Is Biochem a requirement?

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Nasrudin

Nasrudin

Apropos of Nothing
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
3,511
Reaction score
2,603
Sorry I don't have an MSAR. Is Biochem a requirement for the med schools you applied to?
Members don't see this ad.
 
Nasrudin said:
Sorry I don't have an MSAR. Is Biochem a requirement for the med schools you applied to?
Click to expand...

It was a requirement for my BS in premed. Most med schools do not require it though. It helps for med biochem but is not a necessity. Check with your advisor from undergrad (if you are still in undergrad) to see if it is required for you to graduate.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
UMich requires it. I'm out of school and took biochem specifically for UMich last semester and the pricks put me on the "Highly Desireable" list.....I'm not bitter or anything;)
 
Requires it before you can start med school there. You do not need it before applying.
 
Bernie3144 said:
It was a requirement for my BS in premed. Most med schools do not require it though. It helps for med biochem but is not a necessity. Check with your advisor from undergrad (if you are still in undergrad) to see if it is required for you to graduate.
Click to expand...

No I don't need it to graduate. I was thinking I would like to take cell biology as my last elective for better MCAT yield and was trying to gauge if it would set me back strategically as I will have to apply widely.
 
fyi - at my interview yesterday, the lady who was discussing the curriculum mentioned that 5 students had failed out the year before...they had done especially poorly in biochemistry...and 4 of those 5 had not taken biochem in college....

(she was trying to emphasize the importance of the basic sciences as the fundamentals to the clinical stuff...)
 
Um, would Biological Chemistry vs. Biochemistry be reasonable comparison? I'm required to take BiolChem, but Biochem is only for Biochem majors, based on my BINF listings.
 
jennifermov said:
fyi - at my interview yesterday, the lady who was discussing the curriculum mentioned that 5 students had failed out the year before...they had done especially poorly in biochemistry...and 4 of those 5 had not taken biochem in college....

(she was trying to emphasize the importance of the basic sciences as the fundamentals to the clinical stuff...)
Click to expand...

You don't fail out of med school for doing poorly in one course. You can, however fail a course. This story doesn't ring true. FWIW, of the people I know who struggled with biochem in med school, about half had had it previously.
 
Law2Doc said:
You don't fail out of med school for doing poorly in one course. You can, however fail a course. This story doesn't ring true. FWIW, of the people I know who struggled with biochem in med school, about half had had it previously.
Click to expand...

*sigh* i am sure they failed other courses as well...the woman just happened to use biochemistry as an example of a course these 5 people failed. but yes, they failed out. and yes, they failed biochem. i don't know details beyond that. in the same breath she said she hoped that we (the applicants) had taken biochem since 4 of those 5 had not taken biochem in college. apparently, there was a correlation in her mind....

i'm not saying if you have had biochem, you will breeze through it in med school. i'm not saying that if you don't take it, you will fail out. i am just repeating what a member of an admissions committee told me yesterday.....
 
Compass said:
Um, would Biological Chemistry vs. Biochemistry be reasonable comparison? I'm required to take BiolChem, but Biochem is only for Biochem majors, based on my BINF listings.
Click to expand...

This is probably similar to my undergrad, which had Principles of Biochemistry for non-majors and Biochem I and II (w/labs) for majors. I took the former, learned amino acid stuctures and some basic metabolism stuff and it helped a little first year and on the MCAT. I think the benefit of the more in-depth course would be very small, not to mention considerably more risky to your gpa.
 
jennifermov said:
*sigh* i am sure they failed other courses as well...the woman just happened to use biochemistry as an example of a course these 5 people failed. but yes, they failed out. and yes, they failed biochem. i don't know details beyond that. in the same breath she said she hoped that we (the applicants) had taken biochem since 4 of those 5 had not taken biochem in college. apparently, there was a correlation in her mind....

i'm not saying if you have had biochem, you will breeze through it in med school. i'm not saying that if you don't take it, you will fail out. i am just repeating what a member of an admissions committee told me yesterday.....
Click to expand...

Well, if they failed multiple courses, was the suggestion that these people should have taken all the med school courses before attending med school? I just fail to see the rationality of the correlation this person was suggesting. The only correlation one can derive from such example, is that some people struggling in one course in med school may struggle in multiple courses. A college course in biochem would likely not have made much of a difference in such case, because it would potentially plug just one hole in the sinking ship.
 
Law2Doc said:
Well, if they failed multiple courses, was the suggestion that these people should have taken all the med school courses before attending med school? I just fail to see the rationality of the correlation this person was suggesting. The only correlation one can derive from such example, is that some people struggling in one course in med school may struggle in multiple courses. A college course in biochem would likely not have made much of a difference in such case, because it would potentially plug just one hole in the sinking ship.
Click to expand...

i don't know what she was thinking.
i think it's pointless to debate something that was told to me.

Nasrudin, best of luck in your decision. perhaps just identify which schools require biochem and decide if any of them are schools you'd be interested in applying to....
 
Members don't see this ad :)
If your schedule permits, I strongly recommend taking biochem before starting med school. Your first year is bad enough without being slammed with biochem. It was definitely the class that separated the men and women from the boys and girls among the MS 1 folks. You'll be very glad you did.
 
honker said:
If your schedule permits, I strongly recommend taking biochem before starting med school. Your first year is bad enough without being slammed with biochem. It was definitely the class that separated the men and women from the boys and girls among the MS 1 folks. You'll be very glad you did.
Click to expand...

Disagree. Whether that is a bad class for you depends a lot on you and your work ethic. Quite a few people I know never had it and didn't find it a problem, and quite a few people who did have it still ended up in the bottom half of the class. If you want to take it, go for it. Just don't overestimate the value. You are still going to have to work full tilt to do well in med school.
 
Ok, I know biochem is a requirement for some schools, but do any schools require two semesters of it? (if so, which?) I'm debating whether or not to take the two semester sequence next year or just the one semester, and one girl I was talking to today said that a couple of schools she was looking at required a full year of it, but I hadn't heard of this requirement before.
 
There's so few schools that actually need it, you'd be better off going to the websites of the ones you're interested in individually and checking.......
 
Nasrudin said:
Sorry I don't have an MSAR. Is Biochem a requirement for the med schools you applied to?
Click to expand...

Yes, and it is an easy class; a lot easier than immuno and vertebrate morphology
 
I know two of the 4 Fl. schools require it and the other 2 I think recommend it.

It was required for most of the science majors though. The exception was physics majors. other majors needed it: Biomedical Sciences major, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, Any of the Chemistry tracks like Biochemistry degree, Health Professions Chemistry, etc.

I'd take it, but I think its good prep for MCAT too. It goes into the details of the processes you learn in cell bio.
 
sure Biochem is a must requirement, and
how do you fail BioChem??? o_O lol j/k
 
stixx said:
There's so few schools that actually need it, you'd be better off going to the websites of the ones you're interested in individually and checking.......
Click to expand...
Exactly. All of the med school websites that I have looked at list which classes they require (what type and how many semesters/quarters). It seems that the MSAR would still be helpful, but you can find your answers this way too.
 
UT dental @ Houston, UT medical @ San Antonio, and Baylor dental require it.

"strongly recommended" for all other TX schools.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

yeehaw10
Officially Taking A Biochem Course
Replies
5
Views
282
AJS59
AJS59
F
Question about statistics requirement
Replies
1
Views
315
whichbreath
W
B
Biochemistry II
Replies
6
Views
868
eigen
eigen
P
For schools that require a full year of biology, how can I meet that requirement?
Replies
10
Views
614
eigen
eigen
G
Physiology TCU Admission Requirement
Replies
2
Views
596
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
Top