How many of you took Gen Bio I and Cell Bio and is it a better route?

[drdan83]

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My friend says Gen Bio II is zoology and Cell Bio is tested on the MCAT. Are you better off just taking Gen Bio I and Cell Bio?

 

[aSagacious]

At my old school gen bio I was ecology and gen bio II was cell bio. In any case I would recommend both because gen bio I introduced you to the basics of genetics (which will be helpful if you don't plan on taking genetics before the MCAT) and cell bio will be exhaustively tested on the MCAT.

 

[drdan83]

At my old school gen bio I was ecology and gen bio II was cell bio. In any case I would recommend both because gen bio I introduced you to the basics of genetics (which will be helpful if you don't plan on taking genetics before the MCAT) and cell bio will be exhaustively tested on the MCAT.

so take the gen bio and cell bio and skip gen bio II? Or are you saying take gen bio II AND cell bio?

My old school also had cell bio as gen bio II. My new school has gen bio I and II and then cell bio.

 

[aSagacious]

so take the gen bio and cell bio and skip gen bio II? Or are you saying take gen bio II AND cell bio?...My new school has gen bio I and II and then cell bio.

So they have 3 gen bios? Does it go ecology --> zoology --> cell bio? That seems like overkill (and you only need 2 gen bios with lab for med school). If I had to choose two I'd say take ecology and cell bio (though if you're a bio major you might need all three as prereqs in order to take the upper level course work).

 

[drdan83]

So they have 3 gen bios? Does it go ecology --> zoology --> cell bio? That seems like overkill (and you only need 2 gen bios with lab for med school). If I had to choose two I'd say take ecology and cell bio (though if you're a bio major you might need all three as prereqs in order to take the upper level course work).

The new school has Gen bio I and II which will satisfy the pre-req's. Cell bio is an elective. I'm not a bio major so I don't know if Cell bio is a part of the bio major.

I've noticed that at higher ranked schools, they skip gen bio II or incorporate it into the gen bio I class and then offer cell bio as "bio II."

 

[CodeBlu]

At my old school gen bio I was ecology and gen bio II was cell bio. In any case I would recommend both because gen bio I introduced you to the basics of genetics (which will be helpful if you don't plan on taking genetics before the MCAT) and cell bio will be exhaustively tested on the MCAT.

This

 

[drdan83]

This

Then Gen Bio I and Cell Bio it is.

What would I do without this site.

 

[JESSFALLING]

So they have 3 gen bios? Does it go ecology --> zoology --> cell bio? That seems like overkill (and you only need 2 gen bios with lab for med school). If I had to choose two I'd say take ecology and cell bio (though if you're a bio major you might need all three as prereqs in order to take the upper level course work).

My school has 3 gen bios too...
they go Cell/Molec --> Ecology/Genetics/Zoo --> Physio/Dev

Seems like there's no standard.

 

[raltima07]

My school has 3 gen bios too...
they go Cell/Molec --> Ecology/Genetics/Zoo --> Physio/Dev

Seems like there's no standard.

Mine too

 

[Procyon]

My school has 3 gen bios too...
they go Cell/Molec --> Ecology/Genetics/Zoo --> Physio/Dev

Seems like there's no standard.

My school's is Cell/Genetics/Molec/Dev --> Biochem/Plant Phys/Animal Phys --> Ecology/Evolution. Weird.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

My friend says Gen Bio II is zoology and Cell Bio is tested on the MCAT. Are you better off just taking Gen Bio I and Cell Bio?

I did that track, took Gen Bio I (cells, genetics, evolution) , APed out of Gen Bio II and went straight to Ecology then Genetics then Cell Bio before my MCAT.

I had to self teach a lot of anatomy and hormones etc...but beyond that I didn't see any issues with skipping gen bio II. TBH I'm very glad I did, plants bore me and being able to take cell bio and genetics seemed more fun to me. I don't think skipping Gen Bio II hindered me in any way or caused problems on the MCAT, the exam is more about reading comprehension and problem solving.

 

[NewYorker9]

There isn't a standard for the gen bios, at my university Gen Bio I = basics, ecology, evolution, and zoo review and Gen Bio II = human anatomy/physio, and cell bio. They aren't cumulative either

 

[Morsetlis]

Gen Bio is a humongous waste of time. I got an A+ in it, TA'd it, and now forgot most of it. Who really wants to know what a platyhelminthes is, and whether ferns are woody or not?

Cell Bio is everywhere in medicine. In fact, it's one of your courses in first year med school (unless it gets integrated elsewhere).

 

[leaveit2rani]

At colleges/universities, General Biology is typicall divided into 2 courses.

Gen Bio I: Foundations of Bio, cell respiration, macromolecules, photosynthesis, heredity, etc.

Gen Bio II: Evolution, anatomy, zoology, ecology, plants, etc.

Cell Biology is more in depth study of molecular biology. Basically you are learning of the functions/structures of the cell.