Transcript Welcome to CBU and the School of Sciences Biology Department Chemistry Department Mathematics & Computer Science Department Physics & Natural Science Department.

Welcome to CBU
and the
School of Sciences
Biology Department
Chemistry Department
Mathematics & Computer Science Department
Physics & Natural Science Department
Freedom and Responsibility
College will be different than high school.
• You will have less formal class time each week.
• You will have to make your own choices about
what major to pursue, what courses to take, and
when and how to study.
With this added freedom comes the responsibility
for making your choices. You will have to live
with the results of those choices. We have an
obligation to help you, but we do NOT have an
obligation to pass you. It is your responsibility to
learn and succeed.
When you need help
When (not if) you need help:
1. Don’t panic. Everyone finds math and science hard. It
doesn’t mean that you are dumb!
2. Re-read the text or go back over sample problems in the
text or notes.
3. Form a study group for each of your classes.
4. Formulate questions to ask before you come to see your
professor.
5. Review your quizzes and tests when you get them back,
and try to see WHY you missed what you missed, and what
you might do differently in the future to avoid those types of
mistakes.
Choosing Majors
biology heavy
math heavy
Biology
Computer Sci Mathematics
Biomedical Sci Chemistry
Engr Physics
Biochemistry
Physics
Ecology
all engineering majors
In most cases, the courses you take are as important, if not
more, than the major you choose. Try to find a career that
interests you, and choose your major and the courses to
support that career!
Changing Majors
You can change majors at the start of any
semester.
It is easier to finish in four years if you decide on your area
of interest early in your career.
1. Going into your freshmen year, it is helpful (but not
absolutely necessary) if you can decide among:
Arts, Business, Engineering/Physical Sciences, or Life
Sciences.
2. Going into your sophomore year in Science, it is helpful
(but not absolutely necessary) if you can decide among:
2a. Biology, Biomedical Science, Biochemistry,
Chemistry, Ecology or Natural Science; or
2b. Computer Science, Math, Physics, or the
various areas of Engineering (EE, ME, CE, ChemE).
Changing Majors
Choosing a major for the first semester does
not lock you into that major for your
college career. Keep talking to your
professors and your fellow students about
their courses, and try to find a field that is
both interesting and fits your talents.
If you want to change your major, all it takes
is for you to investigate a new major (talk
to a faculty member in that area), and then
see the Dean of Academic Advising about
the formal process.
Paradigms
Paradigms for all of the Science majors are on the
web. They will be more easily accessed from the
Sciences’ main web page in the future, but for now:
1. Go to www.cbu.edu
2. Click on Academics
3. Under School of Sciences click on
Undergraduate Programs
4. Click on the degree, concentration, option, or
minor that you are interested in.
Paradigms
• All paradigms start with English and Math.
• Biology, Biomedical Science, Biochemistry, and
Ecology all start with BIOL 111 and lab.
Chemistry may also start with BIOL 111 and lab
if you are interested in the health area.
• All paradigms with the exception of Computer
Science and Math start with Chemistry.
• Social Sciences, Religious Studies, and free
electives can be moved around to different
semesters.
Math placement
In order to place students appropriately, so as not to either
overburden or bore students, we use a placement system
based on ACT scores:
MATH ACT score
below 20 means you start with ALG 115
20 to 22 means you are ready for MATH 103.
23 to 25 means you are ready for MATH 107 & 110 concurrently.
26 means you are ready for MATH 117.
27 and above means you are ready for MATH 131.
There are math placements tests you can take to try to qualify
for a higher level math course – see the web page on the
Math Department page:
http://www.cbu.edu/math-placement-tests-day-students
Prerequisites for CHEM & BIOL
In order to qualify to take a CHEM course, you
need a MATH ACT score of at least 20, and you
need to take the Chemistry Placement test to see
whether you place into CHEM 101 or CHEM 113.
If you don’t have at least a MATH ACT score of 20, you need to pass
the ALG 115 & 120 courses to qualify to take a CHEM course.
In order to qualify to take BIOL 111, the 1st biology
course, you need to have a COMPOSITE ACT
score of 22 or better and take either CHEM 101 or
113 concurrently. If you don’t have a COMPOSITE ACT score
of at least 22, you need to pass the CHEM 1xx course to qualify to take
the BIOL 111 course.
Advanced Placement (AP)
and
Dual Enrollment
If you have credits you are bringing in from AP or Dual
Enrollment, you may be able to jump ahead of the
suggested paradigm for your major that is on the web.
You might be interested in:
• taking a lighter load (due to sports or work)
• pursuing courses outside your major,
• pursuing a dual degree, or
• graduating in less than four years.
Be sure to talk to your advisor about these possibilities if
you have credits coming in. Possibilities for dual
degrees are not listed yet on the new CBU web design,
but I hope to have them listed soon.
General Education Requirements
A college degree indicates to society that the person has
received a well-rounded education in addition to
receiving job/career preparation skills. A professional
has to communicate with a lot of different people and so
must have a base of knowledge to do that. At CBU all
majors require the following:
Two courses in English composition
Math 105 or higher
One science course with lab
One literature course
Two social science courses
One Ethics course
Two Religious Studies courses
Be sure to check with the catalog and/or your academic
advisor about which courses satisfy the GER
requirements.
