Of applicants how many have taken Biochemisty?

I have been accepted at one school and I have not taken biochem nor do I plan to. I do not have the time or the money to try taking it now. I'm already out of undergrad though so maybe that makes a difference.

Turkelton said:

I have taken a few other upper-div science classes, but not biochem. How necessary for my C.O. 2013 application is it to have this class? Or for those who have earned an acceptance for class of 2012, how many of you had biochemistry on your application?

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I've taken it.

I know quite a few schools recommend that you take it...but don't require it. Same with genetics.

I'd say take it, if only because it might differentiate you from an otherwise equal applicant. That and it might help to be familiar with the terms when you're in med school...
Having taken quite a few courses on Physiology, etc, I can honestly say that taking it gave me a much better understanding of things I had previously learned.

And it's a fun class!

When I interviewed at Touro-NV one of my interviewers was a biochem professor. She asked me why I had not taken it. I told her that I hadn't seen it listed as a prerequisite anywhere and so I never took it. It was always listed as a "recommended" class and I had taken other "recommended" classes but not biochem.

She seemed okay with that answer but I haven't found out yet whether I have been accepted there so we will see.

I've not taken it. I got accepted to TCOM, the only school I applied to... My first interview was with the Ph.D. that teaches Biochem there. He didn't say a word about it. He actually seemed more interested in my background as a musician than anything else in my app.

I have not taken it and I have been accepted to RVU.

It was my backup plan to take it had I not been accepted this interview season.

I took 2 biochem classes, but only because they were required for my major...

MSU requires it.

I took biochem. I don't think any of the DO schools require it, but it is usually recommended. I'd say go ahead and take it. You have to take biochem in medschool and it will definately help if youre already familiar w/ it. Make sure you get a decent grade in it though... it can be pretty tough.

I chose not to take BioChem for a bunch of different reasons. But, when it came to applying only a few schools require it (KCUMB). I don't believe that it hurt my application any. I was offered interviews at half the schools I applied to and offered acceptances at 2 of the 3 schools I actually interviewed at. So I don't think it is a major requirement for many DO schools. KCOM did tell me that many of their first year students, when asked which courses they had taken before they started school, biochem was at the top of the list. So it is up to you.

JShineDoc said:

I don't think any of the DO schools require it, but it is usually recommended...

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UNECOM definitily requires biochem, as well as a few others I believe. I did not send a secondary when I found this out. I couldnt fit biochem in my schedule as an undergrad. So far not a hinderance.

I took it, and everyone I've talked to has said that what I learned in a semester of ug biochem will be covered in less than a month in med school. Nonetheless, I will be familiar, at least, with the language biochem. It includes alot of stuff from gen chem, so it will at least be a review of that crap. While it's not required and may not strengthen your app that much, it will definitely help you out when you get to biochem in med school. There's no real reason not to take it if you can fit it in.

KCUMB requires it and so did my state allopathic. I would recommend it. There are endless stuctures, pathways, reactions, and mechanisms to know. I'm really glad I took it and familiarized myself with everything before med school. However, people go to med school every year without it so I guess it's not a super big deal.

biochem. There are definitely schools that require biochem. Personally, I HATED biochem - and I was a chem major. Even after having biochem in first year, biochem is my nemesis.

I had biochem last semester and I loved it! That is my favorite class that I have taken.

KCUMB and UNECOM require 3 units of Biochem.

PCSOM and MSU will let you substitute with O Chem credits (4 units and 3 units, respectively).

It's "strongly recommended" at DMU, LECOM (both branches), OUCOM, and UMDMJ.

I would take it. Why not make your life a little easier during first year?

runner898 said:

I had biochem last semester and I loved it! That is my favorite class that I have taken.

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runner are you feeling okay? I'm thinking you might be a little delusional.

Yeah and I think at DMU they actually mean required especially after megboo's experience.

On a side note, I have almost 2,000 posts!!

EEL08 said:

Yeah and I think at DMU they actually mean required especially after megboo's experience.

On a side note, I have almost 2,000 posts!!

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Yeah, according to the AACOM college info book, it says that Biochem is only "strongly recommended "at DMU, but I do remember Megboo being told that she needed it (the reason she got waitlisted). Boo to DMU anyways .

Woo Hoo EEL08! You're quite the expert now with all those posts!

i took it. it might not be a bad idea to take it, just because it will be a nice introduction to what you will be learning in medical school

prionsRbad said:

Yeah, according to the AACOM college info book, it says that Biochem is only "strongly recommended "at DMU, but I do remember Megboo being told that she needed it (the reason she got waitlisted). Boo to DMU anyways .

Woo Hoo EEL08! You're quite the expert now with all those posts!

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Someone posted on here a couple of weeks ago that DMU was now going to require biochem for next application season. I don't know if that is true or not.

I have

t-funk said:

Someone posted on here a couple of weeks ago that DMU was now going to require biochem for next application season. I don't know if that is true or not.

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That's what I thought too but I didn't mention it because I thought maybe I was making it up.

I took it and actually liked it.. I'd say take it, it will probably help you when you're in med school

I took biochem. 3 questions were the difference between a B+ and an A. It was total crap....yeah, I'm still bitter.

Oh, and it hasn't helped me get accepted yet either. Still waiting on NSU.

Yep, I took Biochem 1 and 2

Didn't take it and got accepted to all five DO schools I applied to.

Turkelton said:

Thanks for the responses everyone. I do appreciate it. It seems as if there aren't any cons to taking the class, so I might as well as add one more class to the post-bac list. I think that will put me at over 200 semester units, but I guess thats a pretty common thing for the post-bac people who are trying to make up for a crap UG GPA.

