Which Pre Med class did you hate the most?

[AdamB]

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Math has always sort of been my thing so the more math that was in a class, the more I liked it. I have to say though, I absolutely HATED my first Biology. I enjoyed learning the material, I just struggled with trying to grasp 10 different totally unrelated concepts over the course of a few weeks. Krebs, Meiosis/Mitosis, genetics, photosynthesis, organelles, etc. It was enough to make my head spin.

 

[SpartanBlueJay2]

Genetics pretty much blew for me. I've taken 3 separate genetics courses (2 in undergrad for my major, 1 in grad school), and they were all pretty awful. Molecular bio would be a close second.

 

[crazydiamond]

I didn't hate any of them, though I did dislike some more than others. Bio 1 and 2 weren't my favorites, mainly because I'm just not interested in ecology, evolution, botany, etc. I'm very much a microbiology type of person. Organic II wasn't my favorite because I'm just not great at memorizing things, plus it took too much time away from my social life (yes, I was 19 at the time LOL).

 

[S-Mart]

Math has always sort of been my thing so the more math that was in a class, the more I liked it. I have to say though, I absolutely HATED my first Biology. I enjoyed learning the material, I just struggled with trying to grasp 10 different totally unrelated concepts over the course of a few weeks. Krebs, Meiosis/Mitosis, genetics, photosynthesis, organelles, etc. It was enough to make my head spin.

I've only taken gen chem and bio, but of those I have to say that gen chem is my least favorite. The ideas are somewhat interesting but the lab and the quantitative aspects of the class take so much time. I don't really care how many moles of a substance are left after the system has reached equilibrium...

 

[wowitsmike]

i think its a tie between bio 1 and gen chem 1...too broad and not that interesting...i actually liked organic...a lot...most people i know think im nuts but i thought it was amazingly interesting

 

[TarHeel55]

Thank goodness the level of math that clinical medicine requires seems to be no higher than arithmatic, or maybe high school algebra at most.

Somehow I AP'd out of Calc I. Took Calc II in my first semester of college. "Crash and burn" does not do justice to the disaster that was my experience. When it came to calc-based physics... oh my. I am still in shock that I have been accepted to medical schools with the ignominy that is on my college transcript.

To other math-phobes out there... please take this advice... please please please do not attend a college/postbacc that offers only calc-based physics!

 

[pingouin]

As an undergrad many years ago... Advanced General Chemistry. According to the pre-med advisor at that school (when I spoke with him in April '06), "Oh you must have been in one of the last groups to take that class, because we realized it was a really bad idea.."

It was both semesters of General Chem smashed into one semester, so you had class 5 days/week and lab 4 days/week for a grand total of- 5 credit hours. (If you were applying to any other med school, the committee apparently had to write you letter saying this "counted" as 2 semesters of Gen Chem.) On the invitation to take the class, they neglected to mention you should have taken 2 years of HS chem as a pre-req (my school only even offered 1), and my foolish 18 y/o pride prevented me from switching to regular Gen Chem. To top it off, the prof is a notorious jackass whose divorce was finalized the semester I had him. I escaped with about the lowest C possible, which sits proudly on my transcript, and was the FIRST thing I was asked about in my only interview to date.

 

[crazydiamond]

As an undergrad many years ago... Advanced General Chemistry. According to the pre-med advisor at that school (when I spoke with him in April '06), "Oh you must have been in one of the last groups to take that class, because we realized it was a really bad idea.."

It was both semesters of General Chem smashed into one semester, so you had class 5 days/week and lab 4 days/week for a grand total of- 5 credit hours. (If you were applying to any other med school, the committee apparently had to write you letter saying this "counted" as 2 semesters of Gen Chem.) On the invitation to take the class, they neglected to mention you should have taken 2 years of HS chem as a pre-req (my school only even offered 1), and my foolish 18 y/o pride prevented me from switching to regular Gen Chem. To top it off, the prof is a notorious jackass whose divorce was finalized the semester I had him. I escaped with about the lowest C possible, which sits proudly on my transcript, and was the FIRST thing I was asked about in my only interview to date.

