Which class would you take?

[Mazelia]

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I'm about to start my spring quarter of senior year, and need to take one more bio class to satisfy schools who want to see a full year of biology coursework (I'm an engineer and so I didn't get all that freshman bio at the beginning). I am having trouble picking between the following 3 because they all sound equally interesting (at least based on the course descriptions)! What do you think?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Sensory Physiology: Basic properties of stimuli: sensory bases of vision, hearing, touch and smell; current concepts of transduction, neural pathways, transmitters and research techniques.

Intro to Proteomics: .[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Discussion on the structure, function and the evolution of proteins. Topics include enzyme catalysis, sensory receptors, molecular motors, cytoskeleton, extracellular matrices, and immune recognition.

Biology of Cancer: .[FONT=Verdana, Arial]A fundamental discussion of the biology of the cancerous state, including the underlying mechanisms of induction, as well as the physiology of neoplasms, at both the organ and molecular levels..

 

[Ariodant]

Assuming that you intend to apply MD/PhD, do you have a specific research interest? If you are considering neuroscience, pick one; if structural biology, pick two, and if cancer biology, obviously three.

 

[Mazelia]

Coming from an engineering background, I don't have any research experience in the biological sciences, and I could honestly see myself pursuing biomedical research relating to any of those classes. (class 1 - nerve regeneration or neurodiagnostics; class 2 - tissue engineering or implants; class 3 - cancer diagnostics or drug delivery) They all seem like they'd be helpful at some point in M1-M2 curriculum, too.

(Side note: I have already applied MD/PhD, so I'm really just looking for a good class, not to have a particular course title on my transcript. 🙂 If I don't get off any MD/PhD waitlists, I'll be going to CCLCM, so there's still some research in my future.)

Worst case, I will just go to the first meeting of every class and decide which one I like the most based on professor/syllabus... although that's no way to spend the first day of my last quarter of undergrad!

 

[MSTPbound]

Coming from an engineering background, I don't have any research experience in the biological sciences, and I could honestly see myself pursuing biomedical research relating to any of those classes. (class 1 - nerve regeneration or neurodiagnostics; class 2 - tissue engineering or implants; class 3 - cancer diagnostics or drug delivery) They all seem like they'd be helpful at some point in M1-M2 curriculum, too.

(Side note: I have already applied MD/PhD, so I'm really just looking for a good class, not to have a particular course title on my transcript. 🙂 If I don't get off any MD/PhD waitlists, I'll be going to CCLCM, so there's still some research in my future.)

Worst case, I will just go to the first meeting of every class and decide which one I like the most based on professor/syllabus... although that's no way to spend the first day of my last quarter of undergrad!

Given your engineering background, I would say go for the proteomics class. It's the most broadly applicable one regardless of which area of biology you intend to pursue, and it will sit nicely on your math/physics training.

Just my $0.02

Good !

-Mbound

 

[CCLCMer]

I'm about to start my spring quarter of senior year, and need to take one more bio class to satisfy schools who want to see a full year of biology coursework (I'm an engineer and so I didn't get all that freshman bio at the beginning). I am having trouble picking between the following 3 because they all sound equally interesting (at least based on the course descriptions)! What do you think?

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Sensory Physiology: Basic properties of stimuli: sensory bases of vision, hearing, touch and smell; current concepts of transduction, neural pathways, transmitters and research techniques.

Intro to Proteomics: .[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Discussion on the structure, function and the evolution of proteins. Topics include enzyme catalysis, sensory receptors, molecular motors, cytoskeleton, extracellular matrices, and immune recognition.

Biology of Cancer: .[FONT=Verdana, Arial]A fundamental discussion of the biology of the cancerous state, including the underlying mechanisms of induction, as well as the physiology of neoplasms, at both the organ and molecular levels..

If there's a good chance of you coming to CCLCM, take the first class. Our first year NMS (neuromusculoskeletal) block is pretty brutal (definitely the most painful and hardest block of first year), so an undergrad neuro class would really help you.

 

[Mazelia]

Thank you all for your suggestions!

If there's a good chance of you coming to CCLCM, take the first class. Our first year NMS (neuromusculoskeletal) block is pretty brutal (definitely the most painful and hardest block of first year), so an undergrad neuro class would really help you.

Good call. The neuro class is dual undergrad/grad enrollment, which makes me a bit nervous (lol?). The prof seems like he'll be good, though, so I'll probably go for it. Thanks!