Official Harvard Extension 2013 Thread

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Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has taken summer Biochemistry, and their thoughts on it as far as difficulty and time required. Would you think it is reasonable to take the course and work full time? It is at night which is good. I have Orgo and Biochem as the last pre-reqs I need to complete. I'm thinking it might be nice to avoid Orgo and Biochem at the same time next year if possible, since by all accounts Orgo seems like a beast. Also, could anyone recommend an upper level science class they have taken that would be manageable to take along with Orgo in the fall? I'm choosing between Anatomy, Histology & Microbiology. I don't want to jeopardize Orgo success but would love to take more than one class for the year while continuing working.

Here's my recommendation.

I took summer biochem and molecular biology last year. I was also working 30+ hours a week, volunteering, shadowing and biking 180-200 miles in the mornings. This schedule was completely manageable. A caveat: my molecular biology is extremely strong, so I found the class rather easy. Biochemistry is challenging, but nothing you won't be able to handle.

This past year I've been enrolled in orgo and A&P, in addition to TFing, volunteering, MCAT studying and working. While I'm busy and my social life has suffered, this schedule is also completely manageable. Anatomy doesn't demand anywhere near the time requirement that orgo does, and it's EXTREMELY high yield for the MCAT. Out of the choices you listed, anatomy is the best one to take, especially if you're taking the MCATs. It's too high-yield to pass up.

Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
Here's my recommendation.

I took summer biochem and molecular biology last year. I was also working 30+ hours a week, volunteering, shadowing and biking 180-200 miles in the mornings. This schedule was completely manageable. A caveat: my molecular biology is extremely strong, so I found the class rather easy. Biochemistry is challenging, but nothing you won't be able to handle.

This past year I've been enrolled in orgo and A&P, in addition to TFing, volunteering, MCAT studying and working. While I'm busy and my social life has suffered, this schedule is also completely manageable. Anatomy doesn't demand anywhere near the time requirement that orgo does, and it's EXTREMELY high yield for the MCAT. Out of the choices you listed, anatomy is the best one to take, especially if you're taking the MCATs. It's too high-yield to pass up.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Johnny,

How is the A&P course? It's not mentioned much on here and I only know one person that took it but I know a lot of people do take it. You mention it doesn't consume ad much time as Orgo, care to elaborate? Don't you have frequent quizzes in that class?
 
Johnny,

How is the A&P course? It's not mentioned much on here and I only know one person that took it but I know a lot of people do take it. You mention it doesn't consume ad much time as Orgo, care to elaborate? Don't you have frequent quizzes in that class?

Sure. A&P has 5 labs spread throughout the semester, and a 2 hour lecture on Mondays. You'll have weekly quizzes that are 20 questions are take up the last 20 minutes or so of lecture.

In terms of material, A&P is super high-yield when it comes to the MCAT. Doing content review for the physiology side of things was a walk in the park after A&P. Out of the upper level courses I've taken thus far (cell bio, molecular bio, biochem and A&P I and II) A&P has been the most helpful on the MCAT (next to TFing physics that is).

My weekly routine is as follows. Attend lecture on Monday. On either Saturday or Sunday I'll do my normal lecture notes review and do the practice problems on the website. Go to class Monday, rock the quiz. Wash, rinse, repeat. Exams do require a fair bit of preparation, but nothing that's too crazy if you stay on top of your studying during the semester. The quizzes are a benefit, since they'll force you to stay on top of the material, which makes the exams easier to prepare for. The questions are straightforward and fair. The labs in the class are fun (cat and calf heart dissection, histology and respiration/exercise physiology!). The first semester lab practical was tough (muscles and bones mainly), but you're going to need to learn that in gross anatomy anyway.

In my opinion it works perfectly with Orgo. You have nothing on Tuesdays (so you can schedule lab and section). You will miss Brandon's reviews, but I watch those online so it's all good.

Hope this helps.
 
Awesome! Thanks man. I won't be able to take it before the MCAT but I can definitely see it being a plus if you do take it. I'm probably gonna go into the MCAT just having taken BIO 1 and 2 and nothing else. How challenging is it to get an A in A&P? Is it curved?

