Spring Course Advice

[bbeventer]

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So I have been going back and forth with myself over several classes (as I always do) but I wanted to hear what you all though. I am currently at 11 credit hours with courses I like/need.
My questions are how many of you have taken the lab for biochem? I know not many schools require it.

Also I have been going back and forth I wanted to take Histology but it is full (I could possibly acquire a closed class card), I could take comparative vert. anatomy though it is 5cr. and I am already taking 1 weighted class. Everything else I may want to take seems to be scheduled during my other classes.

Do any of you have any suggestions of other classes I could add that would be beneficial?

So my schedule so far is: Parasitology, Biochem, Physics II+Lab

 

[LivestockDoc]

Can't remember what school you attend, bb. Does your school offer endocrinology?

Btw, comparative anatomy is pretty cool!

I think Histo would be a good one to get into if you can. You know you're going to see it again in vet school, and some people (self!) find it a real challenge to try to identify a bunch of tissues that look pretty similar. Could be helpful to have had some exposure to the subject in undergrad.

And, no, I didn't take biochem lab so can't help you there.

 

[bbeventer]

Thanks LivestockDoc, I go to SIUC (southern illinois university). The school does offer endocrinology, however, not in the spring. Thanks for your positive input on comparative anatomy in case I end up having to default to that.. I had a huge monster painted in my mind.

 

[cowgirla]

I would definitely recommend histo if you can get into it! I really really wish I had taken it in undergrad. Vet school histo and I were not friends.

 

[lei325]

I agree with cowgirla: I did a veterinary histology tech course in undergrad and it helped a lot this year. Comparative anatomy wouldn't be such a bad idea, either, since you'll be doing a lot of it in vet med anyway.

Do you have the option to take any repro courses? I did both Reproductive Physiology and an AI course in undergrad and it's definitely been a bit of a help already.

As for the biochem lab: did it and loved it (and passed it). But I think most of it was due to the TA I had. He was pretty amazing. I also didn't realize that not all vet schools required it. I just took it because my undergrad required it. Come to think of it...I don't remember if any of the schools I applied to required it.

 

[BlacKAT33]

i agree with histo. it took me ALL semester to finally "get" this class like i was supposed to. The pace moved so fast that i could barely grasp each lab topic when I came in and I was extremely slow with finding things 🙁

But since that class is full and you may not be able to get in, i would also suggest endocrinology, nutrition, or immunology.

and I did not take biochem lab, i do not recommend taking that because i dont see how it will help you in vet school. it will just be more work for no reason. even if you come to penn where we take biochem again...there is no way you'd be able to get out of it even if you took more credits of it.

 

[bbeventer]

Thanks everyone for the input. I have already taken nutrition so I have that under my belt.

I will look into some of the repro classes, they are animal science classes, but I will see if I can take them and if there are any prereqs required. I never thought about thoses, thanks for the idea!

BlacKat unfortunately endocrinology and immunology are only offered in the fall 🙁

I sent an email to the professor of histology and I am waiting back on a reply I don't know him personally but I work on the same floor as him, maybe I can "run into him" tomorrow at work as well.

Thanks everyone for the replies, you have given me lots to think about!! If I don't get in this cycle I foresee immunology and endocrinology in my near future lol.

 

[drwildlife]

I was faced with this same problem this semester. I ended up signing up for Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy and Neuroethology. So, if you end up in anatomy...looks like you'll have a study buddyyyyyyy 😀

 

[kaydubs]

Histology is definitely a good idea (or so I've been told) but Comparative is an awesome class (I might go so far as to say it was my fave! 😉 ). I'm not sure how other schools run their course, but I loved extra practice with dissection and learning more anatomy stuffs. In lab, we dissected a lamprey, a dogfish, a perch, a mudpuppy, a snake, a pigeon, and a cat as well as looking at bones in cat & human. Lecture was more evolution -> development -> systems (a little bit of each) - mine was a 200 level class. I already took Physiology and that helped in my class but not sure about others. In retrospect, looking at this feedback, I wish I could've taken histo this past semester when it was offered (but I was already taking the max amount of credits like a loon haha)

