{"id":29572,"date":"2026-07-20T17:34:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=29572"},"modified":"2026-07-20T17:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T21:39:20","slug":"all-my-homies-love-bio120","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askastudent.utoronto.ca\/?p=29572","title":{"rendered":"all my homies love bio120"},"content":{"rendered":"

hiya<\/span>!\u00a0<\/span>i\u2019ve<\/span>\u00a0heard you talk about bio120 before and\u00a0<\/span>ive<\/span>\u00a0gotten interested in being in STEM recently and am looking into it but\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>\u00a0only took grade 11 biology, should\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>\u00a0put it off for another year to focus on my other major while taking grade 11-12 math and chem online? that way when\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>\u00a0take bio120\u00a0<\/span>i<\/span>\u00a0can also hopefully take more stem related classes in general as well.\u00a0<\/span>any<\/span>\u00a0advice helps!\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

heyyo,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

this question is an insane coincidence. literally <\/span>the very last asker<\/span><\/a> was also asking about taking bio120\/bio courses without any high school prereqs. and<\/em> i answered that question after<\/em> you submitted this one, so it\u2019s not like you were influenced. wild.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

this coincidence is super lucky for you, since that last asker let me in on a liiiiittle scoop of super relevant info: it may actually be possible for you to take bio120 right now, before even taking grade 12 bio. the last asker had also only taken grade 11 bio, but they <\/span>contacted the course coordinators<\/span><\/a> and were able to get permission to enroll anyways. now, i can\u2019t guarantee you anything (so don\u2019t come after me if they reject you…) but i would recommend getting in touch with the bio120 office just to see if they\u2019ll let you in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

as for whether you should take some online high school classes… well that depends on two things: if you wanna take a <\/span>program\u00a0<\/span><\/i>in biology, and how many years you have left before you want to graduate.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

if you only wanna take bio120 and maybe some other STEM courses as electives, then it may not be necessary to take all those high school classes. there ARE some STEM courses designed to be taken as electives by people without a science background: <\/span>eeb214<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>eeb215<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>for200<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>imm250<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>nfs284<\/span><\/a>, just to name a few. there’s also a ton of life sci courses that only require bio120 and <\/span>bio130\u00a0<\/span><\/a>as a\u00a0prereq, so if you can get into those two,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0gain access to even more options.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

now if you\u2019re interested in a <\/span>bio minor<\/span><\/a>, i have some really heartbreaking news for you. some of the required classes have <\/span>chm135<\/span><\/a>\/<\/span>chm136<\/span><\/a> as prereqs… which requires you to have taken grade 12 chem and math. while you can always <\/span>go bug the department<\/span><\/a> for special permission, i feel like the odds may not be in your favour this time around, since you\u2019re doing a whole program. but hey, prove me wrong and give it a shot! otherwise, back to online high school you go.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

if you wanna do a <\/span>MAJOR<\/span><\/a>, my advice is basically the same as if you were doing a minor: probably best to take some high school classes online. however, i do wanna point out that the bio major requires you to take chem classes as part of the program, which the minor does not (in the minor, they are only prereqs).<\/span><\/p>\n

oh, and if you were eyeing a different STEM program entirely (and i just wasted the last 45 minutes… no hard feelings…), you can check out all the details <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

finally, you should also prob consider how much time you want to spend on your degree. if you have 3-4 years left before you wanna graduate, you have plenty of time to take some online courses and push back that STEM major by a year. if you only have a couple of years left, you could totally take some electives (and maybe a minor) but it would be pretty difficult to do a major.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

sorry for this super long-winded essay of a response, i hope it helped you! and that you were able to get through it without falling asleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

if\u00a0more questions pop up for you, feel free to flood my inbox.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

cheers,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

aska<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

hiya!\u00a0i\u2019ve\u00a0heard you talk about bio120 before and\u00a0ive\u00a0gotten interested in being in STEM recently and am looking into it but\u00a0i\u00a0only took grade 11 biology, should\u00a0i\u00a0put it off for another year to focus on my other major while taking grade 11-12 math and chem online? that way when\u00a0i\u00a0take bio120\u00a0i\u00a0can also hopefully take more stem related classes in general as well.\u00a0any\u00a0advice helps!\u00a0\u00a0 heyyo,\u00a0 this question is an insane coincidence. literally the very last asker was also asking about taking bio120\/bio courses without any high school prereqs. and i answered that question after you submitted this one, so it\u2019s not like you were influenced. wild.\u00a0 this coincidence is super lucky for you, since that last asker let me in on a liiiiittle scoop of super relevant info: it may actually be possible for you to take bio120 right now, before even taking grade 12 bio. the last asker had also only taken grade 11 bio, but they contacted the course coordinators and were able to get permission to enroll anyways. now, i can\u2019t guarantee you anything (so don\u2019t come after me if they reject you…) but i would recommend getting in touch with the bio120 office just to see if they\u2019ll let you in.\u00a0 as for whether you should take some online high school classes… well that depends on two things: if you wanna take a program\u00a0in biology, and how many years you have left before you want to graduate.\u00a0 if you only wanna take bio120 and maybe some other STEM courses as electives, then it may not be necessary to take all those high school classes. there ARE some STEM courses designed to be taken as electives by people without a science background: eeb214,\u00a0eeb215,\u00a0for200,\u00a0imm250, and\u00a0nfs284, just to name a few. there’s also a ton of life sci courses that only require bio120 and bio130\u00a0as a\u00a0prereq, so if you can get into those two,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0gain access to even more options.\u00a0\u00a0 now if you\u2019re interested in a bio minor, i have some really heartbreaking news for you. some of the required classes have chm135\/chm136 as prereqs… which requires you to have taken grade 12 chem and math. while you can always go bug the department for special permission, i feel like the odds may not be in your favour this time around, since you\u2019re doing a whole program. but hey, prove me wrong and give it a shot! otherwise, back to online high school you go. if you wanna do a MAJOR, my advice is basically the same as if you were doing a minor: probably best to take some high school classes online. however, i do wanna point out that the bio major requires you to take chem classes as part of the program, which the minor does not (in the minor, they are only prereqs). oh, and if you were eyeing a different STEM program entirely (and i just wasted the last 45 minutes… no hard feelings…), you can check out all the details here.\u00a0 finally, you should also prob consider how much time you want to spend on your degree. if you have 3-4 years left before you wanna graduate, you have plenty of time to take some online courses and push back that STEM major by a year. if you only have a couple of years left, you could totally take some electives (and maybe a minor) but it would be pretty difficult to do a major.\u00a0 sorry for this super long-winded essay of a response, i hope it helped you! and that you were able to get through it without falling asleep. if\u00a0more questions pop up for you, feel free to flood my inbox.\u00a0 cheers,\u00a0 aska\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,110,195,258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biology","category-life-science","category-prereqs","category-programs"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t