Majoring in Bio

[PreMedDocMD]

I know a lot of people major in bio because they feel its just easier to do so for med school. But, are there certain concentrations that are better than others for an easier time on the MCATs and in med school? For example, molecular or cellular bio. That is what I mean by concentrations.

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[Droopy Snoopy]

A general bio major plus your prereqs will be good enough for the MCAT. It's more a broad-based scientific reasoning rather than an in-depth fact-based exam (like the USMLE).

 

[brianmartin]

I was a poli-sci major and the BS section does not give me any trouble. I took principles of bio, A&P, and a genetics course.

 

[Green Pirate]

A general bio major plus your prereqs will be good enough for the MCAT. It's more a broad-based scientific reasoning rather than an in-depth fact-based exam (like the USMLE).

are you saying that the USMLE is more reasoning based than fact-based? I'm just curious, and your last sentence is kind of hard to interpret

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

are you saying that the USMLE is more reasoning based than fact-based? I'm just curious, and your last sentence is kind of hard to interpret

No. A given passage on the MCAT will provide nearly all the info you need to answer that set of questions, so all you have to do is provide the reasoning ability, some good general test-taking strategy, and the general feel for the material obtained by typical premed biology major. The USMLE will embarrass you if you approach it that way, being that there's positively no way to reason through the pharmacologic therapy of ventricular arrhythmias.

 

[Green Pirate]

No. A given passage on the MCAT will provide nearly all the info you need to answer that set of questions, so all you have to do is provide the reasoning ability, some good general test-taking strategy, and the general feel for the material obtained by typical premed biology major. The USMLE will embarrass you if you approach it that way, being that there's positively no way to reason through the pharmacologic therapy of ventricular arrhythmias.

lol true enough. that's what I kind of expected.

 

[blargh]

you really only need ochem, general bio, basic physics, and gchem. people kept telling me that i needed upper division genetics to do well on the MCAT. that's bull. MCAT genetics was super basic... stuff from general bio.

that being said, i don't think being a bio major will help at all. you have to take all these classes for med school anyways.

the end.

 

[Green Pirate]

you really only need ochem, general bio, basic physics, and gchem. people kept telling me that i needed upper division genetics to do well on the MCAT. that's bull. MCAT genetics was super basic... stuff from general bio.

that being said, i don't think being a bio major will help at all. you have to take all these classes for med school anyways.

the end.

I don't know. I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I'm taking Cell Bio right now (a class required for bio majors), and it's helped me get a better understanding of the basic biology stuff since it's essentially a basic bio course with more detail. I don't know if it will help me come MCAT time, but I can't see how it would hurt. Of course, if you're not a big bio fan, or have another interest, I don't think it would be worth suffering through more bio classes (a lack of interest in bio might lead to a lower gpa)

 

[Kraazy]

I think upper-level bio will help somewhat in that you will just have a deeper and more intuitive understanding of the material. Also I found that my research experience was helpful since it gave me a great intuition about experiemental setups, things like restrictive media for bacteria or competitive binding assays. This is all stuff you will be able to do with basic prereqs and MCAT prep, but the intuition is an extra boost that basically saves you some time. It's a good bonus if you're already into mol/cell bio, but def. not worth changing your major for.

 

[IckeyShuffle]

I know a lot of people major in bio because they feel its just easier to do so for med school. But, are there certain concentrations that are better than others for an easier time on the MCATs and in med school? For example, molecular or cellular bio. That is what I mean by concentrations.

i was an economics major. only took the bare minimum for the mcat and did just fine

 

[GreenShirt]

The bio on the MCAT is mostly physiology and some basic genetics. I think computational biology would be the concentration with the least to do with the MCAT. Molecular, cellular, micro biology have a microscopic focus, whereas the MCAT tends to be a little more systems-based.

The real advantage of being a bio major is that you'll know all the bio lingo for the MCAT, whereas the other majors will spend a lot of time reviewing the difference between a mitochondria and a chromosome. You'll gain this with any concentration.

 

[aynrand]

I'm a molecular bio major, a junior now. and im really considering switching to straight bio. for one thing, if you plan to take your mcat junior year, classes like molecular biology and biochem (which i will be taking next year) are pretty useless. as long as you've taken an upper level bio course and organic chem, you're pretty much set. being a molec bio major doesnt mean you get better prep for the mcat.

 

[PreMedDocMD]

So just straight up bio is what people seem to agree upon. Is this the general consensus? I guess instead of extra classes for a concentration, I will just use the extra time to take classes that I want to take, or humanities courses to boost my GPA .

 

[PreMedDocMD]

Is that correct?

 

[pennybridge]

I think we can all agree, OP, you have the most annoying username of all SDN.

 

[Steve203]

Even I have to agree with that

 

[blargh]

at least it's not DOCTORDOCTORDOCTOR

 

[pennybridge]

at least it's not DOCTORDOCTORDOCTOR

true it could always be worse.

DrPreMedMD would also be pretty bad.