What Biology courses should i take for med-school? (please, y'all help)

[Master Blaster]

To be honest, I don't enjoy biology so much even if I've got all A's in high school biology. This is because I love the calculus and chemistry courses at my community college, now am chemE major. But i still want to give med school a shot, I hear that they only need 1 year of biology if u meet all the other requirements. I will or have met all the other requirements except bio requirements. I have not done any biology yet, and am in my sophomore year.

1) what biology classes should i do to be accepted in med school?
there is principles of biology, anatomy, physiology, botany, zoology, heredity, microbiology. etc

2) at university, i wanted to do anatomy and physiology only, is this enough to cover the MCAT and med requirement? or med-schools don't allow you to begin at advanced bio classes while skipping the others?

3) is their a class that joins together the two subjects at universities?(physiology & anatomy)

4) Do med schools require you to have more than 10 bio lab hours? those subjects would give me 8 lab hrs.

5) what biology classes did u do for the mcat & med school requirement?

thanks to y'all who help me out

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[deleted393595]

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[HH Holmes]

This has been asked a million times. The only 'required' biology courses are Bio I and II. Other pre requisites are physics, organic chemistry, some form of English and general chemistry. Most schools require a math course like Calculus or Stats.

 

[Whatyousay]

To be honest, I don't enjoy biology so much even if I've got all A's in high school biology.

1) what biology classes should i do to be accepted in med school?
there is principles of biology, anatomy, physiology, botany, zoology, heredity, microbiology. etc

2) at university, i wanted to do anatomy and physiology only, is this enough to cover the MCAT and med requirement? or med-schools don't allow you to begin at advanced bio classes while skipping the others?

3) is their a class that joins together the two subjects at universities?(physiology & anatomy)

4) Do med schools require you to have more than 10 bio lab hours? those subjects would give me 8 lab hrs.

5) what biology classes did u do for the mcat & med school requirement?

thanks to y'all who help me out

Pro tip: If you hate biology, med school is going to be a frackin' nightmare. Why do you even want to do medicine, since it's just applied biology?


1. You just need the pre-reqs. The upper division stuff is nice if you do well in them, but taking those courses won't affect your chances of acceptance.

2. Basic bio + Ochem should be enough for the MCAT. Classes like physio may help a little bit, but they're not required.

3. A lot of universities have some type of A&P courses, although from my experience, these are usually meant for allied health majors (that's just from my experience, though - other universities probably offer non-allied health versions of A&P).

4. No.

5. Bare minimum.

 

[Political]

1. You need one year of general biology, (i.e. principals of biology)

2. Anatomy doesn't particularly help you, Physiology might (just a little bit) A class in cell biology would theoretically help you the most

3. Umm check with university? As in go through the entire course listing book and see if any exists

4. Medical schools want general biology with lab, i would think that lab hours would be insignificant considering they just want you to take the lab

5. General bio and cell bio, though honestly all you need for the MCAT/ med schools is just gen bio

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

ChemE major + Dislike Biology = Very unhappy premed.

 

[Master Blaster]

what is 'Bio I and II'? i have not seen any classes at my college indicated as such

 

[Stumpyman]

yeah you might start even start to love Bio in college. In High school, I truly hated biology with a passion, but after my first bio course (I got a 100 in lecture, 95 in lab), I seriously loved it.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

what is 'Bio I and II'? i have not seen any classes at my college indicated as such

That's just the general name for the first two courses in a college's biology series, since schools have different nomenclature for courses, but content wise are very similar. They usually are intro to cell biology ( The first biology course in the series) and intro to evolution and ecology ( The second course in the series).

 

[HH Holmes]

what is 'Bio I and II'? i have not seen any classes at my college indicated as such

Anything along the lines of 'General Biology', 'Intro to Biology' etc... Basically two sequential biology classes that cover the basics. If you are majoring in chemistry, I am 99% sure you will have to take some sort of class like this. Look at your curriculum.

EDIT: Got beat by 2 seconds.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

Is there a facepalm smiley?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Is there a facepalm smiley?

You can find it when you click the more link under all the emoticon smiles.

 

[Gnomes]

Take general biology and one semester each of physiology and either genetics or cell biology. If you really dislike biology but are good at it, you may be able to get out of taking general biology, depending on your professor and university - ask the professor. The upper division classes should, in principle, satisfy "a year of biology with lab", assuming, of course, they have labs - at least, that's what my premed advisor said. But doing it all over again, I think I'd take general biology first - would have helped my GPA.

As an aside, I found the best time to ask "can I take your class without the prerequisites?" is immediately after asking an insightful question about the subject of the class and discussing it intelligently with the professor.

Anyway, good luck with your rigorous major and future medical career.

 

[kpcrew]

You can find it when you click the more link under all the emoticon smiles.

holy cow...this changes everything!

 

[wololololololo]

Biochemistry is slowly becoming required/strongly suggested at a lot of schools now. Although most schools consider it an extension of Orgo and not bio.

 

[Alejandro]

Biochemistry is slowly becoming required/strongly suggested at a lot of schools now. Although most schools consider it an extension of Orgo and not bio.

True, i second this. While it's not explicit, a lot are looking for it, at least thats what i hear from my school.

I think taking upper div cell bio is good, and can give you some appreciation for some of the molecular/cell bio research that is often published in NEJM...But if you're looking at the bare minimum, yes only a year of intro bio is necessary.

But as others mentioned...you don't like bio? Is it because of the material? or you just don't like how its taught...? I seriously hope you don't mean that you dislike physio/cell bio....lol. that might be pretty bad if you're wanting to be an MD.

 

[JESSFALLING]

True, i second this. While it's not explicit, a lot are looking for it, at least thats what i hear from my school.

I think taking upper div cell bio is good, and can give you some appreciation for some of the molecular/cell bio research that is often published in NEJM...But if you're looking at the bare minimum, yes only a year of intro bio is necessary.

But as others mentioned...you don't like bio? Is it because of the material? or you just don't like how its taught...? I seriously hope you don't mean that you dislike physio/cell bio....lol. that might be pretty bad if you're wanting to be an MD.

I agree with all of this. To add my take: I'd take the "Principles" course, along with either Cell Biology or Physiology or Zoology. And then I'd also take Genetics and Biochemistry. If you have time, then consider taking Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology/Physiology (whichever one you didn't initially take!) Also, I don't recommend the Physiology course if it is a 100-level course aimed for allied-health.

Lastly, you should try to view biology as applied chemistry, since you like chemistry . Every biological process has roots in complex physical processes. Try to discover the 'why' behind everything you study, and you'll likely enjoy it more.

Ps. Chem Eng. is a brutal major for anyone, esp. future physicians. If it 'kills' your GPA, plan on becoming an engineer. (Hint: You may want to shadow a few chem engineers to make sure that you like the field and the daily work that they do!)

 

[cwrig14]

In terms of going above and beyond, I feel like biochemistry (obvious), histology and physiology would be most useful. Immuno and cell biology too.
Or, you can enjoy life!

 

[mcloaf]

In terms of going above and beyond, I feel like biochemistry (obvious), histology and physiology would be most useful. Immuno and cell biology too.
Or, you can enjoy life!

:troll: