Immunology Anyone ? Useful ? Interesting ? MCAT applicable ?

[LacySmithYes]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

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[sara3426]

Immunology (in my opinion) is the single most useful and relevant upper division course you can take. You can't really deeply understand disease or physiology of disease without a good understanding of immunology.
I swear to god, I love immunology so much, it's ridiculous....
i'm a little biased I guess.
wow i guess I really am a nerd.

ps. there were some easy immunology questions on my mcat in april, but nothing you probably don't already know

 

[mychelle774]

Do it! Yes, yes, and yes. But if you have prereqs, get those out of the way. And if the MCAT is creeping up fast on you, Human Phys would be more helpful than Immunology. But def take it if you have time.

 

[TCIrish03]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

Mike

I don't know many people who took immunology when I was an undergrad, I didn't take it as a post-bacc, and it was never even mentioned amongst all the MCAT preparation. People I knew who took it in April said immunology was never covered. That being said.....

....when I took the MCAT in the fall, at least 2 of the passages dealt only with viral vectors, immunohistochemistry, etc. After the test, people were freaking out. The only reason I knew anything was because that is what I do everyday in my job as a lab tech. It was pretty sneaky, but I wouldn't waste an entire class (that might be difficult and time-intensive) on the off-chance it MIGHT be on the MCAT

 

[GoJoeyMojo]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

It probably ranks second on my list of most interesting undergrad classes. It's fun material and I highly recommend it. You said you really like the professor. Have you taken other classes he/she has taught? If you enjoy his classes and take more than one of them, maybe you can take advantage of the opportunity and establish a rapport with the professor. It's always difficult to find science professors who are so familiar with you that they can write an in-depth recommendation.

 

[Law2Doc]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

It wasn't on the MCAT I took at all. And you will be taking it in med school anyhow, so it might pay to use the credits to take something else that will broaden your horizons a bit.

 

[EndSong]

Wasn't on the MCAT I took. But its useful. More useful is animal physiology or a class in micro.

 

[relentless11]

It wasn't on the MCAT I took at all. And you will be taking it in med school anyhow, so it might pay to use the credits to take something else that will broaden your horizons a bit.

I agree, out of all the MCAT exams that I have taken, 2 real exams, and uncountable number of practice exams, not to mention practice discrete problems. I can only recall seeing 3 problems talking about the immune system, and it was merely a passage based problem that provided enough info for one to understand what they're asking (and answer correctly).

Its a good class to have as a pre-med, but not neccessary to do well on the MCAT or get into med school. As many have stated, one will learn immunology in med school. I've taken something like 3 quarters of immunology, 2 undergrad classes, and a med school class. Its pretty much the same thing over and over again. Its real benefit may be in terms of research where you deal with immuno in greater detail compared to what is covered in standard medical practice.

 

[Ambs]

Immunology is a useful and important class -- very helpful if you've had it before when you take it in med school at 10X the speed.

 

[NCF145]

One of my favorite classes. Loved it.

 

[gujuDoc]

Immunology (in my opinion) is the single most useful and relevant upper division course you can take. You can't really deeply understand disease or physiology of disease without a good understanding of immunology.
I swear to god, I love immunology so much, it's ridiculous....
i'm a little biased I guess.
wow i guess I really am a nerd.

ps. there were some easy immunology questions on my mcat in april, but nothing you probably don't already know

I agree with this. I took immunology and later found it popping up in almost every other biology related course. It popped up in physiology, bacteriology, pathogenic microbiology, medical mycology, pharmacology. It ties into a lot of systems and is a very important subject to understand.

I would definitely recommend others to take it but be prepared to work hard because its a tough course.

 

[gujuDoc]

It wasn't on the MCAT I took at all. And you will be taking it in med school anyhow, so it might pay to use the credits to take something else that will broaden your horizons a bit.

Or they can take immunology and another course that could broaden their horizon. It wasn't on the MCAT much except for one or two passages, but it was useful as a subject in other science classes.

Oh one more class that I saw it pop up in was histology. At any rate, its a class I recommend just for the sake of taking it and learning a lot from it.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Useless for the MCAT. I think some people find it to be a difficult subject in med school so it certainly won't hurt. If you can only take one class before the MCAT though, go with Physiology.

 

[gujuDoc]

Useless for the MCAT. I think some people find it to be a difficult subject in med school so it certainly won't hurt. If you can only take one class before the MCAT though, go with Physiology.

Actually, I think genetics is more useful for MCAT purposes because its been becoming the focus of the MCAT the last few years.

