Pre-Med Courses

[doctigger]

---

Members don't see this ad.

[PLEASE read my most recent post which can be found lower on this page.... I could really use some input. My advisor is not helpful.]

I'm an undergrad student who has been premed for a year... spent the last few years studying in the social sciences. I've completed gen chem and gen bio (well, in three weeks I will have) and I'm trying to develop my academic plan.... and the Pre-Med advising at my school is rather unhelpful.

I'm looking at taking Organic Chem and Physics this year, as well as a Intro to Genetics Course. I know I need to take a Biochem course. But I'm trying to figure out how to prioritize my other science courses...

I'm not sure about taking the year of Anatomy & Physiology... but I think Cell Bio, Intro Molecular Bio, and Human Genetics might be a good idea. Occasionally my school offers a vertebrate development class, but probably not till year after next.

Also... I'm taking 14 credits this term and will take about that many most of next year. Is it very important to take additional credits to "prove I can handle a heavy course load." I am volunteering and doing other activities (teaching martial arts classes)...

Thanks 😛

 

[Mutt]

The only direct question was: "it is important to take a heavy class load to show that you can cut it?"

I think this depends on what you have going on outside of school. If you have even a part-time job, taking more than 16-18 credits is going to be rough. Now, this of course depends on the classes (i.e. science classes). I can't speak for anything else because that is all I've taken.

Anyhow, I wouldn't be too concerned with packing your schedule full of tough classes because after all, you're going to need a good GPA, not a bunch of credits, to get them to look at your application.

 

[PineappleGirl]

I would err on the side of caution when it comes to taking a lot of pre-med courses. Better to take a few and do well than take a heavy courseload and do poorly. Keep that high GPA in mind.

A word on anatomy and physiology: I took both and kind of regret taking anatomy. Physiology was very interesting and super helpful for the MCAT. However, anatomy was a TON of memorization, brutal on my GPA, and the lab we had was a cat dissection and I can never look at cats the same way again (okay this last point is totally random). A lot of people say most ugrad anatomy courses don't help too much since it's on a totally different level than the anatomy taught in M1. Some people I know, however, found anatomy super helpful, even if they just had a basic understanding from ugrad. I would recommend not taking it though if you are not good with memorization. It is pretty much ALL memorization. If you do take it though, get one of those cool anatomy coloring books. They are fun! 🙂

 

[doctigger]

Thanks for the input. My school does not offer an Anatomy course and a Physiology course, but a year long "Anatomy and Physiology" course. How does that structure affect your opinion?

Also, do you have any input regarding the other classes I mentioned?

Thanks so much! 😀

 

[DrBowtie]

At my school, the only people allowed to take that class are pre-nursing.

 

[Fenrezz]

Forget the heavy class load nonsense. I'd take the cell bio and molecular bio for sure, probably hold off on anatomy and phys. Better to mix in other non science classes to pad your credit load, and more importantly, your GPA, as well as show the adcoms that you're a well-rounded person blah blah blah.

I don't see human genetics helping as much but it might. You'll learn the molecular genetics part in the molecular bio class, which I think is more important than the classical stuff. You'll learn enough classical genetics in your other bio classes to help you with the MCAT.

If I were you I'd only take extra science classes that you think will help with the MCAT. Don't worry about preparing for med school. If you overload yourself and hurt your GPA, you're screwed. You're much better off with a 4.0 and 12 credits, rather than 3.4 and 17 credits.

 

[PineappleGirl]

More on Anatomy and Physiology...

Yeah, at my school they are two separate classes. However, in both classes a lot of people were nursing students or pre-pharm. I've seen other people on these boards say that when the course is combined together as one class it becomes pretty watered down, so any chance it might have of being helpful in med school is low. I thought anatomy was interesting, personally, and you might benefit from taking physiology just because it's good for the MCAT, but the memorization in anatomy is really intense and can be not so happy for your GPA.

 

[mikedc813]

Maybe think about anatomy and/or physiology. I didn't take either in college, but doing so probably would have helped me somewhat in college. But how much exactly I don't know. I doubt college courses go into as much depth as med school. Anyways, I did pretty well in both in med school so it's definitely not a must to take in college. Same goes for biochem. I did so much more in my med school biochem class than I did in college, but it can't hurt to take any of these classes while you're an undergrad. Just don't kill yourself with a crazy workload...

 

[doc05]

don't take too many science courses. take a few and do very well. spend the extra time on interesting courses like philosophy or music, or spend a semester abroad.

 

[fun8stuff]

Thanks for the input. My school does not offer an Anatomy course and a Physiology course, but a year long "Anatomy and Physiology" course. How does that structure affect your opinion?

Also, do you have any input regarding the other classes I mentioned?

Thanks so much! 😀

my school also only offerred the combined 1 year of A&P, which is what I took. I think it was one of the most helpful course for preparing me for the bio section of the MCAT (and most interesting to me), followed by genetics and cell bio.

as everyone else has said, much better to do well than take a heavy load-- i was told this by 2 dean of admissions while touring schools. I believe i took organic chem 1 & 2, A&P 1 and 2, calculus 1, and physics 1 my sophomore year (Science courses). I took biochem and advanced biochem junior and senior year, genetics & molecular genetics junior year, and cell bio senior year (but i think i took mol gen and cell bio in backwards order), micro &immuno(combined) junior year, and then a few biotechnology classes (my major) throughout junior and senior year.

there will be people that will tell you not to take too many science courses, however if u are like me and like science course much more than nonscience, then take the science courses. the main thing is to take courses that interest you. although, it seems that adcoms might prefer students who are diversified and have taken mroe than just science... which is why i took a lot of health/medically related ethics, anthropology, sociology, and geography classes. I ended up only having to take one useless class- mythology, lol....

good luck.