 

[Willowhand]

Histo is something you would certainly use in vet school, although --perhaps since Micro Anatomy was one of the easier courses so far-- it doesn't strike me as the most urgent thing to get an early intro to. If I was in your position I'd take Vert Anatomy, if only to get back on the macro scale for a few hours each day 🙂

I did take Biochem with a lab in undergrad, and I enjoyed it very much. If nothing else, I got a lot of hands-on experience with things like protein modeling, western blots, and PCR, a thorough understanding of which can be useful when reading journal articles or doing research. So the lab is not necessarily something that has given me a head start in vet school courses, but I'd definitely give it points for fun and professional utility.

I guess the bottom line is that it depends on your interests and academic strengths. If you think Histo will challenge you in vet school, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a head start. If you're a little nervous about Gross Anatomy, perhaps Vert. would be the way to go. These things aside, I would highly recommend taking whatever you think you would most enjoy learning about. There is no set formula that will make you a better applicant, but studying things that you are enthusiastic about can help in more than one way.

 

[bbeventer]

That is a good point willow that you bring up. I definatly think I would have a harder time with anatomy then histo, though I think I would have more fun in histo 😉 But I could be looking at vert. anatomy all wrong and I may be surprised by how much fun I could have with it. I did enjoy the vert. part for animal diversity.

After what everyone has said I am glad that I decided not to take biochem lab. I work in a lab where I frequently preform PCRs and read sequences so I do have exposure do those areas.

I am sorta excited now if I decide to take the vert. anatomy I am just worried of it being a 400lvl 5cr class

 

[Howister]

I am taking comparative endocrinology, biochem, human physiology (I already took comparative animal physio, but this was the only other open major class available...I wanted to take biomechanics lab, but it wasnt available), and stats. For anyone who is in vet school, how important has endocrinology been? It is my new area of interest as I am hoping to work in a reproductive neuroendocrinology lab next spring 🙂
I also heard that morphology of the vertebrate skeleton and microbiology are really helpful. I am wondering how microbiology and histology stack up against each other....any thoughts?

 

[BlacKAT33]

I am taking comparative endocrinology, biochem, human physiology (I already took comparative animal physio, but this was the only other open major class available...I wanted to take biomechanics lab, but it wasnt available), and stats. For anyone who is in vet school, how important has endocrinology been? It is my new area of interest as I am hoping to work in a reproductive neuroendocrinology lab next spring 🙂
I also heard that morphology of the vertebrate skeleton and microbiology are really helpful. I am wondering how microbiology and histology stack up against each other....any thoughts?

endocrinology is really important. we don't have a separate course for it because i guess there is no room for it. but they have put endocrinology in our biochem class, histo class, and physiology class...so far. It comes up all the time!! i love endocrine, that was the class that first got me interested in research

 

[cuitlamiztli]

Morphology/comparative anatomy is very helpful and I definitely recommend it. It was one of my favorite classes in undergrad 🙂

For anyone who is in vet school, how important has endocrinology been? ... I also heard that morphology of the vertebrate skeleton and microbiology are really helpful.

We had an endocrinology unit in our histo course, and it's been discussed in some of our other classes (and I'm sure we'll see it again). I think it's a good one to take before vet school.

I'm uncertain about micro because I don't know how it's handled at undergraduate institutions and veterinary schools other than Iowa State; in my case it wasn't overly helpful. IIRC, we spent the majority of our time on bacterial basics and very little time on specific bugs in undergrad -- contrast that to vet school, where we spent like 3 days on basics and jumped headlong into pathogens. Background knowledge is nice but it may also be worth it to take additional bug-heavy courses down the road. Perhaps someone else can chime in with their experience.