I took "honors general chem". . sounds like the same deal as yours since it was 5 credits too. I didn't terrible in it (B+) but I would have done better in the "regular" chem class. My university phased out that class the year after I took it, so I was one of the last too.

 

[SpartanBlueJay2]

I took "honors general chem". . sounds like the same deal as yours since it was 5 credits too. I didn't terrible in it (B+) but I would have done better in the "regular" chem class. My university phased out that class the year after I took it, so I was one of the last too.

I too was in honors gen chem, by mistake, and it was awful. It was supposed to be for chem/biochem majors and at the time I was a bio major. I tried to switch to regular gen chem during drop/add, but the honors chem prof refused to sign the form. The prof gave me so much crap for having to miss classes on a bunch of Fridays because I was a varsity athlete and had to leave for tournaments on Thursday nights or Friday mornings. Missing class didn't help my grade much either. Thankfully I got my **** together by the end of the semester and aced the final because I was looking at a C-/D+ if I didn't.

 

[QofQuimica]

Math has always sort of been my thing so the more math that was in a class, the more I liked it. I have to say though, I absolutely HATED my first Biology. I enjoyed learning the material, I just struggled with trying to grasp 10 different totally unrelated concepts over the course of a few weeks. Krebs, Meiosis/Mitosis, genetics, photosynthesis, organelles, etc. It was enough to make my head spin.

I thought gen chem and physics were pretty boring, but I didn't really hate them. Parts of intro bio were kind of boring also, but I liked the botany and the evolutionary bio. Then I took organic and my reaction was 😍

 

[cfdavid]

kind of off the subject, but along the lines of those intro bio courses (bio 100/101's) that have major environmental, taxonomic, and botanical content, i'd avoid them if possible. if not, at least make sure you also take a solid cell biology class, even if that means you end up taking 3 semesters of bio, versus the required 2 etc. just pay attention to the course descriptions and try to get a syllabus in advance, if possible.

i can't tell you how much a SOLID cell bio course helped me on the MCAT. but, when i was an undergrad many years ago, i did have a couple bio courses that would not have helped, virtually at all, for the MCAT. i can't emphasize this enough, really.

 

[montessori2md]

I thought gen chem and physics were pretty boring, but I didn't really hate them. Parts of intro bio were kind of boring also, but I liked the botany and the evolutionary bio. Then I took organic and my reaction was 😍

ditto the boring and 😍 My physics II professor was completely insane; I hated that course, but it had very little to do with the content.

Currently in biochem, LOVE it and the instructor, but still haven't mastered how to study, mostly b/c it's my only course and I'm taking it for fun and there just isn't enough pressure to be organized. I'm trying really, really hard to take all that med student advice and be a slacker this year 😀

 

[Flaxmoore]

I hated my Honors intro Bio course with the flame of a thousand supernovae. So painfully general, and we were on a totally different schedule than the non-Honors class. No problem, except when lab came around.

We were screwed. While the non-Honors sections were doing population dynamics and things related to the lab section, we were reading Darwin, and had no clue what the lab proctor was talking about. Topping it off, we were supposed to be able to use our copies of the Origin of Species on the class final, as it was essay based. Prof changed his mind,about five minutes before the exam. 😡 Got out of there with a C, and a flaming hatred for that prof.

 

[shaggybill]

I'm really diggin' biology. It comes easy to me for whatever reason. Chemistry, on the other hand... Not too fond of it so far. When I took physics I and II, I really liked learning it, but we were going to fast (chapter per day) I barely had time for anything sink in. I passed both, but just my the skin of my teeth. I'll probably take them again during a regular semester so I can learn it a little better.

 

[cheezer]

general bio 1 is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boring. i hate it. i hate it.

