UG Courses. Realistic?

[Mr Avante]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Ok, for my junior year I plan to take Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Psychology, and intro to computers. The thing is, a biochem professor told me that I should never take 2 "hard" sciences together. I will be doing research and my mcat study during that time as well. Is my plan somehow realistic?

All thoughts will be appreciated, danke🙂

 

[487806]

Ok, for my junior year I plan to take Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Psychology, and intro to computers. The thing is, a biochem professor told me that I should never take 2 "hard" sciences together. I will be doing research and my mcat study during that time as well. Is my plan somehow realistic?

All thoughts will be appreciated, danke🙂

Yes it's realistic if you can manage your time accordingly.

 

[NontradCA]

Ok, for my junior year I plan to take Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Psychology, and intro to computers. The thing is, a biochem professor told me that I should never take 2 "hard" sciences together. I will be doing research and my mcat study during that time as well. Is my plan somehow realistic?

All thoughts will be appreciated, danke🙂

Are you working as well? I've taken 5 science classes at once, and it wasn't that bad.

 

[Juxxtaposition]

You know yourself better than some Internet strangers.

 

[Plue00]

Ok, for my junior year I plan to take Biochemistry, Microbiology, Genetics, Psychology, and intro to computers. The thing is, a biochem professor told me that I should never take 2 "hard" sciences together. I will be doing research and my mcat study during that time as well. Is my plan somehow realistic?

All thoughts will be appreciated, danke🙂

I don't know man, doesn't it really depend on a person's school and intelligence?

I personally wouldn't take 3 of those together at my school. I'd probably just do biochem (hardest) and microbio (easiest of the 3). People here vary in intelligence and some are going to be smarter than you and be able to handle 5-6 hard sciences while others will have a hard time handling 1.

 

[Mr Avante]

Ok. Thanks guys!

 

[DoktorO]

That is not a good schedule. Trust me, in my Junior year I took Biochemistry + Lab and Biophysical chemistry and studied for the MCAT concurrently. It was an overload of a schedule and my GPA dropped like a rock from a 4.0 to a 3.70 by the end of my junior year. Do yourself a favor and leave some of those classes for later. Ad coms care most about your pre reqs, not what you do after them.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

That is not a good schedule. Trust me, in my Junior year I took Biochemistry + Lab and Biophysical chemistry and studied for the MCAT concurrently. It was an overload of a schedule and my GPA dropped like a rock from a 4.0 to a 3.70 by the end of my junior year. Do yourself a favor and leave some of those classes for later. Ad coms care most about your pre reqs, not what you do after them.

ADCOMS care about your sGPA. Your prereqs matter but so do your non prereq science classes

 

[487806]

That is not a good schedule. Trust me, in my Junior year I took Biochemistry + Lab and Biophysical chemistry and studied for the MCAT concurrently. It was an overload of a schedule and my GPA dropped like a rock from a 4.0 to a 3.70 by the end of my junior year. Do yourself a favor and leave some of those classes for later. Ad coms care most about your pre reqs, not what you do after them.

If OP can handle the rigors of hard science courses, he should handle his schedule with comfort.

 

[Doudline]

If OP can handle the rigors of hard science courses, he should handle his schedule with comfort.

Somehow, I've seen you post in countless threads like this one, and you have NEVER given a negative answer to "Is this schedule too heavy?". You almost sound bitter in your answers to be honest. There is a big difference between "doable" and "recommended".

If the OP is doing serious MCAT studying AND research, this schedule actually is pretty hard, and if he comes asking on this forum for help it's probably because he's not very prepared/experienced.

Dropping just one of the science classes would probably do you good OP (as long as it is inconsequential - you can afford to take it during the summer; it won't keep you from taking related classes; etc.) But again, the choice is yours.

 

[PanRoasted]

Get rid of microbiology and/or psychology; replace with fluff gen ed class(es). Biochemistry and genetics will be more relevant to your MCAT studies, and the work you do for those classes will overlap with the work you need to do to study for the MCAT.

