Community College or 4 Year College Thoughts

[AveragePerson.Psych]

I just need some seconds thoughts on this. My post bac semester starts in one week. I'll be taking biology anatomy and physiology parts I & II organic chemistry I & II, and Physics I & II. I decided to take bio a&p because I noticed I missed questions repeatedly in this area while studying for the MCAT and while going over the syllabus for the course at my college, I feel it will help me with the content gaps I suffer from and reinforce some of the information I have from prior bio courses. Also it would fill the prerequisite slot for some of the schools I hope to be applying to.

I have chosen to take the classes at my 4 year college where I got my B.S. and M.S. If I take the courses at my junior college instead, could that possibly weaken my application? Money is difficult right now so if I can save, that's great and if not, well money comes and goes (bright side either way).

Prior to taking the post bac courses and finishing my M.S. I had gotten a 'B' in Cell Biology and a 'C' in General Chem II in my last semester of undergrad so I am aiming to let med schools know I can do the work and get better grades than what I left off with.

Also just to ask these questions early:

Should I take biochemistry my second semester or would Organic Chem II suffice for the MCAT? I notice some med schools want biochemistry separate from Organic Chem while others may allow one to satisfy the other in terms of prerequisites.

Is an April MCAT for the next cycle a good time (in case I needed to do a retake)?

Thank you all and have a good day/night!

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[eigen]

You will be eliminating some schools if you don't take biochemistry. But only you can decide if you're OK with that, based on which schools you will/won't eliminate.

IME, biochemistry is highly relevant for the MCAT, based on feedback from students.

I don't generally recommend students take courses at a more expensive school post-grad just for the name: save yourself the money and go to a CC.

With respect to the courses you're taking, I would suggest taking a closer examination on why you want to take A&P. If you're interested and want to show you can do the work, go for it. But I don't think it's necessarily the most relevant course for the MCAT, and I'm not aware of any medical schools that require it- I'm interested that you mention it will fill prerequisite slots for you.

Slimming your schedule down to just the things you need (OChem, Physics, Biochemistry) might be a wiser approach, especially if you're doing other things while taking classes (i.e., not a full time student).

 

[AveragePerson.Psych]

For the biochemistry at my 4 year college, they have general biochemistry and then advanced biochemistry and I'll do both if need.

The biology a&p portion is stemming from me looking at University of Arizona Tucson (I did note that they only admit 50% OOS as I am a Texas resident; I got the statistic from a MSAR pdf online). I had assumed that the biology courses would also count towards a general biology course that med schools may require (Both a&p courses are introductory).

If a&p isn't needed the only other course that I am eligible for would be another biology introductory course. I did take previous biology courses; 2 at my CC, but one was for non-science majors. I took the non-science course as it was a dual credit when I was in high school. Another biology course was physiology psychology at my 4-year college.

I took a Princeton Review free biology course and it went over quite a few of the things the bio a&p courses will dive into:

Nervous System
Reproductive System
Respiratory System
Cellular Metabolism
Skeletal Muscle System
Genes

There's more , but those are the main ones that I recall as I have trouble in those areas. I know that I have seen some of these topics in the AAMC question banks so I am aiming to boost my knowledge in these areas and other connecting areas.

I appreciate your help!

 

[eigen]

While sometimes upper level biology can count for the required year of intro biology, A&P doesn't always slot into that. You would want to check carefully at schools you're interested in.

Your best bet would be to take either introductory biology, or take a lower/mid level cell biology or genetics course. You mentioned in your OP that you took Cell Biology... was that an introductory course, or an upper level one?

For biochemistry, I've never seen anywhere require past one semester, but I could be missing places.

As for MCAT preparation, it's worth remembering that the MCAT does not intend to test concepts from A&P. This is what AAMC says about the Biological & Biochemical Foundations section:

• test cellular and molecular biology topics at the level taught in many colleges and universities in introductory biology sequences and first-semester biochemistry courses;

Basically, it's intended to test over the material from introductory biology courses and introductory biochemistry. Specifically, it's 65% intro biology and 25% biochemistry.

