Choosing Biology Electives

SDN Members don't see this ad. (About Ads)

In addition to "Principles of Cellular and Molecular Biology", "Genetics", "OChem I/II", "Biochemistry", and "Human Nutrition", which I will have complete by the MCAT, which of the following biology-related courses do you guys recommend? Honestly, I'd like to take them all, but I can't.

I can take four from the following: (Two before taking MCAT, and two more before MS1.)

Vert. Physiology
Cell Biology
Microbiology
Virology
Immunology
Hematology
Histology
Cancer Biology
Parasitology
Neuroscience
Neurophysiology
Psychopharmacology
Abnormal Psychology
Adv. Human Nutrition (requires biochem & vert. phys.)
Nutrition and Disease
Human Anatomy (lower-division, but taught by oral surgeon)

Thanks!

What's the difference between neuroscience and neurophysiology, course wise? Immunology and Neuroscience/neurophysiology would be the way to go, for me. lol. In an immunology class you would encompass things such as virology, parasitology, and cancer cell biology.

Originally Posted by Thego2guy

What's the difference between neuroscience and neurophysiology, course wise? Immunology and Neuroscience/neurophysiology would be the way to go, for me. lol. In an immunology class you would encompass things such as virology, parasitology, and cancer cell biology.

Thanks! The neurophysiology course is taught at a higher level and doesn't cover as much theory about the psychological implications of the material (e.g. learning, emotions). It's purely mechanistic.

I have taken Cell Biology and Neuroscience, both of which I would recommend taking (especially Cell Biol). However, my school doesn't offer a Neurophysiology course and if it did I probably would have taken that instead of neuroscience (I like physiology courses).

My other two suggestions would definitely be Immunology (taking it this upcoming Fall and have heard great things about it) and Cancer Biology.

Originally Posted by JESSFALLING

In addition to "Principles of Cellular and Molecular Biology", "Genetics", "OChem I/II", "Biochemistry", and "Human Nutrition", which I will have complete by the MCAT, which of the following biology-related courses do you guys recommend? Honestly, I'd like to take them all, but I can't.

I can take four from the following: (Two before taking MCAT, and two more before MS1.)

Vert. Physiology
Cell Biology
Microbiology
Virology
Immunology
Hematology
Histology
Cancer Biology
Parasitology
Neuroscience
Neurophysiology
Psychopharmacology
Abnormal Psychology
Adv. Human Nutrition (requires biochem & vert. phys.)
Nutrition and Disease
Human Anatomy (lower-division, but taught by oral surgeon)

Thanks!

physiology was by far the most helpful of any of my undergrad biology courses for the mcat. If you have kaplan, you'll see that 40-50% of the biology book is physiology related.

I remember immunology helping too! Easy points.

Anatomy/neuroscience (pathway based hopefully) would get very relevant for MS1.

I would try to get histology/cancer bio/immunology before MS-1, before the MCAT physiology and cellbio/microbio will probably be the biggest help. I'm trying to get in most of those classes before I apply to med school as a post-bac.

Definitely take Physiology before the MCAT. For the others, I'd recommend Micro, Histology, and Anatomy.

Originally Posted by kasho11

I would try to get histology/cancer bio/immunology before MS-1, before the MCAT physiology and cellbio/microbio will probably be the biggest help. I'm trying to get in most of those classes before I apply to med school as a post-bac.

the cancer biology you learn as a molecular biology major is so far out of the spectrum though. Its great if you want to be a PhD, but not so much MD. At least at my UG.

Physio and cell bio before the MCAT (though, how is cell bio different from 'priniciples of cellular and molecular biology'?). Based on what one of my friends already in med school has told me, I'd recommend immuno and either histology or neurophysio.

I would take cell biology and vert phys before the MCAT, and histology and immunology after.

Thanks to everyone that has posted so far. I'm surprised to see the overwhelming response for immunology. That's one that I wasn't sure about taking, but this is making me strongly reconsider.

I've narrowed the list down based upon the input so far:

Vert. Physiology (before MCAT)
Cell Biology (before MCAT)
Cancer Biology
Microbiology
Immunology
Neuroscience/Neurophysiology
Histology (after MCAT)
Human Anatomy (lower-division, but taught by oral surgeon) (after MCAT)

Originally Posted by exquisitemelody

How is cell bio different from 'priniciples of cellular and molecular biology'?

Cell Biology uses Bruce Alberts' excellent "Molecular Biology of the Cell" text. The principles course is, essentially, a focused version of general biology which covers topics like bio molecules, genetics, metabolism, reproduction, and the cell of course.

You will take neuroscience as a MS1 and it BLOWS if you lack any background (currently in ms1 neuroscience)

Anatomy blows from what the M1s say. Suggest taking it.