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The only con is the difficulty of this class. If you already have a full semester, do not take this class. Most of biochem is just memorization, but there are tons and tons of reactions to memorize. This is not an "easy" boost-your-GPA class...

EEL08 said:

runner are you feeling okay? I'm thinking you might be a little delusional.

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Ha! Kind of strange, huh? Then again, I liked organic chem and calculus too.

i didn't take biochem in undergrad. and i've done just fine at nycom so far.

I took biochem 1 and 2. I also took Biochemistry with a Calculus 3 and physics requirement. Probably the hardest class I ever took.

I'm a Bio major, and did not take Biochemistry. Not planning on it either. I got accepted to NYCOM. It never really became an issue. Maybe this is the same for other schools too, but my school's biochem class is known to be pretty brutal. I don't think it would've been worth it to risk my GPA.

I'm a Biology major with a chemistry minor so I did take Bio-Chem. It is offered as a two semester class at my college and I took both semesters. I got accepted into KCOM.

runner898 said:

Ha! Kind of strange, huh? Then again, I liked organic chem and calculus too.

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Hmmm that is odd. You know I do have a bachelor's degree in counseling so while I'm not licensed I think I could do something about this psychological illness you have.

Turkelton said:

I have taken a few other upper-div science classes, but not biochem. How necessary for my C.O. 2013 application is it to have this class? Or for those who have earned an acceptance for class of 2012, how many of you had biochemistry on your application?

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I have taken it, and I would recommend you take it, I have seen it on applications for many schools where it is "recommended" . Besides, you have to deal with biochemistry in med school anyway, why not take it now and get some introduction?

prionsRbad said:

KCUMB and UNECOM require 3 units of Biochem.

PCSOM and MSU will let you substitute with O Chem credits (4 units and 3 units, respectively).

It's "strongly recommended" at DMU, LECOM (both branches), OUCOM, and UMDMJ.

I would take it. Why not make your life a little easier during first year?

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DMU is requiring 3 hours of Biochem for next application cycle.

prionsRbad said:

KCUMB and UNECOM require 3 units of Biochem.

PCSOM and MSU will let you substitute with O Chem credits (4 units and 3 units, respectively).

It's "strongly recommended" at DMU, LECOM (both branches), OUCOM, and UMDMJ.

I would take it. Why not make your life a little easier during first year?

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Are you sure you can substitute Ochem credits? http://www.com.msu.edu/admissions/requirements.html

Jpc984 said:

Are you sure you can substitute Ochem credits? http://www.com.msu.edu/admissions/requirements.html

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That's what it says here on page 9: http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/cib/Documents/cib2008.pdf

I would probably trust what the school's website says, though. Hmmmm

EEL08 said:

Hmmm that is odd. You know I do have a bachelor's degree in counseling so while I'm not licensed I think I could do something about this psychological illness you have.

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LOL. You know what I need counseling for? I am trying to determine how one can get A's in those classes, physics, and gen chem and still do poorly on the MCAT. Please tell me how that works?!?! It is making me crazy. I think I psych myself out. But....I don't know how I did on the Jan 26th test yet.

Just got back from the library where I pulled a 5.5 hr marathon on biochem. Its definitly not easy !

I took two semesters of biochem at UT and loved it.

I also busted my *** for a B and a C in physics 1 and 2, and found the physics on the MCAT to be a joke.

my first biochem test is on tuesday... woe is me.... Anyone else at Umich in bio 310?!?! =)

I am taking a distance medical biochemistry class through University of New England. You can start the class at any time and it takes the regular 13 weeks to complete. There is a lot of information that will be helpful to me (I think) in med school and I am glad I have taken it. Biochem is required for one school I applied to and highly recommended for the other schools.

ShyRem said:

biochem. There are definitely schools that require biochem. Personally, I HATED biochem - and I was a chem major. Even after having biochem in first year, biochem is my nemesis.

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I'm sure you'd much rather like to see sigmoidal, cooperative binding curves for hemoglobin or the CAC rather than thermo in pchem, right?

Actually, I LOVED Pchem. And it was probably one of the easier chem classes - but my other major was math (I should say that I tutored 80% of the rest of my pchem classmates who thought Pchem was the devil, so it definitely wasn't easy for them). Complex variable calculus made pchem SO much easier. So did having group theory, linear algebra II, graph theory, etc. My math senior seminar I gave a talk on the math behind the symmetry groups from Al Cotton's book.

My backup plan in case I didn't get to med school was a PhD in physical chemistry. I'm not kidding.

Shy, that makes me want to gag, honestly. Wow. I'm in love with biochem. I find it so fascinating. However, genetics is moving up the totem pole for me. I'm finally digging the professor.

Boner said:

DMU is requiring 3 hours of Biochem for next application cycle.

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sadly that is true. i know b/c i tried very hard to get out of it and was talking with people at DMU about it. DMU is one of my top choices and i wasn't planning on taking biochem so needless to say i was very upset when i read on their website it was required for next applicaiton cycle.

i requested that they accept my kines course "biochemisty of exercise and energy" rather than general biochemistry. they lady seemed really helpful at first, said she would contact the biochemistry staff and show them my course description but she never responded after that.......here is the course description, what do you guys think? i totally think it should be accepted. it has human physiology and organic chemistry as pre requisites

306. BIOCHEMISTRY OF EXERCISE AND ENERGY.
Energy sources for human movement; substrate and energy metabolism during exercise; liver, skeletal, and cardiac muscle adaptations to acute and chronic exercise training. The role of diet and exercise in disease development and prevention is also covered. Prerequisites: Chemistry 220 and Kinesiology 307.

Had a semester of Biochem in summer. Never came up during interviews, though. I would suggest taking it, as it will help familiarize you with broad concepts--big picture stuff. From what I understand, we'll be memorizing all the fine details of this big picture in med school.