How useful is undergraduate Biochemistry for Optometry School?

[thisguy88]

Hey all,

I am just wondering if it would be worthwhile to take an undergraduate biochemistry course to prepare for biochemistry in Optometry School? It's my last semester at my University and I'm pretty much free to take whatever I want (but I need to go full time). Soooo I'm just looking for some classes to fill. My initial desire was to take it easy this term but if Biochemistry would help me out that much in the future, then it might be smart for me to take it?

Did anyone find an undergraduate course in Biochemistry tremendously helpful or should I just take it easy before I start the Optometry program in the fall?

Any input would be appreciated,
Thanks!

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[Rain Clouds]

Might be helpful. So would any number of courses... anatomy, physiology, optics, physics, business, economics... Is it worth taking a whole college course to get a head start on it? It's up to you... I really don't think it'd make maybe as big of a difference as you might hope unless you really think Biochem will be one of your weak points.

If I had to go back and do it all again, I'd probably take business classes in my spare time.

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

If I had to go back and do it all again, I'd probably take business classes in my spare time.

Seconded.

While I feel like Biochemistry gave me a great foundation towards understanding pharmacology and the medications that I prescribe, business courses (or even any introductory finance classes) are so much more useful in post-grad life. You'll have plenty of time to study biochemistry in optometry school.

 

[mathcod]

I majored in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and I thought the major as a whole was incredibly valuable in optometry schools' science/physiology courses [and is a FANTASTIC MAJOR FOR ANY HEALTH PROFESSIONAL!], but I'm not sure if dabbing in a few courses is really worth it. From my perspective, my school's biochem curriculum (and its worth on NBEO) was really simple compared to undergrad [it felt almost like high school or general biology at times for me]. For example there was absolutely no quantitative analysis/calculations in optometry school even though it represented the bulk portion of my undergraduate courses. A topic of buffers we can spend several hours on in undergrad would literally be a half page of notes in optometry school and not at all important.

I would say unless you really are interested in taking the course (or auditing it) for your own sake of understanding it, I'd skip it. Definitely take a course in general human physiology (one that covers all body systems) if you haven't already (not sure about school pre-reqs if they require this) because physiology is incredibly challenging in school, represents many points on NBEO, and definitely takes time to become knowledge. Physiology is more important than biochem.

Can't go wrong with finance courses either.

 

[thisguy88]

Thanks guys for the responses, much appreciated!
And if anyone is wondering, I decided not to to take the Biochemistry course.

 

[20DOC20]

First, why is everyone saying "me" instead of "i?" It's just weird.

Second, biochemistry is a lot of rote memorization. General biology and human anatomy and physiology is an adequate foundation. Biochem's overkill, and it's hard.

A Human Perception in undergrad (was under psychology) helped a lot.

Take a drawing class. Learn how to do perspective illustrations and it will give you insight into how we visually perceive the world. You'll also learn contour and line drawing and that adds new understanding to visual perception as well. Learning how to draw in different styles gave me better understanding of vision.

A year of Biology and A and P will give you what you need for OD school.

Take something fun. Warning though: Don't take a painting class. They'll want you to log in about 10 hrs of studio time per week and if you're pre-optometry you won't have time for it. Drawing class took up less of my time and I could do it anywhere.

 

[20DOC20]

ok. that explains the me thing. Weird! It's like a language translation gone bad!

 

[thisguy88]

Thanks for the input 20DOC20!
As for the "me" thing, I think that was just April's Fool from SDN lol.