Sure. A&P has 5 labs spread throughout the semester, and a 2 hour lecture on Mondays. You'll have weekly quizzes that are 20 questions are take up the last 20 minutes or so of lecture.

In terms of material, A&P is super high-yield when it comes to the MCAT. Doing content review for the physiology side of things was a walk in the park after A&P. Out of the upper level courses I've taken thus far (cell bio, molecular bio, biochem and A&P I and II) A&P has been the most helpful on the MCAT (next to TFing physics that is).

My weekly routine is as follows. Attend lecture on Monday. On either Saturday or Sunday I'll do my normal lecture notes review and do the practice problems on the website. Go to class Monday, rock the quiz. Wash, rinse, repeat. Exams do require a fair bit of preparation, but nothing that's too crazy if you stay on top of your studying during the semester. The quizzes are a benefit, since they'll force you to stay on top of the material, which makes the exams easier to prepare for. The questions are straightforward and fair. The labs in the class are fun (cat and calf heart dissection, histology and respiration/exercise physiology!). The first semester lab practical was tough (muscles and bones mainly), but you're going to need to learn that in gross anatomy anyway.

In my opinion it works perfectly with Orgo. You have nothing on Tuesdays (so you can schedule lab and section). You will miss Brandon's reviews, but I watch those online so it's all good.

Hope this helps.
 
hey yall - moving to boston from texas mid summer for HES to retake some pre-reqs and take some upper division bios, not to mention I am looking for a major change in scenery. Hence I am looking for a roommate

money/budget isnt really an issue for me- just want to be close
but if any of you cycle/run or workout alot and need a roommate - please message me

I am a female but don't really care if i live with with a female or male just as long as he is really really ridiculously good looking... lol j/k

hoping ONE of you crazy SDN'ers need a roommate
 
hey yall - moving to boston from texas mid summer for HES to retake some pre-reqs and take some upper division bios, not to mention I am looking for a major change in scenery. Hence I am looking for a roommate

money/budget isnt really an issue for me- just want to be close
but if any of you cycle/run or workout alot and need a roommate - please message me

I am a female but don't really care if i live with with a female or male just as long as he is really really ridiculously good looking... lol j/k

hoping ONE of you crazy SDN'ers need a roommate

I'll be looking for a roommate for a Sept. 1st move-in. I'll PM you more information.
 
i am a female needing a roommate too! kitty...when do you plan on moving? i need to be in the area by mid-june, so it may be too early for you. but i love to run, work out, be healthy, all that good stuff. let me know 🙂
 
Sure. A&P has 5 labs spread throughout the semester, and a 2 hour lecture on Mondays. You'll have weekly quizzes that are 20 questions are take up the last 20 minutes or so of lecture.

In terms of material, A&P is super high-yield when it comes to the MCAT. Doing content review for the physiology side of things was a walk in the park after A&P. Out of the upper level courses I've taken thus far (cell bio, molecular bio, biochem and A&P I and II) A&P has been the most helpful on the MCAT (next to TFing physics that is).

My weekly routine is as follows. Attend lecture on Monday. On either Saturday or Sunday I'll do my normal lecture notes review and do the practice problems on the website. Go to class Monday, rock the quiz. Wash, rinse, repeat. Exams do require a fair bit of preparation, but nothing that's too crazy if you stay on top of your studying during the semester. The quizzes are a benefit, since they'll force you to stay on top of the material, which makes the exams easier to prepare for. The questions are straightforward and fair. The labs in the class are fun (cat and calf heart dissection, histology and respiration/exercise physiology!). The first semester lab practical was tough (muscles and bones mainly), but you're going to need to learn that in gross anatomy anyway.

In my opinion it works perfectly with Orgo. You have nothing on Tuesdays (so you can schedule lab and section). You will miss Brandon's reviews, but I watch those online so it's all good.

Hope this helps.

