Okay,
first things first:
If you
haven't done so already, TALK TO YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR!! (I know that I
(former advisor for the Geol. Dept. here) would be royally pissed if I knew
that my students were going on the Internet for academic advice...). They
will have more knowledge about the particulars of your situation then we
do. Furthermore, talk to the paleontologist(s) on campus about their
recommendations.
Okay,
be that as it may, my advice (again, knowing nothing about how many other
requirements you have yet to fulfill, whether you have to do a senior thesis,
your grades, the quality and content of the particulars of the courses,
etc...).
1) You
are an undergraduate. Your task is to learn. The classes are more
important while you can get them. Seek internships during
summer.
P.S.
Regardless of how many Biol. classes you get in these last few semesters, you
will still have to pick some up in grad school, too. This is not a Bad
Thing. Your task as a graduate student is ALSO to
learn.
2)
Tough call. This one will depend on several factors (not the least of
which being how many other lab courses you will have to take with them).
It is important to get the nuts and bolts that you learn in Vert. Zoology.
On the other hand, as evolutionary biologists our first and foremost
goal is the understanding of the history of life on Earth (aka evolution): other
aspects (like the anatomical evidence of that history, the schemes of
classification to talk about that history, etc.) are simply means to that
end. My recommendation: if possible, take both of these and don't do
anthro.
3)
Double majoring is a good idea if and only if planned for early, at least by U
Md. rules. You REALLY have to talk to an advisor in this case, to get the
nitty-gritty of U Memphis rules. Unless they have very lax requirements, I
don't see how you could complete a whole separate additional major in just two
semesters.
Furthermore, you don't need to be a double major to be a
paleontologist!! Most of us were just a single major as an
undergrad.
4) An
extra semester or two might not be a bad thing. However, this adds the
additional aspect of the COST of an additional semester (or two). So in
that case, you'll need to seek out not only the academic advice but the advice
of your source of tuition payments (if that person is not
yourself).
5) Any
other advice... "The New Journals section of the library is Your Friend."
"Ideas by merit, not by source." "When in doubt, punt." "Neither a borrow
nor a lender be." Hopefully at least one of those will be useful
someday.
Hope
this helps.
P.S. See your advisor... :-)
Thomas R. Holtz,
Jr. |