molecular biology

[mdsquared]

Would an undergraduate molecular biology course be useful for medical school?

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[45408]

not particularly. It's a cool course though, IMO.

 

[g3pro]

It's useful if you want to go into research while in med school.

 

[YesYesYesNoNo]

Would an undergraduate molecular biology course be useful for medical school?

I was told by a med student that molecular biology would be very useful for med school. I also think it would be useful for the MCAT at it will cover trancription/translation in great detail.

 

[Law2Doc]

I was told by a med student that molecular biology would be very useful for med school. I also think it would be useful for the MCAT at it will cover trancription/translation in great detail.

The MCAT doesn't usually tend to test transcription/translation in detail greater than you would get from any decent basic undergrad biology class, so I wouldn't take any non-prereq science course purely for MCAT reasons (but if you are interested in it, go for it).
Med school will teach you everything they think you need to know (and then some), so if you've taken the prereqs, that's plenty. It's perhaps advantageous for some to have taken courses on some of the subjects covered, but certainly not critical. Even if you remembered all your undergrad course stuff by the time you get to it in med school (especially those schools that give courses in sequence, not all at once), there is likely no way you had to learn the course at the level of detail required for med school anyhow, so you will always find yourself back in unchartered territory within a few minutes of every lecture. That's my .02 cents.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Take the course if you're interested. I agree with Law2Doc that it wouldn't help much on the MCAT. Perhaps it'll get you one question right.

Most residencies favor medical school applicants who do research. Knowing molecular biology will open many doors for you. However, if you're not interested, in cruise mode during the class, and have no interest in pursuing research, then you'll waste your time.

 

[Mutt]

You should take it.

With the current trajectory of medicine having a particular emphasis on the molecular basis of disease, it would be tremendously useful for you to have a basic understanding and could only be beneficial for you in the future.

Who knows, you might just find it irresistibly interesting!

 

[dr.z]

I would recommend taking it. I learned a lot from it.