How tough would this semester be?

[XOT]

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I would like to take one final post-back semester of upper level Science courses to help improve my GPA and to prove my capabilities. I would like this semester to be challenging as an indication of my ability to handle Medical courses. My question is targeted to people who have done a semester such as this or taken some of these courses: how doable is it?

I have these options:

Cell/Molecular Biology (4 cred-no lab)
Cancer Genetics (3 cred)
Medical Virology (3 cred)
Neuroscience (3 cred)
Pharmacology (3 cred)

How tough would this semester be?

And how much of an affect would this semester have on my overall chances for acceptance if I receive A's in all the courses? I am willing to take the risk to balance my previous poor academic performance.

Thank you very much

 

[KTownGT]

*Worthless Post*

Medical Virology and Cancer Genetics sound like AWESOME classes.

 

[TTigers70]

Sounds pretty rough to me and I'm usually a 18-20 credit semester kinda guy. What else do you like to study? Seems way too science oriented. I'm majoring in a science as well, but I still fit in other classes to break up the monotony of all upper level sciences.

As far as helping your app, it could substantially boost your BCPM gpa (or sGPA for DO). If you aren't totally interested in every class dump one and reach outside your comfort zone.

 

[Frazier]

you would certainly be hangin' tough

 

[Ursa]

You'll get burned out! But, it will be very beneficial to you if you pull it off with all A's. Just remember, a semester is 15 weeks long, so take it one week at a time. 😀 Good luck!

 

[XOT]

I am definitely interested in every one of those classes, and it is difficult to drop one. I would like to complete 20 Post-bach. Science credits by the time I apply (it is a specific recommendation by an in-state Med School) . I have 6 completed from this semester, and would need 14 more next semester. If I drop one class that would put me at 19 hours total...

Can anyone with experience in these classes rate their difficulty??

Ursa, can you comment more on why you think it will be beneficial to me to get all A's in this type of semester--Obviously that is my goal, and I hope ADCOMS will weigh such a semester more heavily than previous semester's I did not do well in.

Thanks all!

 

[Isoprop]

Cell/Molecular Biology (4 cred-no lab)

Get ready to memorize a lot of pathways, transcription factors, messengers, etc. It also includes the most boring parts of biochem.

Cancer Genetics (3 cred)

Haven't taken it. I hate genetics and I hate the cancer sections in my pathology class so I'm guessing this sucks.

Medical Virology (3 cred)

I've taken virology (not medical virology) but it's pretty interesting. Lots of discussion of virulence factors, which is easy. Immunology is the most boring part (in my opinion)

Neuroscience (3 cred)

Pretty basic neuroanatomy plus neuro cell bio. Can get challenging, but it's pretty easy.

Pharmacology (3 cred)

This class sucks. First few chapters talk about general pharm principles, then you get into the boring stuff. Each chapter talks about a class of drugs where you study one drug mechanism in detail as the model/prototype drug in the class. TON OF MEMORIZATION of generic drug names + mechanisms + effects + interactions. By the way, most of the drug names are pulled out of someone's a**; not like anatomy where there are roots so you can figure it out.

 

[Isoprop]

BTW, pharm doesn't count towards BCPM GPA. Just to let you know.

 

[XOT]

BTW, pharm doesn't count towards BCPM GPA. Just to let you know.

That sucks...is this true even if the class is offered by the Biomedical Dept at my school; "BMS 329." Thanks for the feedback isoprop.

I hope to hear from someone that may have takne a similar semester to this and how the did overall...possible to get all A's? How did you balance the course-work?

Thanks

 

[Ursa]

Ursa, can you comment more on why you think it will be beneficial to me to get all A's in this type of semester--Obviously that is my goal, and I hope ADCOMS will weigh such a semester more heavily than previous semester's I did not do well in.

Well here's the deal, I don't have any stats on what I am about to say, but I think a good amount of people would agree. Undergrad classes, while some seem hard, are nothing compared to med school classes. An A in undergrad might translate to a C in med school for a similar class because of how much more dense the material is. So if you really are going to a take a tough semester just to prove yourself, you need to make all A's. It benefits your GPA and gives you something to talk about in terms of why you think you would be a good candidate for med school (you can handle a hefty work-load).