 

[AveragePerson.Psych]

While sometimes upper level biology can count for the required year of intro biology, A&P doesn't always slot into that. You would want to check carefully at schools you're interested in.

Your best bet would be to take either introductory biology, or take a lower/mid level cell biology or genetics course. You mentioned in your OP that you took Cell Biology... was that an introductory course, or an upper level one?

For biochemistry, I've never seen anywhere require past one semester, but I could be missing places.

As for MCAT preparation, it's worth remembering that the MCAT does not intend to test concepts from A&P. This is what AAMC says about the Biological & Biochemical Foundations section:

Basically, it's intended to test over the material from introductory biology courses and introductory biochemistry. Specifically, it's 65% intro biology and 25% biochemistry.

My cell biology was upper level. For better knowledge and preparation, I will take an introductory biology course for the first semester and an upper-level genetics course for the second semester. I plan on testing in April so I feel having the genetics fresh on my brain would be better; also, it fits into my schedule better.

Are there any specific introductory biology courses you would recommend?

 

[eigen]

I mean, intro biology is intro biology. And typically, you need a year of it for most medical schools, with upper level courses filling in some places.

If you took 2 semesters of intro and a semester of cell biology, you're probably set on courses.

I'm unclear about your goal in taking these courses, and would suggest thinking about it a bit more. From your posts, it seems like a mix of a few reasons: to fulfill prerequisites you're missing, to brush up on content knowledge for the MCAT, and to showcase good grades in these courses.

I would be very clear about why you're taking each class: is it for prerequisites? Then you need to look through schools and be very sure that the classes you're planning to take will work.

If you've taken the prerequisites, then taking additional courses rather than just studying for the MCAT on your own probably isn't a cost-effective of efficient strategy. There's not enough genetics on the MCAT that you should take a genetics course for it- most applicants haven't taken genetics. If you need the course to structure your review and have the money, it might be worth it, but I think you're probably better off just focusing on studying for the MCAT.

If it's to compensate for a low science GPA, then you need to be thoughtful about what courses you take, how they fit into your narrative/interests, and be absolutely certain you'll do well in them.

 

[AveragePerson.Psych]

@eigen Thank you so much! You have given me quite a bit to think about. The biology portion is the only part confusing me because for TMDSAS the "non-science major" courses aren't included in the BCPM gpa and don't meet prerequisite requirements and I'm aiming to meet the requirements for biology. In addition, with the TMDSAS in mind, having the "non-science major" class makes me think that the course will not fulfill other requirements for medical schools outside of TMDSAS (but I know all systems are different).

For the Fall and Spring, I will take the organic chemistry and the physics courses to finish those prerequisites. For biology I will at least take one introductory biology course to cover my butt and if I feel I need more practice for content gaps (after taking practice tests and doing more questions) I will take another biology course that covers most of the concepts I am missing. I will get to work on doing better research for the schools to understand what would work for the biology prerequisites.

I appreciate you and thank you for all of the advice you have given me!

 

[eigen]

Maybe I misunderstood- I thought you said you took 1 semester of a non-majors biology, and then one semester of a majors biology sequence, then cell biology?

In general, upper level cell biology can count for a missing lower level intro biology.

If I misunderstood and you didn't take any major classes, then yes, you probably want to just take a 2-semester intro biology series.

 

[AveragePerson.Psych]

Maybe I misunderstood- I thought you said you took 1 semester of a non-majors biology, and then one semester of a majors biology sequence, then cell biology?

In general, upper level cell biology can count for a missing lower level intro biology.

If I misunderstood and you didn't take any major classes, then yes, you probably want to just take a 2-semester intro biology series.

I meant to put "course" and not "courses" in my last reply when talking about the non-majors biology course I took. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

No you have it correct, but the TMDSAS won't count my non-majors biology course and I didn't know that cell biology could make up for a lower level course (until now). Thank you!

 

[eigen]

It may not for TMDSAS- I work with very few TX residents.

But for a large number of schools, if you look at their prerequisites, upper level cell/molec will replace missing intro classes. Same is usually true with chemistry.