 

[youngin]

Immunology is a tough course, useful but not a necessity.

 

[Law2Doc]

Immunology is a useful and important class -- very helpful if you've had it before when you take it in med school at 10X the speed.

You can say this about any of the medical courses, but the truth of the matter is most people do fine even without prior exposure. Immuno isn't usually one of the earlier med school classes at most med schools and so its very unlikely you will remember much of it when you need it.

 

[erleichda]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

I think there was one immunology related question on my MCAT. That said, it was one of the most interesting courses I took. If you really like the prof it is probably going to be even better. Plus, I'm sure if any of that info sticks in your head it will be useful once you are in med school...

 

[rachmoninov3]

I'm getting my master's in immunology, and I can tell you it helped a lot on the MCAT (I scored a 12 on bio in part thanks to that class along with virology). The MCAT loves to write things about rare diseases, a lot of which are autoimmune. The first passage on my bio was about myasthenias gravis BOOYAH-immunology!

So from the overwhelming feedback from myself and everyone else who has posted here, sign up for the damn class before it is filled!

 

[mfpullen]

I had at LEAST two passages and 4 or 5 discretes on immuno. SOO glad I took it.

MFP

 

[moto_za]

Do you guys think physio or genetics would be more helpful for the MCAT?

 

[velo]

Immunology is great. I took an immuno class in ugrad because I like the prof. Probably won't help you THAT much on the MCAT, but it was still a really useful class overall. Take it, you'll be glad you did.

Nowhere other than an undergrad class will they really take the time to explain complement....I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but at least you'll know it

 

[velo]

Do you guys think physio or genetics would be more helpful for the MCAT?

PHYSIO PHYSIO PHYSIO PHYSIO PHYSIO

I was a physiology major and it was the best prep I could have done for that test. The MCAT loves integrating different basic sciences in single passages and system's phsyiology is all integration.

take physio, not even a question

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Actually, I think genetics is more useful for MCAT purposes because its been becoming the focus of the MCAT the last few years.

Guju might be right, I took the MCAT in 2003. Back then, I took it w/o having physio and took a physics class my senior year partly to "gear up" for M1. I remember thinking almost every day: "this is like an MCAT prep course!"

 

[gujuDoc]

Do you guys think physio or genetics would be more helpful for the MCAT?

Genetics. The important physiology stuff you can learn by the MCAT books but I think there's a few things MCAT books don't go over well that is genetics stuff, and saw more genetics both times I took the test before. My friends who took it in April said they saw more genetics too.

 

[67192]

I am considering taking Immunology just because I really like the prof. Do you think this is a useful class for a premed student ? Does it help for the MCAT ?

It is definitely a useful class for a premed! And it relates to many other upper-division biology classes. I think in 3 of my upper division bio. classes we were given an entire lecture on fundamentals of immunology for the poor students who hadn't taken the class. Not too useful for the MCAT though. I think all you really need to know for the MCAT is that B Cells are involved in the humoral response by making antibodies and T Cells are in the cellular response... plus a couple other fundamentals. Oh, and the class (at least at my university) is pretty challenging - a lot of straight-up memorization.

 

[45408]

Do you guys think physio or genetics would be more helpful for the MCAT?

definitely

 

[Ambs]

You can say this about any of the medical courses, but the truth of the matter is most people do fine even without prior exposure. Immuno isn't usually one of the earlier med school classes at most med schools and so its very unlikely you will remember much of it when you need it.

Well...of course you can say that about any of the medical courses. I'm just speaking from personal experience in that having had immunology in the past made my immunology experience in medical school enjoyable and productive. It had been about four years since I had taken immunology when I encountered it in medical school, and I remembered the broad concepts, which I don't think is very hard to do with immunology. And yes, having had microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, physiology, heck even comparative anatomy in the past helped a ton in med school.

 

[Ambs]

You can say this about any of the medical courses, but the truth of the matter is most people do fine even without prior exposure. Immuno isn't usually one of the earlier med school classes at most med schools and so its very unlikely you will remember much of it when you need it.

Well...of course you can say that about any of the medical courses. I'm just speaking from personal experience in that having had immunology in the past made my immunology experience in medical school enjoyable and productive. It had been about four years since I had taken immunology when I encountered it in medical school, and I remembered the broad concepts, which I don't think is very hard to do with immunology. And yes, having had microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, physiology, heck even comparative anatomy in the past helped a ton in med school.

 

[Ambs]

definitely

I agree...I think having physiology before the MCAT helps a lot.