The BIG question, does Undergraduate BIOCHEM help?

[GonnaBeAnMD]

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I know this has been asked before, but I cannot get a sense of whether it would help or not help. Is staying in school 1 more semester, only for biochem, help out in medical school in Fall or will relaxing be more helpful? Thanks!

 

[pbn2au]

I know this has been asked before, but I cannot get a sense of whether it would help or not help. Is staying in school 1 more semester, only for biochem, help out in medical school in Fall or will relaxing be more helpful? Thanks!

No, it's not worth it. Enjoy yourself!
You might regret not taking biochem, but you will likely regret not taking some time to relax/travel/booze/whatever!

Good luck in the '05

 

[kenmc3]

Well I think that undergrad biochem will make it a little easier in med school - I dont think anyone can argue that It makes no difference. However it is prob not worth it if you have to stay around for another semester. It was required for my major so I didnt have a choice. 🙄

 

[Paws]

I took it as a requirement of my school, but I wouldn't have taken it otherwise.

That said, now that I HAVE taken it I am glad considering that at least half my class has already taken anatomy in preparation for medschool, or histo, physiology, etc.

I am not one to take all the medical school courses before you actually get there, but just know that you will be up against those who do believe that's a good strategy.

 

[zeloc]

It depends a lot on the quality of the biochem course. I had an excellent professor, who actually used to teach biochemistry at a medical school, and I learned a lot of small points that I wouldn't have picked up as an M1. It also helped that the class was harder than my first year biochem. Try to find out from people who took the class before how it was, if everyone gives it rave reviews I'd take it, but otherwise you might as well relax.

 

[lilmo]

i would absolutely recommend relaxing and doing something enjoyable. the only thing i got out of my undergrad biochem class was memorizing the amino acids. but i had already forgotten them by the time i got to medical school anways so i had to re-learn them.

 

[phoenixsupra]

Biochem in undergrad won't help much. The only thing "hard" about biochem in medschool is tearing yourself away from anatomy for long enough to study it. And biochem is "knowledge" is super temporary. Take it if you are actually interested in it. There's no other reason. 😉

 

[felipe5]

yeah, i don't know about "helping", seeing as non-biochem people can end up doing better than biochem majors (as is the case in my school).....in medschool, you really hit the ground running, meaning that there is no pretty little spoon fed introduction, and if there is, its pretty minute. I found that my for me, taking biochem in undergrad made initial med-biochem experience suck a little less because I was already familiar (albeit not an expert) with protein architecture, enzyme kinetics, and the other crap that gets shoved down your throat

 

[ddmo]

Take it! Med school moves so rapidly that they teach it more like a review than something you are learning the first time. The expect you to know a lot of concepts that are usually covered in decent depth in undergrad. I pity those out there who have never seen this stuff before.

 

[phoenixsupra]

Take it! Med school moves so rapidly that they teach it more like a review than something you are learning the first time. The expect you to know a lot of concepts that are usually covered in decent depth in undergrad. I pity those out there who have never seen this stuff before.

Ha ha. I didn't know they actually TEACH anything in medschool. I thought they just fired wadges of poorly written notes at you and mumbled to themselves for an hour. Never understood that myself. Figured it was some strange ritual.

But really, if there is ANY way you can take anatomy as an undergrad do that instead. Biochem is so not "the big question". Make anatomy easier for yourself and you wont even notice biochem. 😉

 

[missmod]

Take a look or ask around about what the biochem courses are like at the med schools you want to attend. At my school, our biochem course lasted 2 months and was very clinically oriented (a lot about glucose metabolism, a lot of case based problem sets and small group). We didn't even have to memorize any of the pathways because we got a big sheet of the metabolic pathway for our exam. The important things in that class as to which enzyme defects are common, how they present, and things like that were not things that my undergrad biochem class taught me.