 

[gmoneytalks]

not even a question. o-chem lab. on saturday. 😱

 

[Turkelton]

Organic Chemistry without a close second place.

 

[CultureDoc]

PHYSICS!!!!! I was great with translational motion and adding vectors and such (basically all material up through the first test). After that, I was in hell . . . every single class period. I could not will the clock to move fast enough. My husband (frightening physics-lover) was like, "but physics explains EVERYTHING!" and I was like "but not in my language!"

On, the flip side, I liked the rest of the premed classes! Didn't do the greatest in orgo, but that's just because I did not have the time in my utterly insane life at that point to actually study the material . . . but I still liked it, if that makes any sense. Microbiology was my favorite, though! 😀 I had it from 5:00-9:30pm, two days a week after a full day of work, and I only feel asleep once (during the immunology section), which I think is pretty d*mn impressive!

 

[Skelfie]

I thought gen chem and physics were pretty boring, but I didn't really hate them. Parts of intro bio were kind of boring also, but I liked the botany and the evolutionary bio. Then I took organic and my reaction was 😍

ditto the boring and 😍 My physics II professor was completely insane; I hated that course, but it had very little to do with the content.

Currently in biochem, LOVE it and the instructor, but still haven't mastered how to study, mostly b/c it's my only course and I'm taking it for fun and there just isn't enough pressure to be organized. I'm trying really, really hard to take all that med student advice and be a slacker this year 😀

I didn't mind general chem but 😍ed organic chem so much!!! It made me wish I could go back in time a decade and change my major so that I could've done more Ochem!! Unfortunately, my undergrad creative writing major did not permit me to have exposure to such things when it would have really mattered, haha.

On a slight tangent: I took a year of biochem (also for fun, and since further OChem classes were inaccessible to me, being a non-trad) before starting med school. I don't know why people keep saying "taking biochem isn't going to help you in med school" -- seriously, that year helped me so much! We had biochem in med school this quarter (just took the final this morning) and it was so much easier -- just relearning a bunch of stuff, with some added details like diseases on top for flourish... So, montessori2md, that biochem class for fun will probably pay off in the future! 🙂

Class I hated: PHYSICS!

I took trig-based physics, and it was so boring!!! I just don't care about the math behind throwing a ball or of a box sliding down an inclined plane. I guess I just like some things to remain a mystery... I did fine in the class, but it was one of those "plug in the formula without understanding why" situations that I dislike.

 

[Kate6058]

Physics. Nothing comes close to being as awful or working against my normal brain function. Bleh.

 

[sunny1]

Physics. Nothing comes close to being as awful or working against my normal brain function. Bleh.

Same for me. Organic chemistry speaks to me in a language I can understand and love. While I generally find myself decent at math and problem solving, I have hated Physics I with a passion. Bores me to tears and I can't bear to bring myself to study it (whoops...). I'm hoping Physics II will be better; the subject matter looks slightly less coma-inducing.

 

[SCRdoc]

I hated Organic Chemistry with a passion. I had my first B+ in that class. I'm glad I don't have to take it ever again. Physics was the best!

 

[unsung]

Another O-chem lover here... my professor said at the beginning of the semester that it's like learning a foreign language- and that is very much true. Another friend of mine who is a linguistics major and we met via an Arabic club also mentioned that he took o-chem "for fun" and really loved it. So I think there's something to that idea. I love languages and sure there's some amount of memorization involved (need to learn the "vocab" words of o-chem), but after that it's just playing within the rules of the "grammar" (what's allowed, what's not allowed) and composition... and that's kind of fun.

Physics is sorta fun too, for different reasons. There's no "composition" (i.e. synthesis) involved, but it's satisfying to solve problems. I mean, it has the appeal of taking a math class, and I do feel like I understand better how the world functions in terms of forces, energy, pressure, etc.

