Issues with UCSD biochem courses being accepted?

[Basalganglia4life]

The short of it is I am a non traditional student seeking to apply this cycle. I completed the majority of my prereqs at a local community college. For Biochemistry I took the UCSD extension course ( https://extendedstudies.ucsd.edu/courses-and-programs/biochemistry ) which is a 10 week accelerated course that is worth 4.5 upper division quarter units. I called UCSD before I took the course and they informed me the course is the equivalent of 3 semester units.

I reached out to a couple of med schools and they tell me that the course doesn't satisfy their biochem requirements because they want a semester of biochem even though my course is worth 3 semester units.

Many med schools say the UCB biochem course (Biochemistry – MCELLBI X115A) would meet their requirements. The annoying thing is that both UCB and UCSD cover the same topics in the same level of detail and have the same total instruction hours (45hrs).

No one else online seems to be having this issue with UCSD courses. I wish I had known before I dropped 850$ on a course I will have to retake for the exact same class. Has anyone else experienced this? Anyone get accepted to med school only taking UCSD biochem?

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[whichbreath]

Is the issue not the credit hours but the course itself? You linked to microbiology instead of biochemistry.

 

[Basalganglia4life]

Just updated it, thank you! From what some med schools are telling me is that their programs require 1 semester of biochemistry. Since the UCSD biochem course is in quarter units (since ucsd runs on a quarter system) they only see it as 1 quarter of biochem. The UCB course is nearly the exact same course but just at a university that runs in a semester system

 

[whichbreath]

I think it should work? Biochemistry is a small part of the app and having an upper division class with the required number of units should be enough imo.

 

[Basalganglia4life]

I think it should work? Biochemistry is a small part of the app and having an upper division class with the required number of units should be enough imo.

UCI and Rush seem to have issues with it not being a semester. It is kinda silly imo, since the class is the same length as many summer courses that they would give full semester credit to.

 

[medicalmoviebuff]

Could you elaborate on schools accepting the UCB biochem course?
Currently need to take a biochem course online, and would prefer to do UCSD biochem since it costs significantly less and is asynchronous (I work full time). However, I will try to find a way to do the UCB biochem if schools actually accept that one, though it will be much more stressful and costly.

Are you saying that schools would not accept the UCSD, but they told you that they would accept the UCB one? Was this only certain schools, or was this universal across all MD schools?

 

[Basalganglia4life]

Could you elaborate on schools accepting the UCB biochem course?
Currently need to take a biochem course online, and would prefer to do UCSD biochem since it costs significantly less and is asynchronous (I work full time). However, I will try to find a way to do the UCB biochem if schools actually accept that one, though it will be much more stressful and costly.

Are you saying that schools would not accept the UCSD, but they told you that they would accept the UCB one? Was this only certain schools, or was this universal across all MD schools?

Rush and UC Irvine specifically said the ucsd biochem course would not count towards their prerequisite as it would only count as a quarter of biochem. I emailed a bunch of other schools some said it was fine and others never responded.

Rush and uci said they would accept ucb biochem though lol. I tried to explain to them ucsd is literally the same course as ucb, with the same concepts, same amount of instruction hours and same 3 semester credit equivalent. The only difference is that ucsd runs on a quarter system and ucb runs on a semester system. They wouldn’t budge though

 

[thinkitagain]

Rush and UC Irvine specifically said the ucsd biochem course would not count towards their prerequisite as it would only count as a quarter of biochem. I emailed a bunch of other schools some said it was fine and others never responded.

Rush and uci said they would accept ucb biochem though lol. I tried to explain to them ucsd is literally the same course as ucb, with the same concepts, same amount of instruction hours and same 3 semester credit equivalent. The only difference is that ucsd runs on a quarter system and ucb runs on a semester system. They wouldn’t budge though

Hello, would you mind sharing about which school did you ask? I am also a nontraditional student and am trying to get the prereq done. Another question would be whether it is possible to take the class after being accepted to the program. So that the admission will give you a better idea. But I am just not sure whether I will get filtered out because of missing biochem during the application phase.

I am new to the forum, not sure if DM is possible. However, you may also post it here for everyone who is interested. Thanks!

 

[RocuroniumRedux]

You might be out of luck without a waiver if particular schools won't accept the credit, but if you need the 'traditional' main campus non-accelerated course through UCSD Extension, concurrent enrollment is an option. I did this to complete the UCSD organic chemistry series several years out of undergrad. The quarter vs. semester distinction can be a pain but I found most schools were accomodating post-acceptance, especially if you're a working adult.