General Education Requirements
To see a listing of the specific courses that count
for the individual requirements,
1. Go to the CBU home page at www.cbu.edu
2. Click on myCBU (near top)
3. Click on Academic Catalog (at the very bottom
on the right)
4. The courses that satisfy the different areas of
the GER’s start on page 24* (scroll on the
bottom for faster page changing). Page 24 is listed as page
26-27 at the bottom.
Health Careers
All the professional health schools have their own
sets of requirements. None of them specify a
particular degree, but they do specify certain
courses. Our Pre-Health Director has placed
this information on the web.
1. Go to the CBU home page at www.cbu.edu,
2. Click on Academics,
3. Under Sciences, click on Undergraduate
Programs,
4. Scroll down and click on link under Pre-Health
Programs heading
Prerequisites
Most of the science and math courses depend on
previous coursework either in the field or in a
supporting field.
For example, BIOL 311 Genetics has a prerequisite of BIOL 112 and
CHEM 212; CHEM 212 has a prereq of CHEM 211 which has a
prereq of CHEM 114 which has a prereq of CHEM 113.
It is important to learn the material in the prereq
courses well so that you can do well in the
follow-on courses.
The paradigm for your major helps you keep on
track and manage all of the prerequisite
requirements.
Corequisites
Most science classes have a lab attached, and the
lab is almost always a corequisite for the course.
This is done so that separate grades may be
given to each – which is useful in the case of
multiple labs where the lecture teacher and the
lab teacher may be different. It is also useful to
students if they want to repeat one part but not
the other.
Note that BIOL 111 has a corequisite of CHEM
101 or higher, as well as a corequisite of the
BIOL 111 lab.
Pre and Co-requisites
To see the prerequisite and corequisite
requirements for any course,
1. Go on the CBU home page on the web at
www.cbu.edu ,
2. Click on Academics,
3. Under Sciences, click on the department (e.g.
Biology)
4. At the top of the page, click on the link
Courses, and scroll till you find the course you
are interested in. It will list the prereqs near the
end of the description.
Science Labs
Many of the Science courses, including some math
and computer science courses, have labs.
• It is important to be on time and prepared for labs –
for safety sake and to be fair to your lab partner.
• Labs are hard to make up – it takes time to prepare
labs and then to take them down, and some require
time sensitive materials so it may not be possible to
make up some labs.
• For athletes (and others)
– Some labs (not all) have sections offered in the mornings
– some labs have multiple sections, so sometimes athletes
can come to a different section if a game happens on a
lab day, but check with your instructor about this
– classes & labs take precedence over practices – always.
Course Information for Registration
College classes do NOT meet every day like most high
school classes.
• TR means Tuesday and Thursday
• MWF means Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
• BIOL 111 has three lecture meetings PLUS a discussion
section (on Tuesday or Thursday at 8:30 AM)
• CHEM 101 does not have a lab with it, but CHEM 113
does have a lab
• CHEM 113 labs meet every other week, so there are two
sections of CHEM 113 labs that appear on the schedule
to meet at the same time
• Math placement tests can be repeated later if you want
to try to place higher. For now, though, register for the
MATH course you placed into. We’ll adjust your
schedule later if you place higher.
• Chemistry placement tests can NOT be repeated.
Caution
about back-to-back classes
It may (or may not) be possible to take all of
your classes on MWF or all on TR, and it
may be possible to take several classes
back-to-back. This may seem attractive to
commuter students. However, be aware
that on some days (especially near mid-term
and near the end of the semester) you may
have tests in some or all of these classes
and you may appreciate a break between
classes to re-focus and prepare for those
tests.
Chemistry planning
The normal paradigms that require
chemistry start with CHEM 113 in the fall
and CHEM 114 in the spring.
If you are placed into CHEM 101 instead of
CHEM 113, you can catch up by taking
CHEM 101 in the fall, CHEM 113 in the
spring, and CHEM 114 during the
summer.
Homework and Study
All of the courses in the School of Sciences require
outside study and/or homework – some of it is
graded and some of it is not. It is important to
do the readings and homework in all cases since
homework and outside study assignments both
support material covered in class and cover
additional topics not covered in class.
Homework and study provide you with reasons
and material to talk about with your instructor, so
take advantage of these opportunities to get to
know your subject and your instructor.
Homework and Study
Rule of thumb: On average, you should study
two hours outside of class for every hour you are
in class. This translates into a 45 hour work
week for a 15 credit course load. College is a
full-time job!
Beware of one of humanity’s greatest weaknesses:
procrastination. It is hard or impossible to seek
good help on the night before an assignment is
due, so do it early and seek help if you need it.
Study Skills
There are two important study skills:
• HOW you study and
• WHEN you study.
If you are having problems with a subject, talk to
your professor and/or advisor and see what it
takes to study the subject efficiently.
Time management is the key to WHEN you study.
Some of our athletes with all of their practices
and games turn out to be some of our better
students because they have learned how to
manage their time.
Student Groups
Think about joining the student group in your
area AND those close to your area:
• Beta Beta Beta in Biology
• Student Members of the American
Chemical Society
• Student Chapter of the Mathematical
Association of America
• Society of Physics Students
Opportunity
We are here to help you get a great education.
We cannot do it for you, we can only help you.
• Do not expect to pass if you don’t do the work.
• Do expect help if you ask for it.
(Note: help doesn’t mean we simply give you the
answers. Help means we guide you in the ways of
understanding the questions as well as figuring out the
answers.)
We offer you a great opportunity – take full
advantage of it! Take ownership of your
education and your life.