All courses depend on your teacher.
I don't know if you can take Genetics w/o lab and apply to med school but if you can, skip the lab. It is beyond boring.
As far as the class itself, personally, I didn't think it was any harder than my other bio classes. You just have to work hard. I took it 9 years ago and I didn't think it was too bad. However, I took a W in Orgo after six weeks because I just got lost.
But def skip the lab if you can. It's not worth the time.
I totally agree with this. Most med schools don't require a genetics lab, just 2 semesters of bio lab so I would suggest General Biology I and II lab (we got to dissect a pig in Gen Bio II).
I just took genetics without the lab and it was one of the best decisions I've made in a while. Everyone I talked to said it was frustrating, nothing worked, and a general waste of time, so beware. Not worth the 1 credit, for sure.
As for the lecture, try to see if your college/university has faculty reviews and if you have a couple of genetics classes to choose from, pick them based on reviews of the professors. It makes a HUGE difference.
I had a choice between the MCDB department genetics (molecular, cellular, and developmental bio) and EBIO genetics (ecology and evolutionary bio) and was advised that the EBIO was much easier so I went that way. It covered enough so that I'd be set for the MCAT but wasn't overkill.
In short, talk to your advisor (if you have one, if not, look at faculty reviews), other students, and the textbook/syllabus to decide which course to take.
But yeah, I don't think it was a weed-out course. It's very similar to o-chem in that it's logical and not rote memorization like other bio courses but other than that, I don't think it's too tough. Not easy, but not insane.