Histology will be out of spectrum in undergrad and really isn't that bad in med school (took it too)

Cell and micro biology will be out of spectrum for both mcat and ms1. You'd be better off with a genetic/biochem. I took med school biochem and its designed to be something that has clinical relevance, so a strong understanding of Snap 25/syntaxin/ and vessicle transport, pcr, electrophoresis and most of the other topics covered is way out of spectrum.

As I previously mentioned, cancer biology will be so far out of the spectrum as a biology major that it will become irrelevant. Its heavy pathway based. If you hate learning pathways such as the MAPKKK pw, i'd recommend staying away.You may move into viral vectors to treat cancer, which is cool, but you'll probably have a blow off lecture on it as a ms1. Its really easy.

Originally Posted by Holy FranZ

You will take neuroscience as a MS1 and it BLOWS if you lack any background (currently in ms1 neuroscience)

Anatomy blows from what the M1s say. Suggest taking it.

Histology will be out of spectrum in undergrad and really isn't that bad in med school (took it too)

Cell and micro biology will be out of spectrum for both mcat and ms1. You'd be better off with a genetic/biochem

As I previously mentioned, cancer biology will be so far out of the spectrum as a biology major that it will become irrelevant. Its heavy pathway based. If you hate learning pathways such as the MAPKKK pw, i'd recommend staying away.You may move into viral vectors to treat cancer, which is cool, but you'll probably have a blow off lecture on it as a ms1. Its really easy.

That's helpful. I already think neuro sounds interesting, so I'll have to strongly consider that one. I'm not a huge fan of anatomy, so I'll have to decide how much I want to suffer in MS1....a lot, or even more w/o some prior background. The professor also offers it as a 4-week course every June, so I could possibly take it on my way out of town.

hey so i'm a freshman looking for similar advice. so far i've taken gen bio, gen chem, and genetics. my plan is to take orgo and physics next year and take the mcat in the summer of 2013. i don't want to take cell bio next year because i don't want my course load to be too hard while i'm preparing for the mcat. is that a good idea or should i try to squeeze in cell bio? oh also, it looks like i'm gonna have to take anat and phys, too...

Originally Posted by JESSFALLING

Thanks to everyone that has posted so far. I'm surprised to see the overwhelming response for immunology. That's one that I wasn't sure about taking, but this is making me strongly reconsider.

I've narrowed the list down based upon the input so far:

Vert. Physiology (before MCAT)
Cell Biology (before MCAT)
Cancer Biology
Microbiology
Immunology
Neuroscience/Neurophysiology
Histology (after MCAT)
Human Anatomy (lower-division, but taught by oral surgeon) (after MCAT)

I remember that one of the bio passage questions that I had on the MCAT was all about immunology. I hate to say it that I had a hard time with that question because I am non-traditional and my undergrad was a long time ago. I didn't speak "immunoglobulin" at that time. Since taking the MCAT, I took an introductory immunology course. It was very helpful.

any type of anatomy would be helpful before starting Med School, but not so much for the MCAT. Physiology would be important for the MCAT. Genetics would be important for the MCAT, Microbio would be helpful for med school (pathogenic micro would be even better!)

dsoz

Does anyone know how much immunology is covered in Virology?

Originally Posted by JESSFALLING

Does anyone know how much immunology is covered in Virology?

Enough that my school requires Immuno before virology. I think immunology would be more valuable than virology anyway. I learned so much relevant information in immunology, not so much in virology.

Originally Posted by JESSFALLING

Does anyone know how much immunology is covered in Virology?

You will likely cover the basics of immuno in virology, or course in that area. I have taken both virology and 2 immunology classes and the immunology classes were more valuable for the MCAT. Not only does immunology show up in a lot of other topics(and a lot of other topics show up in immunology) - there is a TON of immunology in commonly used biology lab techniques. Without going into to much detail, I just want to say I was glad I took immunology before the MCAT. Virology on the other had provided little value - other than maybe some molecular biology review the memorizing of molecular processes of handfuls of viruses was useless for the MCAT. My cancer biology class with even more useful than virology since some of those pathways showed up in other ways.....

Originally Posted by rcheech7

Enough that my school requires Immuno before virology. I think immunology would be more valuable than virology anyway. I learned so much relevant information in immunology, not so much in virology.

Originally Posted by Tatertots

You will likely cover the basics of immuno in virology, or course in that area. I have taken both virology and 2 immunology classes and the immunology classes were more valuable for the MCAT. Not only does immunology show up in a lot of other topics(and a lot of other topics show up in immunology) - there is a TON of immunology in commonly used biology lab techniques. Without going into to much detail, I just want to say I was glad I took immunology before the MCAT. Virology on the other had provided little value - other than maybe some molecular biology review the memorizing of molecular processes of handfuls of viruses was useless for the MCAT. My cancer biology class with even more useful than virology since some of those pathways showed up in other ways.....

Thanks guys.