 

[487806]

Somehow, I've seen you post in countless threads like this one, and you have NEVER given a negative answer to "Is this schedule too heavy?". You almost sound bitter in your answers to be honest. There is a big difference between "doable" and "recommended".

If the OP is doing serious MCAT studying AND research, this schedule actually is pretty hard, and if he comes asking on this forum for help it's probably because he's not very prepared/experienced.

Dropping just one of the science classes would probably do you good OP (as long as it is inconsequential - you can afford to take it during the summer; it won't keep you from taking related classes; etc.) But again, the choice is yours.

Lol. Why would I be bitter when I tell people they can manage their difficult schedules accordingly as long as they are efficient in time management? Generally, unlike most careful premeds here, I support difficult courseloads and believe they can be managed accordingly as long as you're good at time management and strongly motivated in the subjects. It's similar to the 4.0 Challenge threads that appear after every semester.

 

[Mr Avante]

Get rid of microbiology and/or psychology; replace with fluff gen ed class(es). Biochemistry and genetics will be more relevant to your MCAT studies, and the work you do for those classes will overlap with the work you need to do to study for the MCAT.

Is microbiology going to help me for the MCAT? I devised the schedule according to the test needs 😕

 

[NontradCA]

Is microbiology going to help me for the MCAT? I devised the schedule according to the test needs 😕

A little.

 

[PanRoasted]

Microbiology will not help you as much as genetics and biochem will. You can learn everything you need to know about microbio for the MCAT in under an hour.

 

[Mr Avante]

What about taking Cell Biology. Is it helpful?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Somehow, I've seen you post in countless threads like this one, and you have NEVER given a negative answer to "Is this schedule too heavy?". You almost sound bitter in your answers to be honest. There is a big difference between "doable" and "recommended".

If the OP is doing serious MCAT studying AND research, this schedule actually is pretty hard, and if he comes asking on this forum for help it's probably because he's not very prepared/experienced.

Dropping just one of the science classes would probably do you good OP (as long as it is inconsequential - you can afford to take it during the summer; it won't keep you from taking related classes; etc.) But again, the choice is yours.

Sht just got real

/Agent B

 

[ToldYouSo]

Nothing wrong with your classes, the issue I see here is mixing that course load with MCAT studying, which is a recipe for burnout.

 

[487806]

Sht just got real

/Agent B

You just couldn't resist / me, could you?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

You just couldn't resist / me, could you?

Agent B, you're the cheese to my macaroni

 

[Plue00]

Somehow, I've seen you post in countless threads like this one, and you have NEVER given a negative answer to "Is this schedule too heavy?". You almost sound bitter in your answers to be honest. There is a big difference between "doable" and "recommended".

If the OP is doing serious MCAT studying AND research, this schedule actually is pretty hard, and if he comes asking on this forum for help it's probably because he's not very prepared/experienced.

Dropping just one of the science classes would probably do you good OP (as long as it is inconsequential - you can afford to take it during the summer; it won't keep you from taking related classes; etc.) But again, the choice is yours.

Agent B is just a genius! That's why everything is doable, duh. 🙄

 

[487806]

Agent B is just a genius! That's why everything is doable, duh. 🙄

I've seen a lot worse scenarios than what the OP is undergoing (though most happen to focus on engineering, chemistry and physics).

 

[Epinephreus]

Microbiology will not help you as much as genetics and biochem will. You can learn everything you need to know about microbio for the MCAT in under an hour.

You never know. My MCAT had three microbiology passages, two being deeply experimental. I had no genetic passages.

My point is not to take micro over genetics, (I would argue that Genetics is one of the most valuable classes you can take in preparation for the MCAT), but do not base your schedule simply on what you think will prepare you for the MCAT.

And to answer your question, I do think that your schedule is unreasonable.
Two hard sciences, + Research, + Easy Gen Ed. This was my formula for all 4 years of UG and I graduated wit a 3.99.

 

[487806]

What about taking Cell Biology. Is it helpful?

Yup. Definitely.