 "Photo: Miko Walczuk")
With a record 60,000 students enrolled in the University of Hawai‘i system this fall, the UH Mānoa biology program has had to try to accommodate a large influx of new undergraduates.
At the start of Fall 2009, the program admitted 620 undergraduates including transfers, returning students and 185 freshmen, a 10 percent increase from last fall when there were 168 newly enrolled biology majors.
“The high numbers in biology show how important the department courses are for students entering UH Mānoa,” said Joseph Menor Jr., the biology program adviser.
But with the high numbers, many first-year biology majors were unable to register for Biology 171 and 171 laboratory (171L) at the beginning of registration because the two lectures (400 seats) and 18 lab sections (396 seats) were filled. Biology 171 and 171L are the first two foundation classes in biology and are only offered in the fall.
Vivian Lin, who assists students at the Pre-Health and Pre-Law Advising Center at Queen Lili‘uokalani Center, said the waiting list concerned students.
“I see a lot of incoming freshmen and it’s really frustrating for them,” said Lin, a junior double-majoring in biology and interdisciplinary studies. “It’s their first time in college, they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know how to register and they’re running into all these problems with closed sections.
“I help them now, but when I was registering as a freshman (a closed section) was never a problem,” Lin continued.
To accommodate the students on the waiting list, the biology program opened another section for 171 lecture and four more 171L sections, bringing the total amount of students registered for the courses to a record high.
“(The) biology program with the College of Natural Sciences has handled the spike effectively,” Menor said. “When we had exactly 400 students enrolled in the two Biology 171 lectures, we were allowed to open (a third) section (and) another 100 students enrolled.
“For Biology 171L, another 90-plus students (are) enrolled,” Menor continued. “Over 500 students are enrolled in Biology 171 lecture and lab; last year’s enrollment was at a high with over 450 students.”
Lin said opening new sections was a “huge” help.
“(The students) all got their schedule back, and everything is working out fine so far,” Lin said.
According to Menor, many biology majors plan to apply for graduate and professional schools in fields such as medicine, pharmacy, veterinary science, optometry and dentistry.
Other departments, such as the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) and Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE), also require Biology 171 and 171L for their program.
Menor said these two factors cause the courses’ availability to fill quickly.
If biology majors are not able to take those two courses their first year, they will have to either wait until next fall or take the course during summer session.
“To graduate in four years and to stay on track is the difficult part, because with med-school requirements you should be done with your (pre-requisites) by the end of your sophomore year,” Lin said. “(If they can’t take Biology 171 and 171L their first semester) they’ll fall a year behind, and that really affects the layout of the schedule.”
Sachie Etherington, a lab coordinator for the biology labs, pointed out that many students are enrolled in biology because of the economy.
“During times of recession, the ideal activity is to go to school to make yourself more appealing in the eyes of the employer,” Etherington said.
Menor looked at a more general reason.
“I believe a lot of students are enrolling in school because a lot of jobs require at least a baccalaureate degree,” Menor said.
If enrollment continues to increase, the biology program may have to look in to adding even more sections in the future.
“With the increase of students, (it) would lead to hiring of more faculty or lecturers,” Etherington said. “This hopefully is the case; if this does not happen, and the faculty are at their maximum teaching capacity, we might be forced to turn students away.”
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