Should I try to take more intro/lower level biology courses?

[waytogo1]

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Hi, I've been worried about my sGPA, because many of the prerequisites that I took ended up being a B. I was wondering if I should take more lower level biology courses to show that I can handle biology. (btw I'm a humanities major)
Currently, I have taken
Multivariable calculus: A
Physics: A
Orgo I,II: B
Intro to Physiology: A
Intro to Immunology: B
Vaccines (upper-level course): B
Gen Chem: A

I am currently a junior, and I'm taking two upper-level bio courses.
And I'm planning to take Microbio and Biochem (both intro level) this year or next year.
I'll probably take some bio courses that are less sciency (but that are still in BIO department and will be upper level courses).

I'm a bit worried about the fact that I have only taken two lower level bio courses, and getting a B in one of them. I skipped general biology because in our school you can skip them if you have the AP score. And I've been trying to avoid any hard intro courses (such as Genetics, in my school) because I'm afraid it's gonna bring down my science GPA.
Should I try to take more lower level courses? I don't want to seem like an applicant incompetent in biology... especially because I'm not majoring in science.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks! 🙂

 

[NickNaylor]

You don't take lower level biology courses to demonstrate that you can handle a rigorous biology curriculum...

 

[Catalystik]

/\ /\ /\
What he said.

 

[Cambino]

Hi, I've been worried about my sGPA, because many of the prerequisites that I took ended up being a B. I was wondering if I should take more lower level biology courses to show that I can handle biology. (btw I'm a humanities major)
Currently, I have taken
Multivariable calculus: A
Physics: A
Orgo I,II: B
Intro to Physiology: A
Intro to Immunology: B
Vaccines (upper-level course): B
Gen Chem: A

I am currently a junior, and I'm taking two upper-level bio courses.
And I'm planning to take Microbio and Biochem (both intro level) this year or next year.
I'll probably take some bio courses that are less sciency (but that are still in BIO department and will be upper level courses).

I'm a bit worried about the fact that I have only taken two lower level bio courses, and getting a B in one of them. I skipped general biology because in our school you can skip them if you have the AP score. And I've been trying to avoid any hard intro courses (such as Genetics, in my school) because I'm afraid it's gonna bring down my science GPA.
Should I try to take more lower level courses? I don't want to seem like an applicant incompetent in biology... especially because I'm not majoring in science.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks! 🙂

I personally avoid intro science classes because not only are they a waste of time for me, but 'Intro to Microbiology' as an upperclassman on your transcript is far from impressive. Also, if you don't get an A, it's an absolute travesty.

 

[Ellie Arroway]

I personally avoid intro science classes because not only are they a waste of time for me, but 'Intro to Microbiology' as an upperclassman on your transcript is far from impressive. Also, if you don't get an A, it's an absolute travesty.

As has already been mostly said, the way you show med schools you can handle their level of biology is to take upper div biology. Trying to avoid "hard intro courses" just means you'll be less prepared to do so. And in general...if you find yourself doing a lot of work to avoid biological science, I can't say that I understand going into a field that involves a lot of biological science. You might want to think about that.

 

[lobo.solo]

You know people have gotten in with the bare minimum pre-reqs right? anyways, I see you still have a couple of prereqs left; get As in all of them and your GPA should be higher than 3.5. Take classes you are interested in and doing well should be easier. Good luck strategize your course work to maximize your chances of doing well.

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I personally avoid intro science classes because not only are they a waste of time for me, but 'Intro to Microbiology' as an upperclassman on your transcript is far from impressive. Also, if you don't get an A, it's an absolute travesty.

I wasn't a bio major, but I was under the impression that microbiology was typically an upper division course. Just because the class has the word "intro" in it doesn't mean it's a real intro class. Many of the courses at my university, for example, started with "intro to" simply because they were going to be your first real introduction to that field instead of a quick blurb in a real intro class like intro bio. For example, my "intro to neuroscience" class was actually considered by students and faculty alike to be the hardest course in the bio department. While the name may have said "intro to" it was hardly an intro class; it required all the med school pre-reqs as it's course pre-reqs (along with others...) and it wasn't even the first class in the major's sequence.

 

[Praefectus]

I wasn't a bio major, but I was under the impression that microbiology was typically an upper division course. Just because the class has the word "intro" in it doesn't mean it's a real intro class. Many of the courses at my university, for example, started with "intro to" simply because they were going to be your first real introduction to that field instead of a quick blurb in a real intro class like intro bio. For example, my "intro to neuroscience" class was actually considered by students and faculty alike to be the hardest course in the bio department. While the name may have said "intro to" it was hardly an intro class; it required all the med school pre-reqs as it's course pre-reqs (along with others...) and it wasn't even the first class in the major's sequence.

👍 Intro classes tend to be surveys of the field, so an intro to micro would cover all of micro (without going into innate detail of retroviruses or cocci bacteria) rather than all of biology. It'd still be an upper level class.

 

[waytogo1]

Sorry, I should have been more clear about what I meant by "intro/lower level" bio courses...
I just considered all the bio courses under certain course number "lower level" because the title of the courses would begin with "intro to---" So, I just considered Intro to Microbio, Intro to Immuno, Intro to Cell bio, Intro to Genetics etc lower level course. Advance/upper level course would be Vaccines, Innate Immunology, Cancer biology, etc (more specialized)... We have General Biology course (Intro to Biology) which I guess would be what you guys consider as lower level course....
So I was wondering if I should take more of these Bio courses that would touch upon different areas in biology, because I did not take the Gen Bio course in college...
If I go with my current plan, the only "Intro to---"courses I would have taken by the end of college would be: Immuno, physiology, microbio, and biochem.
Again, thanks for all of your advice!