*Disclaimer: I haven't taken A&P, just going off my own experience, so take this with a grain of salt*

Not sure how true the bolded part is. Just about everything you need to know we learned in second semester bio. If you took biochem+second semester bio, then you should golden. The MCAT is pretty light on anatomy, and there were only a few physiology concepts that I had to pick up in review that I didn't remember learning in either of those classes.
 
*Disclaimer: I haven't taken A&P, just going off my own experience, so take this with a grain of salt*

Not sure how true the bolded part is. Just about everything you need to know we learned in second semester bio. If you took biochem+second semester bio, then you should golden. The MCAT is pretty light on anatomy, and there were only a few physiology concepts that I had to pick up in review that I didn't remember learning in either of those classes.

I agree. I did not take any upper level science and found that the intro classes prepared me well for the MCAT (and all the practice tests).
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/ lists everything you need to know. all of it is taught in HES intro courses.

People make a big deal about taking lots of upper level classes before the MCAT but the jury is out on whether or not it helps. that's my 2 cents anyway
 
I agree. I did not take any upper level science and found that the intro classes prepared me well for the MCAT (and all the practice tests).
https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/preparing/ lists everything you need to know. all of it is taught in HES intro courses.

People make a big deal about taking lots of upper level classes before the MCAT but the jury is out on whether or not it helps. that's my 2 cents anyway

From what I've taken so far, Biochem was high-yield for me and definitely helped, whereas cell bio has been pretty low-yield and would've been of little help. I can only speculate, but the only other upper level classes that seem like they might be high yield are molecular bio and genetics. Everything else I think is covered well in intro bio.
 
From what I've taken so far, Biochem was high-yield for me and definitely helped, whereas cell bio has been pretty low-yield and would've been of little help. I can only speculate, but the only other upper level classes that seem like they might be high yield are molecular bio and genetics. Everything else I think is covered well in intro bio.
I also thought biochem was excellent for the MCAT, with the caveat that it was the only higher level class i took
 
Yeah, was just curious if anyone had thoughts on that exam. I really like Tucci's class/structure, and have done well thus far, but just absolutely bombed last night. Spent ~45 minutes on question two and got nowhere.
 
Yeah, was just curious if anyone had thoughts on that exam. I really like Tucci's class/structure, and have done well thus far, but just absolutely bombed last night. Spent ~45 minutes on question two and got nowhere.


Justin acknowledged in review today that he knew some things were difficult, which is a rarity considering he usually says "ok, ah, good afternoon, so, ah, hopefully the exam went well, the exams have been graded, we were happy to see that many people did well." Didn't say that this time. Haha.

I also feel like I bombed, and sounds like others felt the same. I had 96 on the first, and worried I didn't even crack 70 this time. At least this exam will only be worth 10% of your grade assuming you do well on the final. I also found they made exam 3 and final easier last semester after a harder exam 2.

Edit: Justin is awesome. He just always has the same spiel to begin his reviews. Hahah.
 
I also found they made exam 3 and final easier last semester after a harder exam 2.

This is just my experience and things may have been different for others, but last year second semester gen chem exams got progressively harder each time. I would get all 100s on the first semester exams and thought I would have no problem breezing through the second semester, but was seriously worried by the end of it, with that third exam being particularly brutal. The final was reasonable though and things worked out well in the end (but the practice final exams were ridiculous! I hope they change them this year.) I don't mean to scare you, just a heads up that it probably won't get much easier.
 
he usually says "ok, ah, good afternoon, so, ah, hopefully the exam went well, the exams have been graded, we were happy to see that many people did well."

Truer words have never been spoken. Haha!!
 
This is just my experience and things may have been different for others, but last year second semester gen chem exams got progressively harder each time. I would get all 100s on the first semester exams and thought I would have no problem breezing through the second semester, but was seriously worried by the end of it, with that third exam being particularly brutal. The final was reasonable though and things worked out well in the end (but the practice final exams were ridiculous! I hope they change them this year.) I don't mean to scare you, just a heads up that it probably won't get much easier.

Oh man I can't remember which practice exam it was but there was some crazy logarithm action happening for this one problem, like using log rules to simplify and stuff? I remember a day before the exam I did that problem for the first time, looked at the solution and said fugedaboutit.

