How useful is Microbiology in general ? for the MCAT ? for med school preparation ?

[MikePlayingDoc]

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If you have taken Microbiology please let me know what you thought of it. Did you find it interesting ? Did it help you with the MCAT ?

I know M1's take a Micro class of sorts during their second semester so I would imagine it helps to have had it in undergrad ? Any thought on this ?

 

[tigress]

I loved microbiology. Lab was awesome. It didn't help me at all for the MCAT. I have no clue if it will help in med school. But totally take it, it's a fun class. In lab you get to do all sorts of fun things.

 

[primadonna22274]

Again, I'm a bio major so I'm biased. In fact, if there had been a Microbio major at my school I would've been a Microbio major.
Micro is important and damn useful on so many levels...not to mention you can explain the difference between ribosomal subunits. I think the MOST helpful thing about having micro was it made pharmacology and infectious disease medicine immediately accessible to me. It wasn't all Greek (Latin?) 'cuz I was already very comfortable with cell walls, peptidoglycans, fungi, etc. Micro is a requirement for PA school 'cuz there isn't time to teach it when you dive into this stuff in the first semester. It's not required for med school but still very useful I'm sure.
If you can swing it, take Micro. And learn new and disgusting ways to amaze your friends!
Lisa

If you have taken Microbiology please let me know what you thought of it. Did you find it interesting ? Did it help you with the MCAT ?

I know M1's take a Micro class of sorts during their second semester so I would imagine it helps to have had it in undergrad ? Any thought on this ?

 

[bschmit]

There is not much on the MCAT....But I have heard from MED students that micro is one of the classes in med school that people struggle with if they have no previous experience???? Have no first hand experience though

 

[Alfa Diallo]

I have some insight on the role of micro in medical school. As a 2nd/3rd year MS I published a book called Microbiology Recall b/c I felt there was a need for a high yield review book.

Micro is an awesome field and exposure as an undergrad is probably the best course you can take. In med school, you'll take the USMLE Step 1 after 2nd year and its the third most represented course (after pathology and pharmacology) and is tied with physiology. With that said, taking a physiology course would also be to your benefit.

Getting your feet wet will definitely be a leg up for when you take it in med school and allow you to devote your time to other studying instead of starting rote microbiology memorization. Of course I think that Microbiology Recall is the best review book out there but Micro Made Ridicuolously Simple is also popular.

If you have taken Microbiology please let me know what you thought of it. Did you find it interesting ? Did it help you with the MCAT ?

I know M1's take a Micro class of sorts during their second semester so I would imagine it helps to have had it in undergrad ? Any thought on this ?

 

[Supadupafly]

I was a public health microbiologist for 4 years before med school.

I'd say it didn't directly help on the MCAT, but it reinforced general biology issues. It's been good in med school, but I think you'd do fine without it... they teach you what you need to know for the boards.

Mostly, it's a fun class that can give you insight on infection control, ect. I suppose it depends on what kind of micro class it is. If it's directed toward microbial biology (like research/molecular biology related), I'd skip it. If it's directed toward clinical or environmental applications, you might really have some fun with it.

Tha Fly

 

[koopa_troopa]

Has anyone used a microbiology course as their biology pre-req?

 

[DJ Sherpa]

I graduated with a degree in bacteriology; I thought it was helpful for some segments of the bio portion on the MCATs. I don't know what you are going to learn in an intro class, but you will probably learn a little immunology, and there probably is some genetics too that will come in handy...

 

[Flopotomist]

I found Micro to be super interesting. It also helped me a good deal on the MCAT. It is also an easy A, and the labs are quite fun. It will certainly make you wash your hands more!

 

[MD1Day]

If you have taken Microbiology please let me know what you thought of it. Did you find it interesting ? Did it help you with the MCAT ?

I know M1's take a Micro class of sorts during their second semester so I would imagine it helps to have had it in undergrad ? Any thought on this ?

I don't know how useful it is on the MCAT, but i do have to agree with those who said it's a fun class. I LOVED cytology & micro...awesome labs. And you get to where a white coat 🙂 (OK, maybe i'm the only one who really cared about that aspect of class)

 

[Centinel]

Microbiology is minimally useful for the MCAT. If you disagree or want more details, I'll be glad to elaborate.

 

[patrickstarfish]

I was a micro, immuno, molecular genetics major and i thought it was extremely helpful for the mcat. i happened to get questions on mutant bacteria and their metabolism...some genetics problems...and transformation so i was super lucky to get that mcat number. in general i think it's very helpful.

 

[Centinel]

I was a micro, immuno, molecular genetics major and i thought it was extremely helpful for the mcat. i happened to get questions on mutant bacteria and their metabolism...some genetics problems...and transformation so i was super lucky to get that mcat number. in general i think it's very helpful.

Yes, but none of these things are uniquely the domain of microbiology. Bacterial metabolism falls within cellular biology; genetics is... yes, genetics; I don't know what you mean when you say 'transformation'.

It is my understanding that the OP was wondering about the specific class called 'microbio'. If your Microbio course is anything like mine, it is less useful to your MCAT studies than either cell bio or genetics. The knowledge that is specific to Microbio - what you won't get out of those two other courses - is, plainly, not on the MCAT.

 

[tacrum43]

And you get to where a white coat 🙂 (OK, maybe i'm the only one who really cared about that aspect of class)

Micro was my major, and it can be pretty fun (except Microbial Physiology, that class was sucky, plus Virology, but other than those I enjoyed my micro classes). Medical micro and hematology were the best because in addition to the labcoat we had to wear goggles, gloves and masks plus get vaccines for med micro 🙂.

To the OP, I would definitely recommend the intro micro course. The lab for that was probably the most fun lab I had during college, and I found the topics covered to be useful for the MCAT and it provides a good background for whenever you talk about any bacteria stuff in a later class like Genetics.

 

[Ambs]

Microbiology rocks.

 

[oli84]

Want a class that med schools like? Try immunology.

 

[tacrum43]

Want a class that med schools like? Try immunology.

I thought that class was interesting, but challenging too.

👍 Antibodies. 👍 🙂

 

[Mutt]

Micro is an awesome field and exposure as an undergrad is probably the best course you can take. In med school, you'll take the USMLE Step 1 after 2nd year and its the third most represented course (after pathology and pharmacology) and is tied with physiology. QUOTE]


What does it mean if a course is "represented" - aren't they all represented (on the curriculum)?