<p>Many medical and graduate schools require a LECTURE course in biochemistry, but Haverford only offers LAB course in Mol. Biology and Biochemistry. Is it easy enough to enroll in biochemistry course at Bryn Mawr (some courses have limit on number of students)?</p>
<p>No. </p>
<p>Reqs for medical school are usually explicit and include
1 year of general chem.
1 year of organic chem.
1 year of physics
1 year f bio
1 year of writing intensive classes</p>
<p>The topics that are covered in other colleges’ junior year “Biochemistry” courses are covered in HC Bio 200 and Organic Chem. I actually had the intention of taking biochemistry at BMC (cause I wanted to avoid HC's scary "Quantum" course... in my mind the toughest class @ HC) but the professor told me I couldn’t cause it would be redundant for what I already took. Also, I only took 1.75 semesters of chem (1 year organic as a 1st year student, 0.5 adv general chem sophomore and 0.25 BioInorganic chem 400 as a senior) and it didn't impact my applications one bit... wait list at Yale, acceptances to Mount Sinai, Penn, NYU, Pitt. HC is well know among med schools and are willing to "fudge" their rules cause they know that the bigger picture is that graduates are very well prepared for anything med school can throw our way.</p>
<p>That's actually not true. Haverford does offer many courses in biochemistry. Off the top of my head...the bio department offers "Metabolic basis of disease", "Inter- and Intra- Cellular Communication","Structure and Function of Macromolecules", and "Protein Design"...which all have biochem components to them. The Chem department also offers Topics in Bioorganic Chemistry as well as Topics in Biophysical chemistry, which usually deals with the biochemical properties of receptors and the synthesis of drugs among other things. Also, 1/4 of the Introductory Biology program is dedicated to Biochemistry and Protein Structure. You're well prepared.</p>
<p>True. In conclusion, everything that’s been written is correct. :)</p>
<p>1) Rose, in her independent investigation (thank you), noted that some med/grad schools require a “Biochemistry” course and there is no class @ HC that is titled "Biochemistry".</p>
<p>2) It’s the observation of Black Squirrel and mine that the topic of biochemistry is woven into numerous chemistry and biology courses at HC even though they’re not titled “biochemistry”. HC science majors will learn the biochemistry that’s taught at peer colleges… AND THEN SOME.</p>
<p>3) It’s my experience that med/grad schools understand this set up @ HC and not taking a course titled “Biochemistry” is not an issue given HC’s reputation in the sciences.</p>
<p><a href="http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1995/lippard-0315.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1995/lippard-0315.html</a>
<a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2003/10_25_03.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2003/10_25_03.html</a>
<a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/chemistry/rablen/index.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/chemistry/rablen/index.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.haverford.edu/chem/alumni/welcome.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.haverford.edu/chem/alumni/welcome.html</a></p>
<p>So, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has given HC the maximum award amount for the last 2 funding cycles. This money is given to recognize undergraduate training in the biomedical sciences and to promote colleges with innovative science curriculums. Not only is this remarkable in itself, but it should be noted that HC is much smaller than all of the other schools listed… so despite “less ways to spend the money”, HHMI still feels that there’s something special and worthwhile about HC sciences that still warrants full funding.</p>