hating biology classes, go to medical shcool?

[IdoDrugs]

So far I've taken the traditional one year intro biol series and hated it because it was just so much memorization of mechanism and getting lost in the trees or or focusing on the forest...all that crap.

i really like classes like organic chemistry, calculus, and physics that to me seem to require much more reasoning...and are just plain easier for me. i like doing research more than volunteering once at week at this one adult home for AIDS residents as well.

furthermore some upper level biol classes i've taken are microbiology, and ecology. So far I am a delcared "biochemistry-cellular and molecular biology" major. I've considered doing the plain Biochemistry through my schools chem department, which is more chemistry/math/physics intensive because I seriously think I would detest other courses I would have to take like "developmental biology of animals," "insect ecology," "fishwater ecology," and "organic evolution," just to name a few.Even worse, I'd have to take a class that focuses on the taxonomy and phylogenyof micro-organisms. Booo. If I change, it would just be an extra two quarters and I would also end up with a double major in "Cellular Biology."

Two MD's I've shadowed told me that there is alot of memorization in medical school...but the point of it is for your to memorize it and then apply all that memorization. While the thought of becoming a physician still interests me (which is why I continue volunteering-I learn alot from that as well)....I am considering not doing it because I would then just really hate medical school. I have also been considering graduate studies in biochemistry.

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[Green Pirate]

it's pretty widely accepted that med school = intense memorization. While I'm sure there's a fair share of application, you still will need to know the names of various anatomical structures, biochemical agents, etc. This is of course all hearsay, so hopefully someone with more experience can shed more light.

I don't think you should give up on becoming a physician if that's really what you want to do just because of a few years of memorization. If you think you will enjoy clinical work, then a few years of torture shouldn't stop you.

 

[MattD]

it's pretty widely accepted that med school = intense memorization. While I'm sure there's a fair share of application, you still will need to know the names of various anatomical structures, biochemical agents, etc. This is of course all hearsay, so hopefully someone with more experience can shed more light.

I don't think you should give up on becoming a physician if that's really what you want to do just because of a few years of memorization. If you think you will enjoy clinical work, then a few years of torture shouldn't stop you.

I can only speak of first year from direct experience, but yes, med school = memorizing a LOT of stuff. The application side of things will probably vary based on your school, as to whether you spend a lot of time working on problem solving or not. At my school we do some, but not as much as I'd like. But, basic science is only the first 2 years of medical school, and you really need to have the background knowledge stored away in order to know what to apply to clinical situations once you reach 3rd and 4th year. My opinion for the OP is, if you think you'll really enjoy the clinical practice of medicine, you can survive the first 2 years of med school memorization in order to get there.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

As said above, the preclinial years are ENDLESS memorization. And while some of it will be relevant, a large portion of it will NOT (kind of depends what you end up specializing in as to which part will be relevant).

Also it sounds like you like research more than patient contact. What about going for a PhD instead of an MD? You sound like you might like this path.

 

[sirus_virus]

So far I've taken the traditional one year intro biol series and hated it because it was just so much memorization of mechanism and getting lost in the trees or or focusing on the forest...all that crap.
i really like classes like organic chemistry, calculus, and physics that to me seem to require much more reasoning...and are just plain easier for me. i like doing research more than volunteering once at week at this one adult home for AIDS residents as well.

furthermore some upper level biol classes i've taken are microbiology, and ecology. So far I am a delcared "biochemistry-cellular and molecular biology" major. I've considered doing the plain Biochemistry through my schools chem department, which is more chemistry/math/physics intensive because I seriously think I would detest other courses I would have to take like "developmental biology of animals," "insect ecology," "fishwater ecology," and "organic evolution," just to name a few.Even worse, I'd have to take a class that focuses on the taxonomy and phylogenyof micro-organisms. Booo. If I change, it would just be an extra two quarters and I would also end up with a double major in "Cellular Biology."

Two MD's I've shadowed told me that there is alot of memorization in medical school...but the point of it is for your to memorize it and then apply all that memorization. While the thought of becoming a physician still interests me (which is why I continue volunteering-I learn alot from that as well)....I am considering not doing it because I would then just really hate medical school. I have also been considering graduate studies in biochemistry.

Intro to bio? Dude, I will probably recommend you choose someother profession. From what I have heard, medschool is 15 times more memorization than what goes on in intro to bio.

I noticed you username, that could also cut down on your brain's capacity.

 

[MattD]

Intro to bio? Dude, I will probably recommend you choose someother profession. From what I have heard, medschool is 15 times more memorization than what goes on in intro to bio.

I noticed you username, that could also cut down on your brain's capacity.

