One of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Hopkins has to be Introductory Biology. The content we learn is really cool, the labs we do are fascinating, and the professors teaching are extremely nice.
I took biology my sophomore year and was surprised by the number of resources available to us. We were given practice problems in class, optional extra credit assignments, weekly problem sets, and past exams. In addition to that, we had Piazza, an online platform that allowed us to anonymously ask questions about course content or logistics. Since there were two professors for this course, we had double the number of office hours. Intro biology also has mentors, which I’ve never seen in any of my other classes. They’re like TAs, but they don’t do any grading. Instead, they hold weekly office hours, answer questions on Piazza, and make additional review materials for students.
Another part of this class I really liked was that our textbook was optional to purchase. The only thing we were required to have was iClicker, an app that tracks attendance by having students answer multiple-choice questions. Hopkins pays for that though. With all these resources, I felt I could succeed in this class.
At the same time, I took biology lab. For both semesters, I had two assigned partners. My lab partners were really nice, and I had a pretty cool TA. In the fall, we conducted different experiments to identify bacterial species in a sample of dirt we collected outside. We also learned to identify different types of trees on campus by their leaves and took a trip to the Maryland Zoo! Our zoo trip was easily the coolest part of the fall lab. We took a bunch of pictures, learned about evolution, and got to see the zoo’s conservation efforts.
Although the fall lab semester was great, spring was even better. This was when we did a bunch of dissections. We dissected lampreys, rats, sheep hearts and brains, cow elbows, and so much more. We also did a simulated paternity test, measured blood pressures, and took a trip to the aquarium. I ended up becoming friends with one of my assigned lab partners, and now she’s my partner again for physics lab. This was definitely the most fun lab class I’ve ever taken at Hopkins.
After sophomore year, I still wanted to be a part of the biology program, so I applied to be a mentor. I also took a class called Current Events in Biology, taught by one of the teachers I’d previously had, Dr. Pearlman. Each week we discussed different health events happening in the world like weight-loss drugs and lab-grown meat. This was a fun one-credit course I always looked forward to.
Dr. Pearlman was really understanding of our other classes and always told us to email if we needed to move assignments back. She extended a deadline for me, and this wasn’t the first time she’s helped me out. In intro to biology, she let me take our final online so I could go to my sister’s graduation. And in bio lab when I couldn’t make it to class because I missed my flight back to Baltimore, she excused me from the lab.
I’ve also been lucky to be a biology mentor for almost two semesters now. It’s motivating getting questions at our weekly office hours and helping people understand some of the same things I initially struggled with. I’ve gotten to make review materials too and keep up with the class content, which I think will help prepare me for my MCAT. Some of our in-class practice problems were even MCAT practice questions.
Biology at Hopkins has been really fun and I’m so glad I still get to be a part of it. I highly recommend the classes and the labs to students of all majors, STEM and non-STEM. And if you ever need any help, feel free to swing by my mentoring office hours!
