Organismal/Evolutionary Bio

[docelh]

So I'm taking this one in the fall, and from last year's syllabus, it's 19 chapters of tedium. From what I can tell, very little of this course will be useful on the MCAT (60% of the course devoted to plants, taxonomy, population ecology). And 19 chapters seem excessive for a one semester science course.

Conclusion: Will probably be the least enjoyable class in the entire sequence.

Reasons:

- More memorized reading than Bio II.
- Less conceptual than O-chem, physics, Gen Chem
- More chapters than Bio II or Gen Chem.

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[Isoprop]

Keep an open mind and you will find applications and connections to medicine.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Your enjoyment of many college courses will probably rise if you don't view school as MCAT prep.

 

[Lokhtar]

Man, it sucks that your college biology department insists on teaching you biology instead of acting as your MCAT prep course.

 

[tpham1030]

I've been a TA for this class at UCSD for the last 10 quarters now and I would say the memorizing isn't too bad because it isn't very hard stuff to memorize. I agree that most of it wouldn't be on the MCATs but it is still interesting stuff to learn.

 

[cclewis]

19 chapters is nothing. I just completed a microbiology course that consisted of 28 chapters over six weeks. Now that is tedium.

 

[docelh]

SDN is filled with a bunch of whiners. I hear more than my share of them. I'm not surprised by the responses, as it's par for the course.

Few things:

- On MCAT. You forget 90% of the info you learn from college. That it is on the MCAT actually improves the odds I'll remember it, instead of going short-term rote for the semester mid-term/final.

- On 19 chapters is nothing. I hate bio textbooks. They're so unfocused, and have a higher tendency to go on tangential examples. Our textbook is terrible because it's written by so many co-writers, so it's really annoying to switch between various author's writing styles.

- On enjoyment. Clearly, I prefer the conceptual thinking in the other pre-med courses. Medicine will have a lot of details, but at least those guys don't have to deal with textbooks.

Go ahead, flame away.

 

[boggvir]

You won't have to deal with textbooks in medicine?

 

[docelh]

You won't have to deal with textbooks in medicine?

Why don't you do some research before posting a half-ass rhetorical question?

 

[boggvir]

I have no idea what you meant by that then.

 

[docelh]

I have no idea what you meant by that then.

I see you're applying to MD/DO schools. Thus, it sounds like you have no idea about how they study or prepare.

 

[boggvir]

You mean the syllabus. Yea I know. But I find it hilarious that you think it'll be conceptual rather than memorization after undergrad.

 

[docelh]

You mean the syllabus. Yea I know. But I find it hilarious that you think it'll be conceptual rather than memorization after undergrad.

I think you're hilarious for making stupid assertions to sound cool. Clearly, you didn't read what I wrote.

Medicine will have a lot of details, but at least those guys don't have to deal with textbooks.

Hope you pay better attention to your syllabus than SDN postings.

 

[cbs21]

i had two evolutionary bio passages on my mcat

 

[QuizzicalApe]

docel, did you seriously complain about people whining in this thread which was created to whine about your class

 

[EMS5]

Hate to break it to you pal, but these are their own tracks at some schools.

At my school, they offer 5 or 6 tracks within the biology degree, including organismal AND evolutionary separately

I am taking the organismal track and the cellular/molecular track...there is nothing that bad in there if you have a true interest in the subject matter