Confused

[francais7979]

I need some advice. I have option next year to take Cell and Molec and Microbiology or Genetics and Microbiology.

Which ones should I take? Has anyone got accepted to med school without taking Genetics?

Also how really helpful is taking genetics for MCAT?

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[becool5]

I need some advice. I have option next year to take Cell and Molec and Microbiology or Genetics and Microbiology.

Which ones should I take? Has anyone got accepted to med school without taking Genetics?

Also how really helpful is taking genetics for MCAT?

Is it possible to take Cell Bio and Genetics? I think both of those courses would be helpful for the MCAT. The MCAT is very heavy on genetics and the micro portion can easily be studied on your own.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

You'll get some mixed answers, but here's a recent thread about Genetics and the MCAT. I'd go with Genetics.

 

[matlabsux]

as an mcat teacher for 4+ years (scored in top 5%) and a fiancee finishing up his first year of IM residency, I can tell you that you do not NEED cell bio or genetics to A) do very well on the mcat or B)get into medical school.

A) The level if cell/microbio/genetics tested on the mcats is pathetically miniscule. it is not much beyond high school level study and is totally encompassed by a decent fresh level bio course in under grad.
There has been a recent increase since 2006 on the amount of genetics Q's on the mcat, but it is still nowhere near justifying a full semester of it. Same goes for cell bio and microbio. It is just not worth it for the MCAT's sake.

B) I can say from experience as a non-trad pre-med (Mech Engineering Major), you DO NOT need genetics/cell bio/micro bio for MOST medical schools. I have 7 interviews and 6 acceptaces to prove it. All I have are the basic 8 credits of bio/chem/physics/orgo.
However, it depends on what schools you are looking at. The more competitive med schools (MD or DO) will look for any excuse to thin the herd before interviews. Taking and doing very well (B+ and up) can make your app. more attractive, but if you look at about 80% of all med schools in the u.s. they do not REQUIRE anything beyond the standard 8 credits of gen/orgo/bio/physics.

If you really would like to take the classes for your major, then do so. If you do not need them, and they would make your schedule tough to arrange, don't bother. As far as med school prep goes, Taking cell/mico biochem or genetics can make your first year a bit easier, but thats it. You're still gonig to be busting your ass studying for exams.

Hope that helps.

 

[RySerr21]

I need some advice. I have option next year to take Cell and Molec and Microbiology or Genetics and Microbiology.

Which ones should I take? Has anyone got accepted to med school without taking Genetics?

Also how really helpful is taking genetics for MCAT?

intro to cellular and molecular biology will cover pretty much everything you need to konw for the bio section on the MCAT, including Genetics. The only thing it wont cover is physiology.

Separate courses on genetics and microbiology are unecessary, as the above poster said. Not only will you cover genetics if you take cellular/molecular biology but you will cover it in your review books. I can only think of like 3 or 4 schools that REQUIRE genetics to be taken as a pre req. Thre might be a few more, but either way its an overwhelming minority. As far as your question regarding genetics and acceptances, unless you are a bio major or a biochem major, its unlikely you took a course dedicated to Genetics. Since a lot of people getting accepted to med school are not bio majors, its safe to say a lot of students have not had genetics.

I never took a course in molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, or anything like that, and i did fine on my MCAT and am doing well this cycle so far.

 

[engineeredout]

I rocked the genetics on the MCAT through studying "Primer of Genetic Analysis". Its a good book with lots of problems.


It wasn't until last week however that I actually got the joke of the title.

 

[p30doc]

I'd go for Cell Bio, I feel like that was much more helpful for the MCAT than genetics. My Cell Bio course had a good amount of genetics stuff in it too. Ideally you would take both before the MCAT.

 

[lastcall]

I rocked the genetics on the MCAT through studying "Primer of Genetic Analysis". Its a good book with lots of problems.


It wasn't until last week however that I actually got the joke of the title.

Hey, I used that book to study for the genetics portion of the MCAT too. I agree, great book.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

I'd go for Cell Bio, I feel like that was much more helpful for the MCAT than genetics. My Cell Bio course had a good amount of genetics stuff in it too. Ideally you would take both before the MCAT.