Just to give you all some hope- I ended up doing much better in the second semester than the first. I think Sciengee's experience is pretty typical though. Hopefully you can rebound. 👍
 
Oh man I can't remember which practice exam it was but there was some crazy logarithm action happening for this one problem, like using log rules to simplify and stuff? I remember a day before the exam I did that problem for the first time, looked at the solution and said fugedaboutit.

Just to give you all some hope- I ended up doing much better in the second semester than the first. I think Sciengee's experience is pretty typical though. Hopefully you can rebound. 👍

Oh god that practice exam. . .

I remember exam 3 being a blood bath. First time in chem I almost ended up in the 70s.
 
This is just my experience and things may have been different for others, but last year second semester gen chem exams got progressively harder each time. I would get all 100s on the first semester exams and thought I would have no problem breezing through the second semester, but was seriously worried by the end of it, with that third exam being particularly brutal. The final was reasonable though and things worked out well in the end (but the practice final exams were ridiculous! I hope they change them this year.) I don't mean to scare you, just a heads up that it probably won't get much easier.

Ha. I'm always scared. I guess what surprised me a little was that the practice exam 2's were pretty easy (including last year's actual). But clearly the opposite is often true - that practice exams can be difficult when the actual exam is easy. Over the long run, I expect things to even out a little. Of course, the material this semester is also more complex, and lends itself to more twists.
 
Is anyone by any chance looking for roommates for this summer? I have decided to move to Boston and take the rest of my courses at HES. I'll be taking Bio in the summer with Fixsen and would like to move there by the first week of June with an apartment already in place.

Also, if you know of anyone looking for someone clean, quiet and organized to share rent with let me know!
 
I've been stupidly busy for a long time, but I cannot fathom learning an entire year of ochem in 6 weeks.

Good luck to those of you taking on this challenge.

Exactly what I thought to myself. I guess now when I whine about having too many reactions/mechanisms to learn for each exam, I'll remember that it could be much worse.
 
2 rooms are going up for rent in the bottom floor of a two-story house starting June 1st. It's located in the lower Allston area, a short walk from Harvard Business School and the football stadium. It's 3 bus stops from the Harvard campus on the 66 bus line which also takes you to Longwood Medical area where many of us volunteer/work. Sometimes I choose to enjoy the 20 or so minute walk over the river to get to campus instead of catching the bus.

It's in a great location and perfect for those moving to the area to start summer school in a couple months.
 
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Hi all,

Does anyone have an opinion on summer school bio with Fixsen? I haven't taken bio since high school but I will have a year of gen chem (and physics though I doubt it's applicable) under my belt. One more important piece, I work about 20 hours a week - good idea? bad idea? My current train of thought is that it would open up some space in the fall for me to take a&p before i apply to med school.

Thanks 🙂
 
Hi all,

Does anyone have an opinion on summer school bio with Fixsen? I haven't taken bio since high school but I will have a year of gen chem (and physics though I doubt it's applicable) under my belt. One more important piece, I work about 20 hours a week - good idea? bad idea? My current train of thought is that it would open up some space in the fall for me to take a&p before i apply to med school.

Thanks 🙂

Working + summer bio is going to be nuts. I think they recommend 60+ hours of work/week for the course. 20 hours on top of that may stretch you thin.

I do, however, agree that A&P is a class that you should try to take if at all possible.
 
Bio is a beast class. Definitely underestimated it before taking it. Most time-consuming for me out of all the pre-reqs. Foolishly thought that it was supposed to be the "easiest" class at HES, boy was I wrong.
 
Bio is a beast class. Definitely underestimated it before taking it. Most time-consuming for me out of all the pre-reqs. Foolishly thought that it was supposed to be the "easiest" class at HES, boy was I wrong.

I agree. Once you've figured out how to "learn" orgo, it's not too bad.

Bio, on the other hand, is practically bottomless and, arguably, the most important prereq you will take.
 
I agree. Once you've figured out how to "learn" orgo, it's not too bad.