 

[maia]

At my school, the only people allowed to take that class are pre-nursing.

there is pre-nursing?

 

[Mumpu]

Cell and molecular bio are a waste of your time, IMHO, unless you are genuinely interested in these subjects. These basic science courses, along with biochem and non-clinical genetics and immunology are worthless for medical school. You will learn what you need from review books and the first few days of clinical courses (e.g. all relevant biochem is covered in about 3 pharmacology lectures).

 

[DrBowtie]

there is pre-nursing?

I always thought of it that way. They take like 2 years of class work then they move on to the clinical years. Either way it was just the title I gave it. If you want the "nursing" students.

 

[doctigger]

Okay... so I've been mulling over my class choices and spent (literally) hours searching the SDN forums for input... none quite hit the nail on the head....
Here are my thoughts for course layout, and I'd 😍 love 😍 some input.

During my first few years of undergrad I focused on general-ed and social science courses. In the mix I ended up with 2 quarters of calc, 2 quarters of stats(YUCK), 2 quarters of english, and a bunch of polisci/econ/humanities classes.

This year, I'm almost done completing Gen Chem and Gen Bio.

Next year I plan to take OChem(3 quarters), Physics(3 quarters), Genetics (1 quarter), and Jr. English (1 quarter). (also a university required non-science class)

I'm torn on the next year.... and kinda have two options:

ONE- A&P and Stuff:
A&P (a year long sequence), Biochem, Cell Bio, Molecular Bio,
a 6cr required senior capstone, and some non science courses or science electives (maybe ecology, histology if it's offered, and a geography, 300-level physics, or international studies class)........ I might pull off a bio minor in the process.

TWO- Bio minor and Stuff
Biochem, Cell Bio, Molecular Bio, a 6cr required senior capstone, AND some combo of: Ecology, Histology (if offered- if not- comp vert embryology or comp vert anatomy), developmental biology (if offered), Immunology or virology, and some non-science electives of interest.

I'm torn on A&P. On the one hand, I hear that physiology can help prep for the MCAT. On the other hand I hear it's a total pain and not very helpful for med school.... PLUS it's a year long sequence. Most of third term gen bio was physiology, so I have a reference for MCAT Prep.

PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT:
I am torn as to when to take the MCAT. I don't know whether to take it April/August right during/after OChem, or to wait until April of my last year. I'm fine with taking a year off after undergrad cause I will need to earn money to afford application expenses... I'm mostly wondering if I should take MCAT right after OChem and phsycis when that's fresh, or wait till I get some advanced science stuff.

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG POST... but Thanks for reading and I'd love some input!!!!!!

PS- My major is BS-Science

 

[Mumpu]

I don't rememebr any physiology on MCATs (granted it's been 5 years). The bio questions were very straightforward and physics was the only part that gave me a hard time because I coulndn't remember a few of the formulas.

You will learn anatomy and physiology in med school. You will then promptly forget the anatomy by your second year unless you are a hardcore wannabe surgeon. My classmates who took anatomy in college don't appear to remember any more of it than I do. 😛

 

[quantum]

This is somewhat off topic, but do all medical school course requirements need to be completed by the time you apply or by the time you graduate from college?

 

[Mumpu]

Check with your school, but usually by graduation.

 

[SlowToLearn]

The MCAT...

For me, the classes that helped me out on the MCAT were physiology, biochem, genetics, and microbiology...perhaps cell bio, but definitely the first three I mentioned.

As for med school itself, you don't need anatomy during your pre-med preparation. I don't know how other undergrads run their anatomy classes, but from what I gather, they're offered during the middle to latter half of the school year...after the med students have already done most of the dissection. Much of the learning comes from doing the dissections yourself. Plus, I wanted to be surprised.

Physiology again comes into the mix...of course, if you're at the undergrad stage, it's WAY too early to be thinking about USMLE Step I, but it's all about the three Ps (Pathology, Pharm, and Phys) plus microbiology. One class I'd recommend is histology. It's a class we blew off during our first year of med school, but I should have taken it more seriously since histology shows up quite a bit in pathology (pathology, pathology, pathology...did I mention the importance of pathology?) You may ask, "but you won't be using your histology in the clinical years..." You'd be wrong...twice during my internal medicine month, we hit the pathology lab to look at blood smears.

Best preparation for med school interviewing? Non-science courses...makes a candidate much more interesting if they can talk about stuff outside of medicine...well, it's more interesting for me (I can't speak for other interviewers). Music, sociology (definitely sociology), SPANISH!!!, history...whatever. For those of you that are a little timid when it comes to public speaking, I'd highly recommend public speaking courses...it'll help tremendously when you're selected to present a case in front of a full-auditorium as a PGY-1...or even a 3rd year med student 😉

Well, that's all from me...hope you find my perspective (READ: one of many perspectives) somewhat helpful.

-Slow
MCW Class of 2006

(355 days 'til graduation...not that I'm counting)

 

[doctigger]

Thanks everybody! 🙂 By the way, my university doesn't have pathology. How do you feel about Pathogenic Bacteriology? Virology? Immunology? Developmental Biology? 😕
I would be interested in Neurophysiology but the teacher sucks. 👎

 

[Mumpu]

Again, you will learn these subjects in medical school. Why make your college life miserable? Do something you will enjoy instead.