<p>I only took one year of Bio in my HS, but I know I want to apply to some BS/MD programs. I do extensive shadowing, may end up being an author on a medical paper. I also do a lot of research (in a crystallography lab, though.. last year I worked at a cancer research lab) and am attempting a Siemens/Intel submission.</p>
<p>I've always loved the fundamentals. I feel that before complex biology, one must understand chemistry and physics, and have a firm background in mathematics. Because of that, I stuck with Chem and Physics throughout high school, and am now enrolled in the IB Program, taking IBH Chem and IBH Physics. I wanted to wait until college to take biology and biochemistry. </p>
<p>Well, I don’t think it’ll hurt you. Your course rigor, however, will make a difference. It seems like you’ll have that, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about it.</p>
<p>One year is a norm, isn’t? What exactly is your question? If you are taking more than one year of Chem and Physics, it is not needed either. I am not sure I understand your concern.</p>
<p>^One year is not the norm for BS/MD applicants. Of course more than one year is needed for these courses in order to become a stronger applicant. Gosh, I’d think you’d know that. And OP’s concern is quite clear; he/she has not taken extensive biology courses and wonders if it will hurt him/her when he/she applies for the programs.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, I think moonman676 is just worried whether taking one year of general HS biology is enough for BA/MD programs. </p>
<p>I don’t see any problems with that. As long as you are taking the toughest science courses and have finished the preparatory science classes at your school while having good grades, then it’s fine.</p>
<p>bsmd11, You are exaggerating. Concern is still not clear. There is no HS Bio that will cover Bio in UG, period. If this is a concern. UG first Bio usually goes thru AP Bio material in couple weeks just to re-fresh it a bit, then they move on. I do not see any point of taking more than one year. I have never heard of anybody who is taking more than one year of Physics or Chem. Some people take Orgo in HS, but I have no idea why. Comletely not needed. It is better to take all Med. School requirements in UG anyway.</p>
<p>In my school we have the capability of taking 4 yrs of each of the sciences, but we can only take 2/3 of the natural sciences offered. I took chem and physics because you’re always trying to solve a problem. The impresaion i got from bio was that all you do ia memorize. Alyhough at the end of the day thats important, in HS i wanyed to be a problem solver
That being said, perhaps doing bio in hs would come off as a student having a higher interest, and that is where my concerns stem from. In truth, i know i want to do medicine and i want to work hard to get there. Thank you for all your replies, although I’m not sure if MiamiDAP is saying it’s bad or not.</p>
<p>^well, because miamidp keeps using his/her daughter as the only legitimate source of information, it gets annoying to read the comments. That’s why I suggested that he/she makes a thread specifically about D.</p>
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<p>You’ve never heard of anyone who did that? Okay, well I took 2 years of Bio and 2 years of chem in HS. Now you have heard of someone. And AP bio definitely covers 2 semesters of UG bio; I’m skipping general UG bio because of AP bio. I don’t know what kind of AP bio class your daughter was in, but if she was in a legitimate AP bio class she would have enough coursework to cover AT LEAST one semester, if not two.</p>
<p>^D. got “5” on AP Bio exam, I am not sure if it makes it legit in your eyes or not, you are the only one to deicde. Again, AP Bio was nothing to compare to first Bio in UG, that nobody was skipping, because it was foundation for all other Bio classes. Again, I have said many times that it depends on HS and UG.</p>
<p>^Almost everyone I’ve met in my program is skipping at least 1 semester of bio. And how does your daughter getting a 5 make your argument legitimate? Just because she didn’t skip bio doesn’t mean no one else did. I got a 5, and I’m skipping some UG bio.</p>
<p>Either experience has absolutely nothing with OP’s HS or his UG. My D’s and yours “5” does not make any difference either. HS’s are different and so are UG’s, legit or not is irrelevant also.</p>
<p>Exactly. Thanks for stating your opinion. I hope you realized that people do things differently from your D. I seriously think you should make a thread about your daughter; those who want to trust you can, those who don’t won’t. But it gets annoying how you basically repeat the same thing about your daughter each time you make a post. After all, your daughter, who has direct experience with such a program, should be posting here, am I right?</p>
<p>^There are a lot of medical students here. I’m glad you enjoy my posts, but your daughter would be a more legitimate source of information. And the “kids” who post here aren’t the only jumpy ones… adults here are too.</p>