Just because he hated intro bio doesn't mean he wasn't capable of doing well in the class. I hated intro bio too. Still made A's though. Haven't failed out of med school yet. It all depends on whether the OP wants to work with patients or not, which is where doing some shadowing will help enormously. If you find yourself not too interested in seeing patients, I'll agree that medicine might not fit your personality (after all, seeing patients pretty much defines most of medicine). If you find this is true, but you want a problem solving type career, then sure, research might be a good route for you, although bio is bio however you shake a stick at it, you're gonna be memorizing random stuff. Problem solving with a more theoretical and less memorizational slant, without the social patient interaction type aspects, might lend itself to engineering. It's worth checking into if you get to that point. Hope that helps!

 

[MWK]

I HATED my intro bio classes, totally unmotivated to learn about plants, etc, just really didnt care.

I think the upper div ones, while harder, are more interesting, as well as pertinent. Right now im in Cell (our weed out) and Genetics. Took grad level physiology last semester and thats the first bio class I've ever liked.

Sometimes you just have to see through the crap. I often wondered if I was cut out for medicine just because I couldnt see the end of the tunnel.

I like human biology, not botany. So just stick with it and hopefully at some point, it will click and you will like it...if not then thats probably not for you...

 

[DocBR]

So far I've taken the traditional one year intro biol series and hated it because it was just so much memorization of mechanism and getting lost in the trees or or focusing on the forest...all that crap.

i really like classes like organic chemistry, calculus, and physics that to me seem to require much more reasoning...and are just plain easier for me. i like doing research more than volunteering once at week at this one adult home for AIDS residents as well.

furthermore some upper level biol classes i've taken are microbiology, and ecology. So far I am a delcared "biochemistry-cellular and molecular biology" major. I've considered doing the plain Biochemistry through my schools chem department, which is more chemistry/math/physics intensive because I seriously think I would detest other courses I would have to take like "developmental biology of animals," "insect ecology," "fishwater ecology," and "organic evolution," just to name a few.Even worse, I'd have to take a class that focuses on the taxonomy and phylogenyof micro-organisms. Booo. If I change, it would just be an extra two quarters and I would also end up with a double major in "Cellular Biology."

Two MD's I've shadowed told me that there is alot of memorization in medical school...but the point of it is for your to memorize it and then apply all that memorization. While the thought of becoming a physician still interests me (which is why I continue volunteering-I learn alot from that as well)....I am considering not doing it because I would then just really hate medical school. I have also been considering graduate studies in biochemistry.

You hate the mechanisms of bio, but like the 90-trillion mechanisms of OChem?

I hated General bio as well and wondered the same thing. Later on I took Animal Physiology which was a lot more memorization but it was about stuff that I am interested in rather than kingdoms, or which type of worm is segmented, what a box lung is, etc.

Try some more upper division bio courses to find out for sure.
If you can avoid Organic Evolution - I would do so. It is single handedly the most boring class I have ever taken, read the selfish gene instead and skip that boring ass class.

 

[DocBR]

I noticed you username, that could also cut down on your brain's capacity.

 

[UMP]

my ap bio teacher in high school turned me off from medicine completely because she kept stressing how much memorization is important in medicine. I wish I never took that class. All the bio classes I took in my post-bacc treated me just fine. Although I know my style of thinking and learning suits me better for engineering, math, physics... I think I'll do fine in med school

 

[BozoSparky]

So far I've taken the traditional one year intro biol series and hated it because it was just so much memorization of mechanism and getting lost in the trees or or focusing on the forest...all that crap.

i really like classes like organic chemistry, calculus, and physics that to me seem to require much more reasoning...and are just plain easier for me. i like doing research more than volunteering once at week at this one adult home for AIDS residents as well.

furthermore some upper level biol classes i've taken are microbiology, and ecology. So far I am a delcared "biochemistry-cellular and molecular biology" major. I've considered doing the plain Biochemistry through my schools chem department, which is more chemistry/math/physics intensive because I seriously think I would detest other courses I would have to take like "developmental biology of animals," "insect ecology," "fishwater ecology," and "organic evolution," just to name a few.Even worse, I'd have to take a class that focuses on the taxonomy and phylogenyof micro-organisms. Booo. If I change, it would just be an extra two quarters and I would also end up with a double major in "Cellular Biology."

Two MD's I've shadowed told me that there is alot of memorization in medical school...but the point of it is for your to memorize it and then apply all that memorization. While the thought of becoming a physician still interests me (which is why I continue volunteering-I learn alot from that as well)....I am considering not doing it because I would then just really hate medical school. I have also been considering graduate studies in biochemistry.

don't worry about hating memorization. lots of med students do. med school is not impossible, as some would have you believe.
just determine whether you want to be a physician or a scientist! or both?

