Navigating a Physics/Biology Crossroad: A University Student's Dilemma

[pivoxa15]

I am a maths-physics oriented university student who recently got very interested in life/biology. The problem is I have not done biology before. So should I enrol in a year of biology and miss some second year physics or should I do lots of physics and maths now and I would be able to pick up on key points in biology through the years by reading bio books and through a solid physics education?

 

[Moonbear]

My recommendation would depend on whether you consider your interest in biology to be a side-interest or a serious enough interest to consider changing majors. If it's a side-interest, you might want to enroll in a non-majors biology course...that will be light enough to not overwhelm you in conjunction with your physics courses, but give you a nice introduction to the subject. If you're seriously considering it as a major or future career focus, then it's best to take the introductory or general biology course intended for biology majors sooner than later so you'll have time to take the later coursework which will all require that as a prerequisite. Unless you're a complete masochist, I wouldn't recommend attempting a double major because there isn't enough overlap, and both are difficult and time-consuming majors. Generally, the difference between a biology major and minor is the amount of required chemistry courses, so even that route doesn't help a lot (though, check with your university's specific requirements to confirm that if it is something you might consider).

 

[pivoxa15]

My interest in biology is not serious enough to contemplate a major but rather I like to have some understanding in it.

If I was going to do a course than it would be in first year biology. But how necessiarly is it? I heard it was a lot of memorising.

In other words do you think it is essential to do an intro course in order to grasp the key concepts in biology or could it come by through self study?

 

[Pseudo Statistic]

From what I've seen from intro biology, it was a mix of memorization of understanding, but memorization was more dominant.
I don't think it'd take a genius to learn biology on his or her own, so I guess you could base your decision on my thought.