ask lj: advice about classes

[iridium]

so: the Peralta Colleges courses i wanted are full, and while i could go to the first meeting and hope & beg to get let in if there's space...for a basic biology lab course, i'd bet that it's going to be full and stay that way. also, they start this week, and while i'm feeling mostly awake and human again, i'm cautious and stressed and way behind at work auuugh.

my current plan is to sign up for one of the UC Berkeley Extension courses. not a lab, sadly, because those are twice as expensive and also mostly full, but there are a few others that look interesting. they also start later (2.5-3 weeks from now) and are mostly higher-level, and cover material that would be good for me to know anyhow. i'll do the lab course at one of the close-by Peralta colleges in the spring.

i'm going to pick one & enroll tonight, but since i'm indecisive i figured i'd see if y'all had any insight, suggestions, or entirely off-topic rambling to offer.
[edit: not enrolling until tomorrow, since i'm waiting to hear what the training schedule is for doing hospice volunteer work this fall.]

options are:
. Developmental Biology, downtown Berkeley, Tuesdays 6:30-9:30pm

. General Anatomy, SF, Tuesdays 6:30-9:30pm

. Genetics, online or SF, Thursdays 6:30-9:45pm

. Cell Biology, SF, Saturdays 1:30-4:45pm

two cents?

Comments

[cerevisiae.livejournal.com]

I'm very fond of genetics, but it may be the least relevant to your goals. There's certainly a sense in which general anatomy is the obvious choice, since it points out its relevance to people "interested in the medical profession." I bet cell biology would be interesting, and probably useful background. Developmental biology could be interesting, or it could be kind of tedious, and I'm not sure that learning about development as taught by molecular biologists is directly useful in understanding the finished product. Of course, this might just reflect my parochialism, since yeast have great genetics, good cell biology, but not a lot of development.

It would also be neat if this brought you over to the city every week or so, though you might end up kind of tired after 3 hours of class.

[iridium.livejournal.com]

i would bet that all three would be useful in a pre-med sense. :) i'm leaning towards either the developmental bio or the cell bio class. the developmental (vertebrate) bio does look interesting, and would mean not commuting all the way to the city; the cell bio instructor looks entertaining, at least, and getting to the city on a Saturday afternoon would probably be more reasonable (in terms of having the energy to deal with the commute) than trying to do it on a weeknight.

i still don't know what i'll be doing for a job this fall, though, and that might change things quite a bit. :/

[iridium.livejournal.com]

the Genetics course is out, due to a scheduling conflict, and i'm leaning towards the Dev Bio course -- the instructor looks well-qualified and has a strong background in genetics, and the scheduling would mean not commuting and also having my weekends free. but i'm waiting to hear back from the department advisor about what the recommended pre-reqs for that class are, since it's a bit vague from the course description.

looong ramble...

[clunymph.livejournal.com]

from a solid bio perspective, you want to have some sort of genetics & cell biology. in most bio programs, genetics & cell bio is required whereas dev bio is an elective. now, having said that, i love developmental biology. you get a real sense of "life" as it occurs from one cell to a multicellular organism. developmental biology, when taught right, incorporates pretty much everything in biology-- genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, a bit of anatomy... which i guess brings me to this last rambling consideration.

is cell biology or genetics a pre-req for dev bio? if it's vertebrate focused class, you can probably get by without too much genetics. you can get by without cell bio, too, but it might be harder... i TA'd the dev bio class here for a few years. we focused alot on experimental techniques and problem solving. i found students had an easier time of it if they've taken cell bio or had some lab experience. it's doable without, though.

i loved cell bio at MIT, but hated TAing it here. it can be really good when taught right so if the instructor seems lively, that might be the way to go for now... g'luck!

Re: looong ramble...

[iridium.livejournal.com]

it looks like the prereq's for dev bio are "college biology & chemistry" rather than any specific classes.

i've got a schedule conflict for the genetics (and would rather take a lecture class than an online one, for now), so that's out. and getting to SF & back on weekday evenings is not so fun, so i'm leaning towards either the dev bio or cell bio.

the dev bio instructor has a strong genetics background, and while the cell bio instructor looks interesting, i don't know that that means he'd be a good teacher. (also...i'd like to do some weekend hiking this fall, and if i sign up for a class on saturday afternoons that's pretty well nixed.) hmmmm. *waffle waffle*