Expert: Florence M Rollwagen - 4/25/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello, This is Britney Sayers a senior at Turlock High School in Turlock, Ca. I am doing a term paper/portfolio for my English class and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about having a major in the science field.



1. Why did you choose this major?

2. At your school, what were the prerequisite requirements (classes, GPA, interview, project etc..) to be accpeted to this major?

3. How many units are required to complete this major?

4. Are there any classes that are known to be very difficult?

5. Are there any professors who are known to be more difficult vs. others?

6. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to select this major?

7. What misconceptions (if any) do you think students might have about this major?

8. If you were to select your major again, would you change your choice? Why? Why not?

9. Is this a "popular" or "unpopular" major at your university, and what do you consider to be the reason?


ANSWER: Hi Britney:  Thanks for your questions.

I went to college in 1962, so I'm not sure if my answers will be current.  When I went to college, girls were not common in science and I faced many difficulties that girls nowadays don't face.

I spent many years in college/graduate school, so I'm not sure if your questions pertain exactly to someone in my category.

Just write back if this is OK, and I'll give you my answers.

FM Rollwagen, PhD

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes, that is totally fine. I am just really desperate for some answers. If you can try and answer some of these questions as best as you possibly could I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Answer
Hi again, here goes:

1. Why did you choose this major?
ANS:  I liked science and the mental discipline that it brings to the world.

2. At your school, what were the prerequisite requirements (classes, GPA, interview, project etc..) to be accepted to this major?
ANS:  For college, I needed at least a “B” GPA, and good scores on the SAT.  My scores were in the 1490’s when the top scores were 1600.

3. How many units are required to complete this major?
ANS:  At the time, I needed 21 credit hours/semester.  Science courses were 4 credits, humanities (language, history) were 3 credits and PE were 2 credits.   So each semester, I took 2-3 science courses (8-12 credits), and 3 humanities courses (9).  Usually a PE course as well.

4. Are there any classes that are known to be very difficult?
ANS:  Difficulty is a personal thing.  I found biology, language and history to be easy.  Physics, statistics, calculus I found harder.

5. Are there any professors who are known to be more difficult vs. others?
ANS:  At my school, the biology department head was an ecologist (we didn’t have that word then, but it fits now) and we were required to take 2 semesters of plant taxonomy.  We went into the woods to identify trees, plants and shrubs.  Since it was winter, this was a very difficult course for me.

6. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to select this major?
ANS:  Know what you want and don’t let anything stand in your way.  Study hard and keep focused.  (come to think of it, that’s good advice for any career!)

7. What misconceptions (if any) do you think students might have about this major?
ANS:  That biology is easy.

8. If you were to select your major again, would you change your choice? Why? Why not?
ANS:  Lately, I’ve become interested in zoo biology.  I’d like to do that.

9. Is this a "popular" or "unpopular" major at your university, and what do you consider to be the reason?
ANS:  As I said above, it was very unpopular for girls to go into science when I was in college.  So, yes, it was unpopular for girls, but not for boys.

Hope this helps.  Write back if you have any more questions.

FM Rollwagen, PhD