<p>Hello,
I'm a Biochemistry Major at UCLA and our department only requires us to take 3 life science courses (cells tissues and organs, molecular biology, and genetics). An additional course, evolution ecology and biodiversity, is offered but not required for Biochemists but is required for Life Science Majors. My question is, do I need to take the course? Is it required for medical school?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any input</p>
<p>Oh man, totally thought this was something else. The answer is no, Unless rules have changed.</p>
<p>Check every year, as some school(s) added Anatomy to requirements, but if pre-med advisor is OK, he/she should inform everybody. Also, Physiology is great to take for MCAT.</p>
<p>ha ha…I think we opened this thread thinking this was a student who might be upset to have to deal with the issue of evolution vs creationism.</p>
<p>Glad to see it’s not…</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I think you will be fine if you take enough lecture and lab biology courses, for most medical schools anyway. I heard a rumor that a selected few med schools will care about whether you really take the set of introductory biology classes which may include one in evolution. But I think there are not many of this kind of school (maybe some UC?)</p>
<p>When DS was an UG student, he actually thought evolution and ecology is a more interesting class. One reason he mentioned is that there is no definite answer (yet) for some questions in this class (like a liberal art-ish class), which makes it funner to learn. As regard to the molecular aspect of biology, he kind of thinks what you are expected to learn as an UG student is all accumulated fact or fixed or “dead/not evolving any more” (at least for the part an UG is expected to learn) knowledge, which is not as much fun.</p>
<p>However, he tends to take classes based on whether the professor is good or not (unless it is a required class for his major.) He really does not care very much whether a class he takes is very relevant to medicine or even his major (he was actually on the molecular biology side as his major) – he thought the relavent stuff is what the medical school will teach you when you are in med school, so why bother about the relevance of classes you take as an UG?! This is just another perspective.</p>
<p>I took Evolution my freshman year and thought it was fascinating. I doubt you need it for med school, though. Overall, my understanding is that the more sciences the better, especially if you need it to raise your GPA.</p>
<p>Doesn’t evolution have some application to medicine, such as the evolution of pathogenic bacteria and viruses under the selective pressure of drug therapies and other aspects of medical care and patient behavior?</p>
<p>I don’t think the class covers viral evolution. Here are what it covers:</p>
<p>LS1 serves to introduce basic concepts in the following areas:
<p>Also, I’m not sure how many quarters of lab are required. I’ve taken two quarters because cells tissues and organs had a lab and intro to molecular biology had a lab but genetics doesn’t. The evolution class does have a demo portion, but I work in a research lab so I’m not sure why I would need more lab experience :/. Any input?</p>
<p>Hi, I was wondering if I take Anatomy in a community college, will it look bad when applying graduate school?</p>