Gen. Biochem OR Medical Biochem

[2DEG]

Hi all:

I am just finishing up Org. Chem II this semester which has become my fav. subject so far. I am excited about taking General Biochem in Summer II. or at least I was.

I am a non-trad. student, I work fulltime. Taking summer II class seems almost impossible for me. It will basically mean taking 3 hours off everyday from 9 to 12pm.

Today, I learned about a distance education course 'Medical Biochemistry'. The good thing about it is .. its video/independent study, so I don't have to take any time off from work. It cost few hundred dollar more.

My concern is two fold: 1) would gen. biochem be more beneficial for MCAT or Medical Biochem would be as helpful as gen. biochem?

2) Do I need to take gen. biochem to do well in Medical Biochem? would it be foolish of me to take Medical biochem?

I would very much appreciate from anyone, especially those who have taken MCAT and/or in Med school now.

Thanks so much.
Shahab/ [email protected]

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[apar01]

I have taken the MCAT, but am not in med school yet so I can't attest to that.

As far as the MCAT goes, you won't have much of an advantage in either biochem class. As long as both classes go over bio. pathways, enzyme kinetics, regulation, etc. you should be fine.

I don't think it would be "foolish" of you to take medical biochem by any means. If anything, I would recommend it over general biochem because it is extremely dry. I'm in it right now and we study pathways at the molecular level (organic rxns, mechanisms), but merely glance over the physiological level and clinical aspects. Not very useful in the long run.

 

[Syranope2]

i'd probably agree with apar01 (although i majored in biochem, so i of course found it very interesting - poohy on all you who don't ) biochem isn't even a prereq for most medical schools (although there are some exeptions). there's not too much biochem on the mcat and whatever is on there would probably be covered by either class. if regular biochem isn't listed as a prereq. for the medical biochem, then you should be fine. and the stuff will have more of a clinical focus, which is nice for physicians-to-be. (although if you liked organic so much, i think you would like hardcore biochem, too. try it out if you can take it another time. or wait, i guess you could just take it in medical school like everyone else )

 

[oudoc08]

As an added bonus, the medical biochem would get you out of hearing about photosynthesis AGAIN (for all you biologists)

 

[2DEG]

Thanks all for your replies. Since it would be easier for me (in terms of time management), I think I will go ahead and take Medical Biochem.

Thanks again to all who replied.

Shahab

 

[Amy B]

A wise choice. I agree 100%. I took biochem and hated going over the plant stuff. Luckily our instructor used a whole bunch of medically related stuff to tie into every lecture she gave. But i would have taken the medical biochem if it had been offered.

I am curious, is the class through your school?

 

[2DEG]

Amy..

Thanks for your reply. No, this medical biochem is not from my school (NC State Univ). It is being offered by U of New England. I don't have the link with me right now, but if anyone is interested, I can send you the link via email or something. Its a distance ed. course and cost is $910 (includes book). The duration of the course is 13 weeks.

Have a great day.
Shahab

 

[chopper]

Here's the link:
http://faculty.une.edu/com/courses/bionut/distbio/distbiohome.html