Both would be nice. I guess my stance is that the cell bio on the MCAT is really basic, but there are tons of questions on the subject (at least on my test). However, I taught myself that stuff with very little effort.

However, there were/are a lot of straight up Genetics questions, too--both stand alone and passages. Being able to quickly work through them comes with a good amount of practice. There was no practice necessary after having taken the course.

Do you have to take one or the other for your degree? Any schools you're interested in require either course?

These are arguably more important questions than which one will help for the MCAT. You can always teach yourself MCAT material--it's pretty basic. However you can't go back in time and do a pre req if it's not being offered again until after you'd matriculate, or after interview season, if a school requires a certain class and puts a lot of weight on that grade.

 

[rm2908]

I took both cell bio and genetics before taking the MCAT. The biology section (at least on my test) was primarily genetics except for the physiology stuff. I was extremely happy I had taken the class already as it didn't require much studying or hard thinking about the genetics stuff since i've been exposed to it so much.

my cell bio class @ undergrad was all about very minute details, so that could be why i didn't find it that helpful for the mcat (just required for my major).

my vote is for genetics.

and although there isn't much microbiology stuff on the mcat, im in that class now and i love it. it's really interesting stuff to learn so i say take that just for the sake of it.

 

[MossPoh]

I think genetics was helpful. I'm in microbiology now and it isn't horrible. It covered a lot of prokaryotic cell biology stuff along with basic biochem review for the areas. Never took cell bio. Really, the mcat science isn't that hard. It is just remembering the crap and learning how to take the test.

 

[punkiedad]

For the long term, general knowledge and understanding would be great, but you will learn all that in med school (I presume they will tech it the way they want to).

I took the MCATs without ever taking a biology course (not even intro). I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS, nor am I being cocky. I am a non trad and that is just the way the schedules worked out so I could work and still take night classes. That being said, I got an 8 in the Biological Sciences portion (not great, but it got me in).

The reason I mention my own situation is that I truloy studied my tail off since I had no BIO. I used Examkrackers complete set of books (no class was offered) and supplimented it with audio Osmosis from EK and took a all the practice exams that were available.

so, IMHO, I would spend the time prepping for the MCATs rather than a BIO class. If you feel the need, I have been told by just about anyone, that biochem would be the best for your first year of med school (not necessarily the mcats).

sorry for the ong post, but hope I added value. Best of luck.

 

[matlabsux]

I rocked the genetics on the MCAT through studying "Primer of Genetic Analysis". Its a good book with lots of problems.


It wasn't until last week however that I actually got the joke of the title.

Your last statement does not instill much confidence in the book.

 

[MossPoh]

For the long term, general knowledge and understanding would be great, but you will learn all that in med school (I presume they will tech it the way they want to).

I took the MCATs without ever taking a biology course (not even intro). I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS, nor am I being cocky. I am a non trad and that is just the way the schedules worked out so I could work and still take night classes. That being said, I got an 8 in the Biological Sciences portion (not great, but it got me in).

The reason I mention my own situation is that I truloy studied my tail off since I had no BIO. I used Examkrackers complete set of books (no class was offered) and supplimented it with audio Osmosis from EK and took a all the practice exams that were available.

so, IMHO, I would spend the time prepping for the MCATs rather than a BIO class. If you feel the need, I have been told by just about anyone, that biochem would be the best for your first year of med school (not necessarily the mcats).

sorry for the ong post, but hope I added value. Best of luck.

Yet you are still pluralizing the MCAT. Two science classes in conjunction with an mcat class is not too far fetched. I took the kaplan class at the same time I was taking organic, physics II with lab, a biology class, psychology and astronomy. It wasn't that much of a feat.

 

[punkiedad]

Yet you are still pluralizing the MCAT. Two science classes in conjunction with an mcat class is not too far fetched. I took the kaplan class at the same time I was taking organic, physics II with lab, a biology class, psychology and astronomy. It wasn't that much of a feat.

congratulations on your not so great feat....

 

[Thriller]

I took the mcat and got accepted to med school without ever having taken genetics. It would have been nice to have taken genetics since there are a few questions on the test regarding that subject, but it is definitely not required to do well on it or to be accepted.