Bio, on the other hand, is practically bottomless and, arguably, the most important prereq you will take.

Bio is so interesting though. Orgo complements biology so well. I love it. We're studying hormones now and I'm looking at all of the functional groups. Most of the steroids we're studying have alpha-beta unsaturated ketones. That sounds familiar!! I honestly was getting really tired and bored of Orgo until these last couple weeks. I'm really loving the ending Orgo I feel like it's a treat for all the hard work we put in throughout the year. I'm soaking in all of the biological applications Logan is throwing in. Phenylanaline is just an alanine with a phenyl group? How silly I didn't catch this simple tidbit on my own until the end.
 
Wow ok, thanks very much for the advice! Maybe I will cool it and try to do research over the summer instead. Thanks again!
 
Hi!

I will also be starting (Bio) in the summer and will be moving up from NYC. Are people still out there looking for roommates- starting June or July?

😳

please feel free to PM or email me ([email protected])

thanks!
-JG
 
Is there ANY financial aid or assistance available to those in the HCP for summer school courses? Or does it have to come all out of pocket?
 
Is there ANY financial aid or assistance available to those in the HCP for summer school courses? Or does it have to come all out of pocket?

+1. I'm wondering the same thing! The summer school courses are crazy expensive.
 
Heeeeeeeey everyone!

The year draws to a close and I, like many of you, am becoming nostalgic. Time has certainly flown! Since I won't be taking classes with HES next year, I'm going to be moving away from Harvard Square and closer to work but have a lovely 3 bedroom 1 bath for sublet from July 1 - August 31 with potential for lease renewal starting September 1. We'd prefer to have someone who would like to stay as it makes things easier come renewal time. Here are some features:

- 3 br/1 ba with huge living room (+9 large windows), dining, kitchen
- Affordable! Rent is currently $698/month and utilities run around ~$40 or $50/month
- 12 minute walk from Harvard Square serviced by multiple bus lines for snow/rain/laziness
- New-ish appliances, disposal, dishwasher, hardwood floors, on-site laundry in basement
- Clean and well-kept apartment building, outdoor common area, on-site super
- Paid parking spots (not really sure how this works)
- 1 dynamite roommate also enrolled at HES (seriously I would stay for him alone but I need to be closer to work. He's a clean and respectful psych student)

PM me for more information! This place was a steal when I moved in. We are beginning to show the room in May and I haven't posted any ads for it yet. I want to pass on my good karma to the people of SDN. 🙂
 
I'll be heading to med school this summer and will be leaving my extremely conveniently located and affordable apartment. I have lived here for 3 years and it was perfect for my purposes. It is a 3.5 bedroom (.5 is a living room/ 1 bath/ large kitchen) in the Inman Square neighborhood. I am looking to sublet my room for the months of July and August (with the option to sign a lease for the next year, assuming you find 2 roommates)

pros:
- PRICE (less than 450 a month). perfect for students
-location is AWESOME - tons of coffee shops, great affordable restaurants, and bars
-10 minute walk to Harvard, 15 minute walk to central square, 2 minute walk to Inman, and the 83 bus stops within 20 feet of our door.
-Whole Foods directly across the street opening in the fall (it used to be Johnny's Foodmaster-- we miss you, foodmaster)
- fantastic and responsive landlords
- furnished (all my furniture including bed, desk, drawers, rug, chair, tv stands, coffee table, night stand, lamps, etc can be purchased from me at a very reasonable price)
-great covered porch to store bikes, complete with hooks to hang them and stuff

cons:
-apartment is older and worn down and has a weird layout-- the bedrooms, however, are really nice.
-you'd need to find 2 roommates if you signed on for the year after the sublet
- not directly on the red line, but the buses are great

PM me for more info! I'd like to get this apartment/sublet to someone in HES before I post it on CL.
 
Good luck on the ochem midterm tomorrow everyone. Last midterm!! Yeeaaayy!!

I'm gonna be on red alert for strecker/mannich/DCC coupling for box problems.

