Biochem

[NRAI2001]

Hello I am a third year premed at Cal. I have heard from a few people that taking biochem as a undergrad will make ur first year of med school a lot easier and will help u a lot. For those of u who took biochem as an undergrad did u find this true, those of u who didn't take it did u wish u had? I am asking this bc I am not required to take it for my major. Thanks.

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[periodista]

i sure as h3ll wish i had taken biochem. my advice would be to take it. the more you can replicate the med school curriculum in college, the better off you'll be in med school. that should translate not only to better grades (if that's important to you), but also less stress and perhaps a wee bit more leisure time. good luck.

 

[NRAI2001]

Originally posted by periodista
i sure as h3ll wish i had taken biochem. my advice would be to take it. the more you can replicate the med school curriculum in college, the better off you'll be in med school. that should translate not only to better grades (if that's important to you), but also less stress and perhaps a wee bit more leisure time. good luck.

Yea i m trying to take as many med school classes as I can. Actually my majors really replicate the med school schedule really well. Public health and intergrative bio (human bio and physiology).

 

[periodista]

you'll probly be very glad you did. you in cali right now, where it is 445 am?

 

[NRAI2001]

Originally posted by periodista
you'll probly be very glad you did. you in cali right now, where it is 445 am?

Hahahha yea. I just got done with finals today. I ve been staying up late studying lately. Can't fall asleep.

 

[ccss]

classes like MCB 100, 110, 130 , 140 ....also helps a lot
basically the more science background you have, the better.....but IB 131 and 132 are so much easier compared to the anatomy and physiology in med school

 

[Docgeorge]

Take some non medschool calsses, dont get caught up in replicating a med school ciriculum. This is the last time in your life you'll have time to take fun classes. You wont belive me now, I did'nt beleive it when I was told this in undergrad, the cycle contiues.

I took and TA'ed a disection gross anatomy in undergrad as well as bio-chem and it helped for about a week after that everyone had caught up the learning curve and it was a level playing field. Conversely I never took Immuno or Histo in under grad and again it about a day for me to feel comfortable with the material. Besides which most of the stuff you learn in undergrad dont really mean squat in med school. In med school the ciriculum is much more clinically focused then in undergrad. Common how indepth did you really go into DM type I and II in undergrad as well as gout, Myasthia gravis, and so on and so forth.

just my $0.02

 

[ermonty]

I think you should def. take Biochem and Cell Bio. The more familiar you are with all those metabolic pathways and mechanisms before medschool, the better. It'll free up some time for the more interesting course - Anatomy!

Monty MS1
MCG

 

[jwin]

Originally posted by ermonty
I think you should def. take Biochem and Cell Bio. The more familiar you are with all those metabolic pathways and mechanisms before medschool, the better. It'll free up some time for the more interesting course - Anatomy!

Monty MS1
MCG

this baffles me, why does everyone love anatomy. anatomy sucks. so unintellectual. innervation this, blood supply that, no problem solving, nothing to really understand. it's like 3-D geography bee gone bad. seen one foramen, seen them all. granted i do want to know this stuff, but it is hardly interesting after the first week. i was never excited to study anatomy. the brachial plexus, the branches off the axillary/subclavian artery, bloody supply to the intestines--tedious as can be.

 

[Explosivo]

Didn't take biochem and I did just fine. Yeah I had to work a little harder than others but it's not a big deal. Many students have gone to medical school without taking biochem and have survived. We do biochem in one quarter so for 2/3 of the school year taking biochem wouldn't have made a difference.

If you have time to take it prior to med school it may be a good idea. However, if you can't fit it in or would rather take a non-science course to explore other interests I wouldn't force it.

Once you start med school you'll get more science than you can handle. The majority of what you'll learn in undergrad you'll forget anyway. If you're planning to go to a pass/fail school I wouldn't even think about taking anything beyond biochem for purposes of med school prep. Take courses that you have a personal interest in taking.

 

[deleted29780]

Originally posted by Explosivo
Didn't take biochem and I did just fine. Yeah I had to work a little harder than others but it's not a big deal. Many students have gone to medical school without taking biochem and have survived. We do biochem in one quarter so for 2/3 of the school year taking biochem wouldn't have made a difference.

If you have time to take it prior to med school it may be a good idea. However, if you can't fit it in or would rather take a non-science course to explore other interests I wouldn't force it.

Once you start med school you'll get more science than you can handle. The majority of what you'll learn in undergrad you'll forget anyway. If you're planning to go to a pass/fail school I wouldn't even think about taking anything beyond biochem for purposes of med school prep. Take courses that you have a personal interest in taking.

Great to hear that...
You still have to study biochem all over again in med school... If u have done bc b4 , u might just be complacent and not study as much as u should.

 

[Bobblehead]

Take biochem if it interests you. Take an art class, philosophy, dance, photography or something else if it interests you more. You won't get to skip out of med school biochem and you'll still have to relearn everything once again unless you happen to have a photographic memory.

Save the med school classes for med school. Do something "fun" before you get there.