But, to answer the OP, my least fav class had to have been biochemistry. Oh lord. Yeah, o-chem's a pre-req to that, etc., but to me, the two were nothing alike. Biochemistry was like all the work of o-chem, with none of the fun. Endless things to memorize, with few discernable patterns, or room for creativity. Nor did it really involve fun calculations or much logic, that I could discern. I JUST could not will. myself. to. care. 😴

 

[emttim]

I'm not quite done with the semester, but I've done enough of the semester to have an educated opinion on the classes I'm taking.

That being said, gen chem 2 is hands down the class I have hated the most to date....it even trumps calculus 1 by a large margin. Why? Concepts in calc 1 are relatively straightforward, easy, and there's no lab.

 

[vtucci]

Physics, Calculus and Organic Chemistry-- I hated all of them and they were all completely useless for medical school.

 

[Olddodger]

Hi All,

The only class I could say I honestly didn't like was statistics. As they say, there are lies, damn lies and statistics.

Gen Chem 1 - Rocked, as did II. Knocked the ACS out of the park.

Orgo 1/2 rocked as well. Did fairly well on the ACS, but not as well as gen chem.

Physics? Physics is God, and math is his language. As Carl Sagan would say "the universe is filled with exquisite interelationships". How true...

Bio 1 was all cellular based, and I really liked it. I thought I would destest Bio 2 (descriptive bio) , but the prof was awesome, and I learned a lot about stuff I really didn't know much about (I'm a mech E, so I used to think that if you couldn't take it apart with a screwdriver, it wasn't worth knowing!).

OTOH, I wasn't super fond of Anatomy 1/2. Cutting apart a cat that looks just like the one sleeping on my bed somehow doesn't sit well with me.

Genetics, Microbio, Immunology all rocked. Excellent profs and facinating material.

I started out going back to school just to do pre-recs, but I found I was facinated by almost every class I took. I was learning how stuff worked every day, and every day was something new.

Ooops, guess that makes me a science geek...oh well. Now if I couldn't just find Ms. Science Geek, and I'd be set for life!

Oldie

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Organic really sucks for me..i love bio and calculus...but organic??? i think im only going to pull a B- in this class...im dredding next semester

 

[161927]

I thought gen chem and physics were pretty boring, but I didn't really hate them. Parts of intro bio were kind of boring also, but I liked the botany and the evolutionary bio. Then I took organic and my reaction was 😍

At what institution did you take Orgo?

 

[Empi]

I started off loving Organic but at this point in time, it is the bane of my existance.

Why, you might ask?

Because my professor does not test on what she lectures. In the first three tests, the class average has been 71, 58, and 50. She says she's disappointed. In whom is she disappointed?

Last exam, she didn't post the answers to the practice problems, she didn't have her normal office hours the day before, this time, her test questions were not at all like the book, not like the practice problems at the end of the chapters.

And, as though that isn't enough, she is trying to cram three *chapters* into three lectures, I kid you not.

 

[emttim]

I started off loving Organic but at this point in time, it is the bane of my existance.

Why, you might ask?

Because my professor does not test on what she lectures. In the first three tests, the class average has been 71, 58, and 50. She says she's disappointed. In whom is she disappointed?

Last exam, she didn't post the answers to the practice problems, she didn't have her normal office hours the day before, this time, her test questions were not at all like the book, not like the practice problems at the end of the chapters.

And, as though that isn't enough, she is trying to cram three *chapters* into three lectures, I kid you not.

How do idiots like this get hired? Sheesh. Does she have tenure?

 

[sunny1]

How do idiots like this get hired? Sheesh. Does she have tenure?

Put it in the evaluations and talk around with the other classmates to see if they intend to write in any similar complaints. Post your thoughts on the online professor-rating websites too to forewarn other students at your university.

