Which classes should I take???

[ErinC9132]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello all!

I'm going to be starting a full-time post-bac program this fall, and I need some advice as far as classes go. Basically, I was a Human Biology major in college (graduated in 2003). You would think that I'd have all of the pre-reqs out of the way, given the major, but a) none of my bio or chem classes at school had a lab component, and b) my grades were B's and C's. My question is this: because I have no labs under my belt, should I take all of the basic pre-reqs, or should I try to take more upper division classes (biochem, physiology, etc) that have labs (so as to fulfill the "lab" portion of the med school requirements)?

Any help y'all could give would be greatly appreciated!

 

[relentless11]

Hello all!

I'm going to be starting a full-time post-bac program this fall, and I need some advice as far as classes go. Basically, I was a Human Biology major in college (graduated in 2003). You would think that I'd have all of the pre-reqs out of the way, given the major, but a) none of my bio or chem classes at school had a lab component, and b) my grades were B's and C's. My question is this: because I have no labs under my belt, should I take all of the basic pre-reqs, or should I try to take more upper division classes (biochem, physiology, etc) that have labs (so as to fulfill the "lab" portion of the med school requirements)?

Any help y'all could give would be greatly appreciated!

If the med schools want lower division bio WITH lab, and general chemistry with lab, then you HAVE to take the lab ASSOCIATED with those classes.

As a biochemistry major, we had to take a biochem lab. We mainly did protein purifications all quarter...TOTALLY nothing like what we did in general chemistry. In general bio, zoology and botany.....we did things that were totally different from waht we did in our physiology lab. You are asking to replace an apple with an orange......so I don't think that is really logical. However you can always call up to the school and ask, but I would speculate that they would want you to take the pre-reqs as they intended it to be. Good luck!

 

[ErinC9132]

Thank you so much - I really appreciate the help!

 

[t33sg1rl]

I would take the associated labs for chemistry and physics, but for biology, take upper level labs. General biology labs are worthless, but I really loved my physiology lab-we did ECGs on each other, exercise stress testing, etc. Most schools aren't anal about this, just because their requirements are pretty ambiguously worded-most of them say "one year of X with lab", not "one year of general introductory level X with lab". I even didn't have any physics lab, and none of the 6 schools I applied to blinked. (I took physics twice, a noncalculus version as a high school student taking college classes at a state school, and a second time with calculus at my "real" undergrad school, so I had 12 credit hours of physics-I guess they figured that was enough even though there was no lab in there.)

Or, my school misread my application, they're reading this right now, and getting ready to kick me out!

 

[Palta]

I also want to ask about which classes to take/retake. I'm 26 and plan on being a full-time post-bacc at a 4-year state school, starting with gen chem, bio, and physics. I took 3 prereqs as an undergrad when I was considering being premed (the first semesters of chem, ochem, and physics, in '98 and '99), but did poorly in all of them and will probably have to repeat them.
I already repeated the first semester of gen chem and got an A-, but that was 7 years ago and I don't remember much; should I retake it (for the 3rd time) or just start with the second semester? To be cost-effective, would it be acceptable to retake courses at a cc and then do the new courses at a 4-year school, or just do everything at a 4-year school? In general, I believe I am much more serious about med school now and wonder if exceptional post-bacc performance can make up for those 3 classes I took years ago.
Many thanks for any advice!