MCB 54, "Cell Biology"
MCB 80, "Neurobiology of Behavior"
Organic Chemistry Courses

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Ah, biology: Concentration of enormous lectures, cursory “sign and go” advising, bell-curve grading (if you don’t know the meaning of a “sigma,” you will soon), nail-biting pre-meds. If you’re a prospective concentrator, don’t anticipate community; certainly don’t envision yourself using that beach volleyball court in front of the BioLabs to play a carefree game with fellow concentrators and a few professors. The vaguely menacing rhinoceroses at the doors of the BioLabs have a better chance of flying. In other words, if you don’t really, really love bio (we’re talking to you, Mr. “I kind of want to be a doctor”), look elsewhere.

True, this may change as the new and improved smaller “life science cluster” concentrations are phased in. Biology, as it stood before the changes, was widely considered the 400 pound gorilla of the Harvard science concentrations. With little direction and less community, it attracted life science students who wanted more freedom and were willing to sacrifice the prestige of its more polished sister, Biochemical Sciences. The advising was hit-or-miss at best, atrocious at worst.

Enter the Harvard College Life Science Committee—which in one fell swoop purported to solve Harvard undergraduate science woes, thrusting Harvard bio geeks into a brave new, more specialized world. Though they obviously still haven’t figured out how to advise students (most advisers don’t know what the required intro courses are, let alone what a Core course is), or how to train teaching fellows (count yourself lucky if you have one that speaks passable English), they’ve tailored course requirements to give the concentrations more specificity and, hopefully, coherence.

Regardless of your area, though, Life Science 1a and 1b are the building blocks of all the life science concentrations. The first part, 1a, focuses on the chemical and molecular aspects of biology, and is the more interesting of the pair. It also has the better professors. The second half, 1b, focuses on the nitty-gritty of genetics and evolution. Most importantly, prepare to groan/cry at Professor Dan Hartl’s corny, corny jokes.

Beyond the new Life Sciences course, Richard Losick’s BS 52 and Robert Lue’s and Raymond Erickson’s BS 54 are mildly interesting and required for many of the life sciences concentrations anyway. The new Organismic and Evolutionary Biology courses are a complete black bag because they’re, well, completely new. So sorry, no advice to give there. Let us know what you think, though.

If you concentrate in one of the life sciences you’ll probably also have to take chemistry. But for your sanity’s sake, unless you have a suicide wish or are a hardcore chem geek—and taking AP Chem in high school doesn’t count—don’t think of skipping the Chem 5/7 (or Physical Sciences 1a, Life Sciences 1a) sequence and jumping right into Orgo. And unless you’re required to, stay away from the Chem 20, 30 sequence you’ll have a much easier time with Chem 17 and 27. The former is taught by one of the best science professors at Harvard (who—gasp!—actually seems to care about your understanding of the material), Eric Jacobsen, who has a few reactions with his name on them and by all accounts is in line for the Nobel down the road.

On the numbers side of course requirements, if you’re not so hot in math, avoid Math 21a in favor of Math 19—it’s a much better course in virtually every respect, and far more applicable to biology.

As for the physics requirement, get excited because this year the department is rolling out two brand new intro physics courses—Physical Sciences 2 and 3. But if you’re thinking about heading down the Physics 11 or even Physics 15 route, make sure you know your math—you’ll be kicking yourself at 4 a.m. with an intractable problem set due in a few hours if you don’t (and even, in many cases, if you do).

Once you have those staples out of the way, you have to choose which aspect of bio to focus on, be it physics or getting physical. Your options are:

1. Chemical and Physical Biology—For the masochists who actually enjoyed Orgo. Enough said.

2. Human Evolutionary Biology—Supposedly more “human” oriented than Bio-Anthro. If you’re considering med school, you might want to look elsewhere, because you’ll learn a lot of this stuff later anyway.

3. Molecular and Cellular Biology—Richard Losick, one of the few bio professors truly beloved by many undergraduates, is the chief of MCB. Probably the most general concentrations of the new cluster, this one’ll give you a solid bio background, and the requirements are relatively painless.

4. Organismic and Evolutionary Biology—The concentration is headed up by David Haig, a by-all-accounts friendly guy who also happened to revolutionize the way pregnancy and childrearing is thought of in an evolutionary sense. Make sure you really, really like evolution and ecology before you sign up, because you’ll be doing a lot of both.

5. Neurobiology—Science B-29, or “Sex” as Marc Hauser, one of its professors, styles it, used to be the required behavior course. No more—now you have to forgo the easy A and the pleasure of taking a science course with dum-dum humanities and social science concentrators. Instead, prepare yourself for the much more difficult OEB 57, “Animal Behavior” (formerly BS 57). On the plus side, you’ll be spared masturbating bonobos and philandering naked mole rats. The concentration is headed up by John Dowling, a giant in his field (ophthalmology and the biology of vision), but also one of the rare full professors who actually seems to care about advising undergraduates.

As for your fellow students, you’ll find them to be a mixed bag. There are the pre-med losers, who never seem to find their way out of Cabot Library (explaining it’s perpetual eau de B.O.), there are the more laid-back future scientists, and there are even a few who just like learning the material for its own sake. The key is to take the initiative yourself—find yourself a group of like-minded concentrators to form a study group (you’ll find that the friendships forged in the crucible of organic chemistry problem sets are as strong as any), find a caring professor to advise you (though rare, they do exist!), and you’ll be well on your way.