 

[montessori2md]

I second this. Your organic instructor sounds like my physics II instructor, and we hooted and hollered about her all semester, to anyone who would listen, including petitions and the evaluations. She is not lecturing this year (whether because she now hates teaching, or because she was asked not to, I don't know). Normally I don't advocate this sort of thing (especially as a teacher myself), but she was truly horrible -essentially torturing individual students for no reason (tore up a student's exam, in front of the room of 50+ exam takers, because she forgot her student ID), and simultaneously not bothering to do her job, and not infrequently explaining things incorrectly.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Organic lab. It was very mechanical. You'd be surprised how many different things they can think-up for you to distill! 🙄

 

[PunkmedGirl]

LOL well i think i have a great professor ....she seems to missed exam days and then we are all beating each other against the head for the exam...she ends up giving us a really easy exam....but i think she's fed up this time...so i dont know...maybe the final will be a really hard exam...or maybe since she's leaving at the end of this semester she will give us a take home.. LOL

PMG

 

[crazydiamond]

My organic I professor was very strict and difficult, but fair as well. At the beginning of each class he handed out "notes" for that day's lecture. He said he wanted us to focus on listening and watching instead of frantically trying to write everything down. He didn't go over what would be on each exame. . .just said that if it was in the book it was fair game. I guess there aren't any surprises becuase you are expecting to have to know everything, but at the same time that means having to study everything. Not a bad class, overall.

Organic II was taught by someone who did lead students astray. I'm not sure if it was intentional or if she was just forgetful, but it did make the class more difficult. The difference between the two semesters was the expectations. . .the first prof set his expectations appropriately and at least we knew what to expect. The second semester you just had to guess. . but since you were told certain things would be on the exam (but actually were), it made me a bit bitter.

 

[Julietcf14]

Physics!!!!!!! Both semesters. I even hate the word. Everytime I have a say it out loud, I die a little on the inside.

 

[RxnMan]

Physics, Calculus and Organic Chemistry-- I hated all of them and they were all completely useless for medical school.

Oh well. I liked Physics, Calculus, and Organic Chemistry -- and they were all completely useless for medical school.

 

[Beast11]

I just wanted to add a tortured note from the "other side" of this thread.

When I knew I wanted to be a doctor, I gave up a good paying job to start teaching again and to get in a med school mindset. And I did lots-Kaplan Phys and Gen Chem, DAT/OAT, and other "volunteering" chem gigs (magic shows for elementary school kids, helping for a science fair, etc.)

I have heard the horror stories about America getting pumelled in science and math. I have seen it. I might have been guilty of my share of b&*(tching when I took the classes, but if I get in, I will never complain about a professor-if I am not synching in the classroom lectures, then I will kick myself to learn on my own. That is the key aspect of a M.D. I think-to motivate oneself to learn whatever it takes to save a patient-that is the credential a M.D. will bring to medicine. In that regard, physics, chem, org and bio are probably tangentially useful to med school, but it is the mindset to learn each (wildly different) specialty which is needed.


That said, this thread alarms me. I seem to be getting a lot more of a vibe about science/math being somesort of birthright here (esp. at Kaplan-I got comments that you paid so much for this class so a 14 or 15 on PS should be a guarantee. Suffice it to say-I don't think my Kaplan outlet made lots of money since most people took them up on their "satisfaction guaranteed" pledge in that most of their students were preparing to take their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc .etc. MCAT) I think all doctors should have several classes they hate so they can stand the rigors of med school. So I appreciate all classes, (now and esp. since I am non-trad. I would love to see how this thread would develop in the pre-allo forums for the young-'uns)

Sorry for the Rant-just my $0.02 cents worth

 

[ShyRem]

General Biology. Hated HATED HATED HATED 😡 biology. My prof stunk. I mean, really, "grams times liters gives you moles". I kid you not. HATED general biology. Didn't really care for biochem either.

Loved chem. Gchem, Ochem, my favorite was Pchem (although it wasn't a pre-req course). Loved physics and found it very easy for me (although almost 1/2 of my class failed). If med school hadn't panned out, I was set to go for a PhD in PChem. Yeah, I know. Weird.