 

[IdoDrugs]

You hate the mechanisms of bio, but like the 90-trillion mechanisms of OChem?

organic mechanisms are simple! I took a year of ochem at my old school where it was 200 level. At my new school it is 300 level. I need a certain number of 300 level credits to graduate so I'm taking part of ochem all over again for the heck of it...i did it to avoid a class called marine ecology.

 

[UMP]

You hate the mechanisms of bio, but like the 90-trillion mechanisms of OChem?

organic mechanisms are simple! I took a year of ochem at my old school where it was 200 level. At my new school it is 300 level. I need a certain number of 300 level credits to graduate so I'm taking part of ochem all over again for the heck of it...i did it to avoid a class called marine ecology.

I'd probably do the same thing... marine ecology? the ecology class I took was awful... but at least there was math in it

 

[IdoDrugs]

I noticed you username, that could also cut down on your brain's capacity.

I worked in a pharmacy just like 8 hours a week as a freshman and found drugs interesting.

pot is pretty interesting also.

 

[ArgaWarga]

Take some biology classes with things that have spines. Developmental Biology and Histology are good choices, IMO. Personally, I hate biology stuff that I can't see using in medicine like botany (stupid graduation requirement), but I like things that I can see using in the future. When I took a class called introduction to medicinal chemistry, I finally understood why I was memorizing all this stuff–it was like seeing how all the pieces worked together. If you're interested in seeing how the biology plays with the other things you've learned, go for it. Otherwise, you might want to look for careers other than medicine.

 

[ShyRem]

I hated bio too. LOVED chem and math. Look at it this way - you'll still have to memorize tons of garbage, but you can't memorize your way through a patient problem. THAT takes reasoning, skill, insight, and using some of that memorized crap, too. *sigh*. I told a professor I hated bio and he laughed at me, told me I better get out now and then bet I'd fail out the first month. I'm still here (and haven't failed an exam yet). I make sure to smile and say hello to him every time I see him in the halls.

Just get through the memorizing. It gets better once you start putting pieces together to reason through the important stuff - like patients.

 

[NonTradMed]

I hate memorization but I'm willing to stick with it for two years until I get to clinicals 3rd year. I also hated organic chemistry and the MCAT but I still muddled through it because it's one more thing to do to get me to my goal and that is to be a doctor. Don't let some stuff like a hatred of memorization deter you from being a doctor. Those things are transitory and will pass. Once you're a doctor, you will cut back on the amount of biology stuff you have to memorize and regurgitate.

 

[UMP]

I hated bio too. LOVED chem and math. Look at it this way - you'll still have to memorize tons of garbage, but you can't memorize your way through a patient problem. THAT takes reasoning, skill, insight, and using some of that memorized crap, too. *sigh*. I told a professor I hated bio and he laughed at me, told me I better get out now and then bet I'd fail out the first month. I'm still here (and haven't failed an exam yet). I make sure to smile and say hello to him every time I see him in the halls.

Just get through the memorizing. It gets better once you start putting pieces together to reason through the important stuff - like patients.

I think once I get all the info together, the fun stuff will start... where I can actually reason through all that knowledge and figure things out based on that massive amount of pre-clinical crap

 

[vincikai]

So far I've taken the traditional one year intro biol series and hated it because it was just so much memorization of mechanism and getting lost in the trees or or focusing on the forest...all that crap.

i really like classes like organic chemistry, calculus, and physics that to me seem to require much more reasoning...and are just plain easier for me. i like doing research more than volunteering once at week at this one adult home for AIDS residents as well.

furthermore some upper level biol classes i've taken are microbiology, and ecology. So far I am a delcared "biochemistry-cellular and molecular biology" major. I've considered doing the plain Biochemistry through my schools chem department, which is more chemistry/math/physics intensive because I seriously think I would detest other courses I would have to take like "developmental biology of animals," "insect ecology," "fishwater ecology," and "organic evolution," just to name a few.Even worse, I'd have to take a class that focuses on the taxonomy and phylogenyof micro-organisms. Booo. If I change, it would just be an extra two quarters and I would also end up with a double major in "Cellular Biology."

Two MD's I've shadowed told me that there is alot of memorization in medical school...but the point of it is for your to memorize it and then apply all that memorization. While the thought of becoming a physician still interests me (which is why I continue volunteering-I learn alot from that as well)....I am considering not doing it because I would then just really hate medical school. I have also been considering graduate studies in biochemistry.

good thing to hear there are same kind of people like me. yeah i hate memorize throughout Bio too, not that i didnt get my A in intro Bio but plan memorization is just boring to have . ps: i am concidering MD/PHD now eventho it would take ALOT more years...

