biochem, cell bio, molecular genetics

[blue129]

I'm thinking about what bio electives I might take for my major, and I was wondering what you guys thought about biochem, cell bio and molecular genetics with regards to the courses (if any besides straight-up pre-reqs) adcoms like to see on your transcript, and usefulness for the MCAT.

The pre-med advisory board at my school strongly recommends biochem for pre-meds as something adcoms want to see on our transcripts, but I haven't heard this from any other source. Then again, my undergrad has a really high med school acceptance rate (90's), and maybe I'll want to take this class to earn the respect of my pre-med advisor/major advisor/ professor and likely LOR-writer, the guy who told me this. It's a notoriously difficult class, possibly the most difficult class, at my undergrad. I'm interested in the topic anyway, even though it will probably be the innermost circle of academic hell this side of med school.

Between cell bio and molecular genetics, I'm more interested in the genetics class (the professor is supposed to be pretty good, and I'm more interested in this topic), but I suspect cell bio might be more useful for MCAT.

Anything y'all would suggest?

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[ADeadLois]

I'm thinking about what bio electives I might take for my major, and I was wondering what you guys thought about biochem, cell bio and molecular genetics with regards to the courses (if any besides straight-up pre-reqs) adcoms like to see on your transcript, and usefulness for the MCAT.

The pre-med advisory board at my school strongly recommends biochem for pre-meds as something adcoms want to see on our transcripts, but I haven't heard this from any other source. Then again, my undergrad has a really high med school acceptance rate (90's), and maybe I'll want to take this class to earn the respect of my pre-med advisor/major advisor/ professor and likely LOR-writer, the guy who told me this. It's a notoriously difficult class, possibly the most difficult class, at my undergrad. I'm interested in the topic anyway, even though it will probably be the innermost circle of academic hell this side of med school.

Between cell bio and molecular genetics, I'm more interested in the genetics class (the professor is supposed to be pretty good, and I'm more interested in this topic), but I suspect cell bio might be more useful for MCAT.

Anything y'all would suggest?

I applied without a bio class beyond the 1 year pre-med sequence and it didn't impact my application at all.

The Cell Bio, Biochem and genetics on the MCAT is so basic that it's not, in my mind, necessary to take those classes. Yes, they will help, but if you don't take them it's not a huge deal. If I had to pick one, I'd go Cell Bio, only because of the 3 (biochem, cell bio and genetics), it's the one that has the most content on the MCAT.

Some schools, Michigan and one of the Case Western programs off the top of my head, do require biochem. Some also require some upper level science classes.

 

[Vano]

Cell Bio isn't a required course for bio major in your school? Don't need anything beyond gen.bio on MCAT; sure all the bio courses you take may help but they are beyond the level you need to know to do well on a test. If you're a bio major and interested in the subject take all those classes, and don't forget anatomy, physiology and microbio--you should be all set then. From my personal experience I also liked immunology and developmental bio a lot, so check those out too for your electives.

 

[ssquared]

I found biochemistry to be really helpful, and cell bio to be extremely helpful on the MCAT. Genetics, not so much. The MCAT I took had passages that could have been taken off of the slides used in my cell bio class. It was ridiculous. But take what you want to take, because soon enough you'll have to take what everybody else tells you to take.

 

[Green Pirate]

I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I just finished cell bio this semester and it was an awesome class. My understanding of some of the stuff we learned in general bio is so much more concrete now (processes such as DNA replication, transcription, translation, etc.).

 

[xx216xx]

Of those three I would probably go with cell bio as well. It's such a broad area that you'll end up getting into some biochem and maybe a little molecular genetics while taking it. If you take biochem or molecular by itself you'll end up going into way too much detail to be helpful for the MCAT.

 

[lawnboy313]

If your LOR writer said to take biochem, take biochem. The first year of med school is a bunch of biochem, so if you do well, it'll bode well for your success in med school (which adcoms will like), and will make the load easier to handle. My advisor, a professor at UConn med, says she's seen over and over that that students who don't have biochem prior to medical school struggle the first year. You'll kill anything they ask about glycolysis, the ETC, or the TCA cycle on the MCAT as well.

Why don't you take all three?

 

[DreamyKid]

I'd go with cell bio too. But when you talk about biochem, my school has various types. Like structural bio chem, metabolic biochem, etc. What specific one are u thinking about or recommended to take?