Survey of Biochemistry

[studentdoctor08]

I know that medical schools highly recommend some sort of biochemistry course. I plan to take a one semester long course called survey of biochemistry instead of the two semester course of biochemistry 1 and biochem 2. Will this suffice? Thanks

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[NickNaylor]

Contact the schools directly and ask. My understanding is that schools generally want the courses for majors, but this might work.

 

[Shakespeare37]

According to the MSAR, almost no schools require Biochem outright. That said, almost everyone involved in this entire process (from SDN to pre-health advisers at my school, to current medical students) says take it. Most say take the best Biochem course you can find. From my (limited) understanding, most med schools cover it in the first two years. So the more you know about it, the better prepared you will be. Not to mention that the longer, graduate level if you can swing it, course looks better on your application than a survey. Just my two cents. I'm a post-bac, and looked very carefully at what I could cram into two years. A full year of biochem was on everyone's list.
EDIT: Important enough that I took gen chem and o-chem at the same time in order to fit a full year of biochem in. That important. Don't sacrifice your grades though, that won't help no matter what classes you take.

 

[WildEMDoc]

I took survey, which worked fine for every medical school except one that I plan to apply to. My only state school (UNM) has an obscure requirement that it must be at the "400" level which the survey was at the 300. So now next semester I have to take the regular one anyway.

Just look at the specific schools your looking into and if you see anything "fishy" email the admissions office and check.

 

[bucks2010]

I'm taking the survey now...here it's a 400-level course. Of course you don't get as much as a full-year course but there is still a ton a material. I think we hit all the major stuff. FWIW I have a friend that's taking biochem in med school right now and it's very, very different - so don't stress too much if you're not able to get a full year in. Even Johns Hopkins only requires just one semester of it.

 

[mbbe402]

We are offering a 400-level Biochemistry 4-credit intensive this summer at the University of Hawaii (Manoa) if you still need to fulfil your Biochemistry requirements.
Details here: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/binghamjp/mbbe402/

 

[gravitywave]

a whole year of biochem is total overkill. the semester breakdown is obviously going to be different by university, but in general I think chem faculty understand that a lot of people taking the first semester aren't intending to go on to the second and major in biochem, and they prioritize the material for health science accordingly. check your course catalog for details: where i took it, the bioc I description is

"Introduction to chemistry and structure of biological macromolecules; examination of mechanisms of chemical processes in biological systems including enzyme catalysis, biosynthesis, regulation, and information transfer."

it had both orgos as the pre reqs and, having now taken med school biochem, i can assure you that it was more than adequate. i do think that the usual rule for pre-med courses applies ie take the recommended pre-med course and not the one for nursing/lab sci/PT whatever

 

[katarina90]

If you're asking will it help in med school, any biochem will help.

I think people that took a yearlong course are at a definite advantage, I did and I had no trouble with the biochem course first year. You can definitely get by with no biochem in undergrad, it just takes a little more effort. Same w/ anatomy, immunology, etc...any familiarity you have with the topics eases the transition into learning it at a professional school level.

But I would say if it comes down to it and you don't have time for a yearlong course, a survey is better than nothing.