Medical Microbiology or Immunology?

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leagall

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  1. Pre-Medical
I have the opportunity to take either a Medical Microbiology or Immunology class before med school starts. Which class do you think would be better to take before med school? I am a non-trad and the only biology courses I have taken are the intro Bio I and Bio II sequences from my post-bac, so I want to have a bit more science exposure before I start, so I am not struggling to keep up in med school.

Thanks
 
Immunology for sure. It's tough. I know at UVa that the immunology class offered through undergrad is considered to be more difficult than the one offered in medical school.
 
It depends - personally I think that immunology is a lot easier to learn than microbiology without ever having seen either before. That being said, with you limited bio background, I would recommend you actually take a physiology course if at all possible since I think that can be tougher without a strong basic science background.
 
Immunology will probably be more similar the med school class.
 
I'm going to go against the grain and say Micro. Immuno is easier to learn, and thus won't be as difficult as learning all the bugs and drugs in med school. I took Immuno in my postbacc and it helped, but if I had to do over again, I would have rather had the Micro exposure.
 
Eh. I would probably take Immuno. For the most part, the big hump in Immuno is the terminology and getting the concepts. For me, when I learn concepts it tends to stick better/longer and it's applicable to other things as well. However, immuno, at least at my school, is a small part of the overall curriculum.

On the other hand, in my experience Micro is mostly memorization. If you are good at that and think you'll remember some of it when you get to med school, then go for it. My only concern is that you won't really know the focus of the undergrad micro class until you are in it. I.e. are they going to focus on the major microorganisms that you would in med school? How much detail are they going to go into regarding each microbe? etc. etc.Micro, at my school, is a slightly larger part of the curriculum. However, unless you can accurately gauge what you'll cover in the class, it's hard to say in the grand scheme of things if the UG class would be of any use in the future.

There's always the fall back of taking the one that you'll find more interesting. That's usually a win-win.
 
Hi everyone,

So I have decided against taking Medical Microbiology. I am now deciding between taking an Endocrinology & GI (Physiology) course or an Immunology course. Which do you think would be more helpful?

thanks!
 
The phys course only covers GI and Endo? If it covered cardio, respiratory, or renal I would say take the phys course. Immuno is harder to learn than endo and GI phys; I would say stick with immuno.
 
I think they both would be great prep, but I'd have to say take Immunology, as well. It's much more complicated that Endocrinology. Endo basically consists of understanding the several different hormonal axes in the body and the associated hormones, their effects, etc. I think it would be very helpful; however, for me, Immunology was much more involved. I'd think of taking Immunology as laying a foundation now for a subject which may likely take you much more time to fully grasp later than Endocrinology will.
 
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