Hunter's prospective class changes- [PDF download, same Image as above]

The recent changes the Biology Dept. of Hunter College has implented regarding the Bio 100 course poses trouble for all Biology, Chemistry, and Pre-Med/Health students in Hunter's class of 2017 for the following reasons:

•The current summer Biology 100 course has a very limited amount of seats, meaning the majority of students will be unable to register.

•Pre-med students are recommended to take the MCAT in January, March, April or May of their third year in college. Therefore, uprising pre-health sophomores in Hunter will have to take the MCAT right after taking only 100-level introductory biology classes, leaving these students highly underprepared.

•Many students attend college with the assistance of financial aid that they depend on a great deal. Financial aid is not provided over the summer term (Hunter has stated that they will try to provide for this summer term, but it is not yet clear wether it will be provided or not) which makes taking Biology 100 over the summer not a viable option.

•Many students work over the summer to save money for the following academic year to cover tuition and expenses. 

•Some students, having been unaware of these changes, have already planned to go away for the summer.

•E-permits that could accomidate students at other colleges are not 100% guarenteed, and for Biology majors, the credits may not be valid towards their major.

•Incoming freshmen will be pushed half a semester forward, which will cause class of 2017 to fight for a limited amount of seats in many of the upper level Biology and Chemistry courses against the class of 2018.

•Biology 102 is the pre-requsite for almost all upper level Chemistry and Biology courses, making these courses unavailable for the student until the second semester of junior year. As a result, the student will be forced to take on a multiple upper level courses at the same time. 

•Additionally graduate schools look poorly on applicants who have taken an entry level biology course in a summer term or completed in their junior year of college. This can be detrimental to their applications.

•If students are to accept these changes, students will have to complete 5 terms back to back with minimal breaks. This will overwork students and have a negative effect on their acedemic performances.

A misleading survey (PDF) sent out by Hunter, asked students if they would like to take Biology 100 over the summer while ommitted the fact that the course would no longer be available during fall after the change.

Possible Solutions:

1) Revert to the orignal Fall Bio:100 setup.

2) Open up an aditional Bio 100/102 classed for this acedemic year, just so that this years students can transition smoothly.

3) Create an alternative solution that doesnt drastically affect current students.