Quick but Important Question

[mrmandrake]

Hello,

I am a non trad going to UCI right now through their extension program and I had a quick question that everyone I asked (med students, counselors ... ) had different answers to. I understand that the requirements to apply to med school are different for each med school, but I was wondering two things:

1. What bio lab I need to take?
2. How many quarters of lab for each science do I need to take?

First I need to know what Bio lab to take. Chem, Ochem, and Physics have labs attached to them so that's easy enough but Bio doesn't. Should I be taking cell bio lab, animal physio lab? No one I asked really knows. They just have their bio degree and they know that whatever classes they took cover the requirements.

Secondly, counselors have told me that I need to take 2 quarters of each lab, so like 2 quarters of Ochem lab. Some students have told me that I only need 1 quarter of each lab. Some people tell me a whole year. I've looked at med school pages for specific schools and they say "1 year chemistry with lab" ... can you be any more vague? What does "with lab" mean?

Thanks for the help guys. I've been looking and asking everywhere so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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[Tired Pigeon]

"1 year with lab" means what it sounds like: if you are on a semester system, you take 2 semesters of lab. If you are on a trimester system, you take 3 trimesters of lab. If you are on a quarter system, you take 4 quarters of lab. However you slice it, you're gonna need a year each of gen chem, ochem, and physics labs.

As for biology, my understanding is that it doesn't matter what specific course your lab is associated with as long as it's a bio course. Can the premed advisor at your school shed any light on this (or are they as bad as they were for me )?

 

[XRanger]

Hey..I go to UCI so I could prob answer your questions.

For bio, yes you need to take bio labs(upper-division) since there's no lab attached to lower division bio(bio93, 94, 97, 98, 99).

For gchem and ochem, I asked the premed counselor and you only need to take 2 quarters of lab for each course. 1LB and 1LC for gchem, and 51LA and 51LB for ochem. you need 51LC if you're going to pharm school.

 

[mrmandrake]

Hey..I go to UCI so I could prob answer your questions.

For bio, yes you need to take bio labs(upper-division) since there's no lab attached to lower division bio(bio93, 94, 97, 98, 99).

For gchem and ochem, I asked the premed counselor and you only need to take 2 quarters of lab for each course. 1LB and 1LC for gchem, and 51LA and 51LB for ochem. you need 51LC if you're going to pharm school.

Thanks for the response guys. Yea it's weird how people say different things, as in the last two responses.

XRanger: So I need to take 2 UD labs for bio and 2 labs for physics too? Thanks.

 

[lainey234]

I got my undergrad at UCI awhile back, but I had a similar problem. Most schools want a whole year of lab - which translates to 3 quarters, not 4 as the person above responded (4th quarter is during the summer). Since I am at a different instititution now I decided to be safe and just take a full year of bio lab on top of what I had from UCI as well as a full yr of physics lab and a full yr of Chem lab. Better to be safe than to find out that you are one quarter short on lab for the school you want to go to.

Also, my experience with counselors at UCI has been that they are not always right. Check with the schools you want to apply to and go with their requirements since they will be the ones hwo decide at the end of the day.