On top of all this, you said in your original post that you wanted to increase your GPA and prove your capabilities. There's no better way to do either of these than make A's! 😀

 

[mvenus929]

I think it would be pretty rough, but I hate pharm and only have a passing interest in neuroscience. I also made it a point to take at least one non-science class every semester so I could break up the monotony a little.

 

[silverhorse84]

I would like to take one final post-back semester of upper level Science courses to help improve my GPA and to prove my capabilities. I would like this semester to be challenging as an indication of my ability to handle Medical courses. My question is targeted to people who have done a semester such as this or taken some of these courses: how doable is it?

I have these options:

Cell/Molecular Biology (4 cred-no lab)
Cancer Genetics (3 cred)
Medical Virology (3 cred)
Neuroscience (3 cred)
Pharmacology (3 cred)

How tough would this semester be?

And how much of an affect would this semester have on my overall chances for acceptance if I receive A's in all the courses? I am willing to take the risk to balance my previous poor academic performance.

Thank you very much

No matter what you take in undergrad, it's not likely to help you get an idea of what medical school is like - simply because undergrad courses and med courses cover different things in differing levels of information. For instance you could take an entire semester on medical virology, but for my medical school our virology section of microbiology is only 2 weeks long. I took an immuno course in undergrad where we went way more in depth than the 3 weeks we spent in immuno in med school.

If you need to increase your GPA, you could take a couple of these courses + some easier ones (personally I would choose molecular bio and neuroscience and then some not as difficult courses, but ideally you should choose what interests you the most. You're more likely to get As in what you're interested in). That would be my advice.

 

[Lunasly]

I did not want to make another post, but what do you guys think of this course load:

Biology II + Lab (5 cred)
Chemistry I + Lab (5 cred)
Physics I + Lab (5 cred)
First year English (3 cred)

Not as difficult as the OP, but still looking for opinions. 😛

 

[omgyou8myrice]

Too many science classes. Gotta break it up a little.

 

[Frazier]

I did not want to make another post, but what do you guys think of this course load:

Biology II + Lab (5 cred)
Chemistry I + Lab (5 cred)
Physics I + Lab (5 cred)
First year English (3 cred)

Not as difficult as the OP, but still looking for opinions. 😛

Deja vu...

 

[Doctor Poetry]

It'll be tough. I'm speaking from experience. I'm currently taking microbio, ochem 2, ochem lab, stats and physics 2...I made a big time mistake doing this because quite honestly, I hate this semester...the other posters make a good point. take two or three science courses with some easy g.e. classes.

 

[Doctor Poetry]

This is how I feel and you wont be too far from it...

 

[plzNOCarribbean]

Deja vu...

^hahahah this made me LOL. I saw the same person post in the other thread about spring thread......DEJA VU!!

 

[XOT]

Thanks for all the feedback..

I am sure it will be an extremely difficult semester--I have taken semesters with all science courses (O.CHM 1/lab, Physics 1/lab, Physiology/lab, Anatomy) and (O.CHM 2/lab, Physics 2/lab, Genetics, Microbiology). And I really hate physics (which took up most of my time). All the "biomedical" courses I have listed are extremely interesting to me.

An state medical school recommended that I take 20 credits of post-bach. UPPER LEVEL SCIENCE COURSES before I apply. I hope it will be an impressive contribution to my transcript to have such a semester with great grades. I am just not sure if it doable. Tough decisions, tough decisions...

To Lunasly: I think your schedule seems to be a typical pre-med semester. In my situation, it was all the lab hours that drained me.

 

[XOT]

Too many science classes. Gotta break it up a little.

Too much Science courses in the sense that it would be too much to learn or just too much science at one time...

 

[TTigers70]

Too much Science courses in the sense that it would be too much to learn or just too much science at one time...

Volume is irrelevant, it would just be too narrowly focused of a semester. Can see yourself studying mol bio pathways for a few hours. Then, in the interest of diversification, move on to cancer genetics and read more about pathways and inconsistencies in apoptosis for example. Then, move on again to memorize neuroanatomy and even more pathways (albeit to a lesser extent). That much memorization would drive me nuts. You may say well that could be a typical schedule in Med school, but even then I would find a way to break up the subject matter. I understand your predicament needing 20 credits but just seems like it'd be a painful semester for no "real" reason.

Lunasly, what exactly is first year english?