I just changed my major and need some advice

[mears]

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Hey everyone this is my first post here, and I have some questions regarding my situation. First, I?m a senior in computer science and engineering at Michigan State University and have recently decided to add human biology as a second degree. I will be finishing that degree in two years so I will be taking the MCAT next year. I received credit for my intro biology classes(molecular and organisms) through AP credit in high school. Since that was a few years ago, I really don?t remember all that much about them. I?m planning on reading through the bio book the courses use here, but I will be unable to take the lab that is associated with the molecular bio course. Do you think that will have a negative impact on me down the road?

Also, how much of a consideration is research to medical schools? I realize it is more important to some than others, but in general to most schools expect you to have some prior experience? Being that I will be rushing through the biology curriculum here, I doubt that I will be able to find a faculty member to take me in when I have completed only marginal coursework in the field.

This brings me to another question. What exactly do schools consider research? Does the term apply only to working towards new discoveries? I was thinking about using my background in programming to build a software program that can provide useful information using known concepts in biology.

 

[shyviolet]

If you don't remember what you learned in your bio and haven't had it for four years it might be better if you took a gen bio course at a cc over the summer or something to prepare yourself instead of just reading through the book your school uses. That way you can reintroduce yourself to bio before you get to the hard stuff. Especially if you don't have college level gen bio on your transcript you are going to have to do really really well in your upper level bio classes, so you want to make sure you are as prepared as you can be going into them. If you've already passed out of it I'm sure it will come back to you relatively quickly and shouldn't be much work, but I know people I went to college with who took our gen bio even though they had gotten a 4 or 5 on the AP test and some didn't do very well at all. I don't know what will happen if you don't take the lab....you're required to have bio with lab, so I would assume an upper level class would make up for missing the intro one, but some schools might be picky...you could call them up and ask the admissions office to make sure you aren't throwing your money away on a school that doesn't like that you don't have a general bio lab. If you are worried about how you'll do in upper level labs without the foundation of the molecular lab you could probably adjust pretty easily as long as you don't start off with really lab heavy classes like histo.

I was a bio major with absolutely no research...I just wasn't interested in it. The only people I got questioned about it by were some of the other applicants that I was interveiwing with who I felt were trying to make themselves feel superior by attempting to question my qualifications. I got to NU which actually states that research is highly recommended or something like that, so don't worry too much. Have a lot of other activities that you are actually interested in and that show your interest in biology and medicine. What good is doing research merely for the sake of putting it on your application? Don't waste your time trying to be the perfect med school applicant unless you actually think you might enjoy a particular activity.

If you are interested in creating biology software go for it...maybe you could see if it would be possible to work for your bio department making programs to be used in classes or research to put your skills to good use.

Good luck with the new Major!!