Discussion section vs. lab?

[mdmdt]

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I know that most (if not all?) medical schools require the physics, bio, and chem courses to have a lab component. However, at my university instead of the traditional lab a lot of science classes have a "discussion" section where it's a mix of in-depth dialog about whatever the last lecture topic was and doing experiments. There are still classes with regular labs, but the ones with discussion sections are usually more interesting.

Do you think most med schools would readily accept a discussion section as the lab component or would I be setting myself up for problems by counting on them?

 

[BeardedRunner]

There probably would be problems associated. The only way for it to work is if AMCAS counts these discussion sessions as "labs". They must have encountered it before or something, so they probably will know about it. Anyway, just give them a call and they will tell you.

 

[Sangria]

I had a similar situation with my bio classes but it worked out fine, because apparently those classes count as having lab, even though it's listed as discussion on the schedule. What university do you attend?

 

[mdmdt]

I had a similar situation with my bio classes but it worked out fine, because apparently those classes count as having lab, even though it's listed as discussion on the schedule. What university do you attend?

A big state school in Oregon... 😉 Do all the bio classes at your school have discussion instead of lab or just some?

 

[Sangria]

I just checked for you:
at my school 1 of the classes had a "demo" and 3 have "discussion", however with those classes students at my school do fulfill the AMCAS bio lab requirement. It's also possible that not all 4 classes count for lab though (in one discussion we did nothing but talk, and in the demo there weren't really experiments; I only actually remember one of the classes having any experiments, but maybe one bio lab class is all you need)

 

[diosa428]

You should ask your premed advisor, as I'm sure this is not the first time this question has come up and he/she should be familiar with what AMCAS will and will not accept.

 

[Lukkie]

I just checked for you:
at my school 1 of the classes had a "demo" and 3 have "discussion", however with those classes students at my school do fulfill the AMCAS bio lab requirement. It's also possible that not all 4 classes count for lab though (in one discussion we did nothing but talk, and in the demo there weren't really experiments; I only actually remember one of the classes having any experiments, but maybe one bio lab class is all you need)

man the LS1 demo was so lame