Although ugrad biochem was helpful for maybe the first 2 weeks of school just because it was nice to feel familiar with some of the material, in the end, I don't think it was worth it. All that time I spent memorizing pathways in undergrad (and our professor kept on telling us "they're gonna make you memorize these in med school!!!" -- WRONG!) and the stress I put on myself to get a good grade in that class didn't really lead to anything valuable...

Plus, lots of schools are pass/fail for first year classes like biochem so it doesn't really matter if you hit the ground running or walking as long as you don't fail.

 

[MsEvolution]

I can't afford/can't find a biochem series this late in the academic year. UW offers a two quarter series, but it starts in the Fall. Missed it! I want to grab a hold of a syllabus, tho, and buy the corresponding book to get myself at least familiar with the concepts. Is anyone out there willing to share their syllabus, problem assignments and such? I need it in order to be able to focus on the relevant parts of a textbook... instead of trying to study the whole thing.

PM me, please... I need to get on this right away.

While we're on the subject, is this something I could do successfully with anatomy, too? Would book study be worth it in terms of lessening the volume of info to be memorized by starting to learn something now? 😕

 

[erin682]

I voted to take biochem before I actually read the OP. Now I would change my vote. If it means taking a whole extra semester definately don't take it. Its useful but probably not as useful as time off. No biochem class is gonna cover exactly the same things so really all you'll take in to it is a basic understanding of concepts. In med school a basic understanding of concepts is only helpful in that it makes studying a little easier. Sadly enough you don't really have to understand any of it if you can just memorize info and regurgitate it on a test.

 

[Long Dong]

I voted to take biochem before I actually read the OP. Now I would change my vote. If it means taking a whole extra semester definately don't take it. Its useful but probably not as useful as time off. No biochem class is gonna cover exactly the same things so really all you'll take in to it is a basic understanding of concepts. In med school a basic understanding of concepts is only helpful in that it makes studying a little easier. Sadly enough you don't really have to understand any of it if you can just memorize info and regurgitate it on a test.

Agreed 👍

 

[GoodMonkey]

a biochem course is a requirement for umich med entry. but if you're already in at another school that doesn't require it ... it's a toss up. of all my undergrad classes ever, i think the most helpful for me in med school was biochem. it just made that whole learning-the-biochem-language a little less painful b/c i had an entire semester of it, rather than a fast-run through it like you get in med school.

 

[MsEvolution]

Bump! Help with the Biochem class syllabus and book recommendation post! (See my previous post)

Help!

 

[peehdee]

omg

are you guys crazy? of course it helps.

med school is about FACTS. which means you have to have a good memory. which means that if you've heard of it or at least know the words before hand, it HELPS..

now if you're worried about not getting good grades bc of the class, i assume you might want to consider not taking it. but otherwise YES..

and that goes for other classes. so many of my classmates have taken biochem, pharm, micro, immuno etc.. a year before med school and its like a review course for them. so YES by all means everything helps.

 

[Lebesgue]

I know this has been asked before, but I cannot get a sense of whether it would help or not help. Is staying in school 1 more semester, only for biochem, help out in medical school in Fall or will relaxing be more helpful? Thanks!

NO, you should relax.

 

[medstudent2008]

I'd say take it. And not just biochm. You should take (if you haven't already) anatomy and physiology, cell/molecular biology, histology, and developmental biology (embryology). Of course not all at once - just enough to be going to school full-time. The last year of college is a vacation compared to med school and you'll still have the summer to really relax.

 

[Sage880]

If I could go back in time I would take any course that is duplicated in med school even a little bit. Every course I have back ground knowledge in I get more out of the lectures and I do better with less studying. Take biochem. It sucks now but it sucks much more under the stress of med school.

 

[fielight]

personally, i found undergrad biochem worthwhile (it covered about 4 weeks of medical biochem). but even if you don't take it, you'll just learn to adjust to the material (you may have to work a little harder than the biochem majors, but it won't make or break your grade). in your case, i'd say take the semester off; for me, i would find it too much of a hassel to stay around for an extra semester just for the one class.