. She's also willing to go through your midterms with you and explain where you got it wrong, and help you work to fully understand difficult concepts. I could say so many great things about all the professors at King's, but that would take far too long! Moral of the story: your professors are great people who want to see you succeed! Take the time to get to know them.
Any tips for prospective students?
Get to know your profs, they're one of your most valuable resources. Go to class and pay attention, often profs will elaborate on things that you can't find in the textbook. Find a group of friends in your classes that you can work with, compare notes, study with, complain with, etc. You may have done really well in high school; I did too. But university is harder, and you're going to have to put in more effort. So study, do your homework, embrace your inner nerd. Also, if you get a bad mark, don't freak out. I can't stress this enough. Most science classes have two midterms, assignments, and a lab portion, so the grade is well distributed. Meaning if you do poorly on a midterm, it's not the end of the world. Find out what you did wrong, and work to improve it for the next time.
If you are interest in our Bachelor of Science degree, you can get more information here! Good luck as you decide which degree is the best fit for you!
xoxo,
Gossip Girl
j.k. It's Becky