Home stretch 👍
 
Hey all,

I'm moving out of my place at the end of May and my room will be available June 1st! It's a great five-bedroom/2 bathroom place with four other very cool roommates. The bedroom is very spacious with hardwood floors and a bay window. It's a 12 minute walk to Davis Square and Porter Square (both of which have subway stations), and the Shaw's Supermarket in Porter. The apartment is also right behind the bike path that goes to Davis and then connects with the Minuteman Bikeway.

I finished the HCP postbac last year and this place has been great in terms of access to school and also being in the middle of the awesome Somerville community. There's plenty of space in the basement to store a bike (or boxes or whatever) and easy to get in and out if you commute on it every day. The roommates are four good, very fun guys. Three work and one is a PhD student.

Feel free to PM me!

PS - Forgot to add that rent is $650.
 
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Hey all - I'll be starting my HCP this Summer with Chem1ab w/Tucci.

If anyone (in this class specifically, or the HCP in general) wants to grab a bite to eat and/or drinks the Sunday before classes start (June 23rd) - let me know! It could be fun to put something together.

Looking forward to meeting some of you!
Noah
 
Hi Noah! I will also be starting this summer with Chem1ab w/ Tucci. I'd be interested in meeting up the 23rd, it'd be fun to get something together 🙂
 
Great - I'll make another post closer to then and will shoot you a PM as well.
N
 
Was it just me, or was this last orgo midterm just plain mean?
Ugh looks like I've got my work cut out for me for the final.. :/
 
Was it just me, or was this last orgo midterm just plain mean?
Ugh looks like I've got my work cut out for me for the final.. :/

Did you think that the exam was challenging or was their grading not lenient?

I ended up getting my highest score this semester on the exam. Last semester my grades kept going down and down for all 3 midterms. I was expecting to get ~4-5 points off for the last mechanism because I didn't do the last step correctly but I only got two points off so I was surprised to see that. But I'm kind of resentful that they marked me off a point for a decarboxylation in a box problem- I put NaOH instead of NaOH, H20. are you kidding me?! 😡
 
Did you think that the exam was challenging or was their grading not lenient?

Both.
I also messed up on the last step of the last mechanism and got 6 points off for that :/ Didn't get page 5 at all, ran out of time on that one and did not have time to check my work, which resulted in a number of stupid mistakes.

For me, last semester started off horribly, but I was able to turn it around an kept doing better with each exam. This semester, I'm seeing the opposite trend.. Kind of terrified of what the final is going to bring. Not sure if it's the material that's getting more difficult, or if it's me that's getting dumber, or maybe trying to spend every free moment studying for the MCAT was just not a good idea. But I'm ready for it to be over.

But anyway, congrats on a great score!
 
Both.
I also messed up on the last step of the last mechanism and got 6 points off for that :/ Didn't get page 5 at all, ran out of time on that one and did not have time to check my work, which resulted in a number of stupid mistakes.

For me, last semester started off horribly, but I was able to turn it around an kept doing better with each exam. This semester, I'm seeing the opposite trend.. Kind of terrified of what the final is going to bring. Not sure if it's the material that's getting more difficult, or if it's me that's getting dumber, or maybe trying to spend every free moment studying for the MCAT was just not a good idea. But I'm ready for it to be over.

But anyway, congrats on a great score!

Must be really, really tough to study for the mcat and take classes at the same time ... when are you planning on taking it?
 
Must be really, really tough to study for the mcat and take classes at the same time ... when are you planning on taking it?

May 30th. Already postponed it once (was initially set to take it right after this last midterm, but that just wasn't going to happen). Lets hope that the two weeks that I'll have between the final and the MCAT will be enough. I have yet to take a full-length practice exam. Man, time is flying by so fast!
 
May 30th. Already postponed it once (was initially set to take it right after this last midterm, but that just wasn't going to happen). Lets hope that the two weeks that I'll have between the final and the MCAT will be enough. I have yet to take a full-length practice exam. Man, time is flying by so fast!

Yeah time is really flying by. Good luck on the orgo final and on the mcat 👍
 
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