 

[IdoDrugs]

Do biology professors generally even realize that their courses are alot of memorization? It seems like alot of the profs I've had emphasize its not memorization but application ect....in the end, it is memorizing biological mechanism (which make NO sense compared to organic chemistry)...and then they ask questions on exams like "what would happen if enzyme A is blocked," or "this sympton occured, which enzyme is blocked."

 

[gary5]

My advice is that you shadow more physicians and focus on what they do every day. If you like the every day, then become a doctor. Yes, med school is memorization hell. I have a physics degree and my thinking is more mathematical / logical, and yes, I dread the neverending memorization. I have to force myself to do it while bio majors seem to enjoy it. I know a physician who told me that he hated med school but that he does enjoy the occupation. Anyway, my point is, if you feel that you will enjoy being a doctor, then it is worth it to suffer a bit in med school. Med school is just part of the journey.

 

[musiclink213]

I hated biology, which is why I switched my major after 2 weeks. I couldn't stand learning about worms, fishes, plants, drove me nuts. I didn't want to waste my time memorizing this stuff when I simply couldn't stand it. I changed my major to biochem which required more chem classes, which I enjoyed much more. We still had memorizations, but I was more into it because it related to the human body. Also, I like the critical thinking and applications in chemistry and math.

I haven't been to med school yet, but I figure I'll do fine because I'll be learning about something I'm interested in, not plants and worms.

 

[Dookter]

OP, I think a good idea might be to take some classes in undergrad that are similar to medical school classes [micro, immunology, virology, *physiology*] and see if the material interests you. If it does, you'll like medical school classes. If you want to pull your hair out just thinking about those sorts of things, then you'll probably feel the same way about the first few years of medical school.

 

[Vano]

No, do research

 

[MasonPrehealth]

Do research first, and you can always go back to get an MD later.

I'd also suggest reading "The Language of God" by Francis Collins, at least the first major section in which he talks about how he wound up biased towards chemistry over biology... then how all that changed later.

 

[Wackie]

At least in med school, you're learning things that are interesting to you. There are doctors who say undergrad was more murderous than med school, in their opinion, simply because you're having to learn things you could care less about.

True, med school will take a lot of memorization. I'm a little unsure about it myself because I hate rote memorization. When I think about what I'd be able to do afterwards though, it doesn't seem so bad.
I'm like you and enjoy applying and thinking versus memorization and regurgitation (medications and their dosages will make me want to stab my eyes out). It's one of those necessary evils one must suffer to get to the applying and thinking.

 

[gary5]

I worked in a pharmacy just like 8 hours a week as a freshman and found drugs interesting.

pot is pretty interesting also.

If you do illicit drugs, even marijuana, do not apply to med school. Med school and the occupation of medicine both have rules of conduct that exclude illegal drug use. If you still want to apply, then clean up your life now.

 

[IdoDrugs]

If you do illicit drugs, even marijuana, do not apply to med school. Med school and the occupation of medicine both have rules of conduct that exclude illegal drug use. If you still want to apply, then clean up your life now.

i did at the end of high school but never have since

 

[gary5]

If you do illicit drugs, even marijuana, do not apply to med school. Med school and the occupation of medicine both have rules of conduct that exclude illegal drug use. If you still want to apply, then clean up your life now.

If I knew someone in med school who was doing drugs, I'd turn them in to get them thrown out. I would not do it to be mean, but because I refuse to practice medicine with a dopehead. Schools would thrown them out in an instant. They practice zero tolerance for this.

 

[IdoDrugs]

i have to memorize a bunch of phylum BS for a final in the morning

 

[gary5]

i have to memorize a bunch of phylum BS for a final in the morning

Dude. Med school is 90% memorization, 5% spatial, 5% logical / analytical. But, whatever, it'll suck, you'll get it done, and you can complain afterward.

 

[georgia_md]

If I knew someone in med school who was doing drugs, I'd turn them in to get them thrown out. I would not do it to be mean, but because I refuse to practice medicine with a dopehead. Schools would thrown them out in an instant. They practice zero tolerance for this.

A friend of mine took the MCATs 3 times. The last time he scored PS:12 , BS:13 , and VS:4. He has never gotten his verbal score above 5. After years of marijuana use, his short term memory is completely shot. He has no problem keeping information in longterm memory. But if he has to read a passage and remember it in a short amount of time, he is out of luck. He say's that is why he keeps doing so bad in the verbal section.

 

[Vvandenn]

I hate straight chemistry and math classes and I hate learning about ecology and animals. However, I am completely and entirely in love with anatomy, physiology, toxicology, virology, histology, immunology, human genetics, etc. So yes, I honestly found the intro courses boring as hell for the most part. I guess you could say my main academic interests are 'limited' to that of humans but the mere scope of science relating to humans is just enormous.