<p>My daughter is currently a sophmore pre-med. She is planning on taking her MCAT in her senior year, then apply after graduation and take a gap year. Based on her current course plan, she is struggling to decide whether to take Biochem in the fall semester of her senior year. She is a psychology major and therefore Biochem is not required. She will only be taking it med school admission purpose. I know that Biochem is not one of the Pre-Med required classes. It is only required for perhaps 30 or so school (mostly top tier med school) and is "recommended" by some others. What is the impact of her not taking Biochem at all? Will this reflect badly in her application (even though it is not listed as a required pre-med class)? Is it the case that most successful applicant will have completed Biochem? Will it affect her MCAT performance in a way that she will miss part of the content that will be covered in MCAT (I am not sure if MCAT covers biochem materials). What if she take Biochem at our state university in the fall semester after she graduates (i.e. while she is applying and hopefully interviewing)? Any inputs on this will be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Biochemistry is not included on the MCAT.</p>
<p>Both of my Ds have taken/are taking biochem, but mostly because our state medical school requires all applicants to have it in order to be considered for admission. (D1 was a math & physics major. She really had no other reason to take biochem otherwise.)</p>
<p>If your D plans to apply to one of the schools that require biochem (and not all of them are top tier), it would be acceptable for her to take it after graduation during her glide year. (On her AMCAS application she will indicate that she will take the course and list the school where she intends to take it.)</p>
<p>I doubt that the absence of biochem on her course list will keep her out of med school. It’s a minor thing, esp if her other science grades are strong.</p>
<p>More schools are adding Biochem. You need to consider your D’s future Med. school list. On the other hand, it has been D’s easiest science class (could be different from school to school). She is taking it only because one of her Med. Schools first required it, then changed it to strongly recommended. The class has been boring so far, hopefully it will pick up later. D. had to drop one of her minors to accomodate this class into her schedule. D. is taking it in a last semester before graduation and way after MCAT.</p>
<p>Miami…</p>
<p>is your D graduating in May?</p>
<p>D1’s described biochem as “OChem on steroids” and found it to be very challenging. Lots of material covered at very fast pace. (Her biochem was taught by the same med school prof who teaches biochem for the med school and there was supposedly significant overlap between the UG version and med school version.) </p>
<p>D2 (at a different school) is taking biochem now. It’s one of her less difficult classes this semester. (Of course, her other classes this semester are in upper level theoretical math and upper level philosophy, so YMMV.) She says biochem less difficult than neurochem, which she took in fall.</p>
<p>BTW, Miami is right in that med schools can and do change their entrance requirements. What applies this year may not by the time your D plans to apply. Your D needs to be aware of this and periodically check the requirements at the schools she is interested in applying to.</p>
<p>However, it is still acceptable to take biochem during her glide year and indicate on her application that it is a course “in progress” or “will be taken” in the future. Pre-reqs must be completed before the student starts med school, not necessarily before the student applies to med school. </p>
<p>Once the course has been completed, she will need to update her application and send an official transcript to AMCAS for verification.</p>
<p>One caveat: if she applies with a pre-req pending and then she does poorly in that class, it can cause her admission (should she already have one) to be rescinded.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids,
Yes, D. is graduating in May.</p>
<p>BioChem is sometimes offered under Chem and under Bio…Are they the same class? Or would one be harder than the other?</p>
<p>At both Ds’ schools (big state public and small private) biochem is crosslisted by both the bio and chem depts. (IOW, it’s the same class, just listed with different course numbers by each dept.) I suspect it’s that way at most schools.</p>
<p>At D1’s school the primary listing dept for biochem is chemistry; at D2’s school the primary dept for biochem is bio. Go figure!</p>
<p>At both schools the actual class contained a mixture of both bio and chem majors. (With a few chem eng, neuroscience, psych, public health, environmental science and cognitive science majors thrown in for good measure.)</p>
<p>Thanks to all for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it.</p>
<p>To summarize, I think these are the key takeaways that I gathered:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Whether Biochem is required or not changes, and we need to keep a close eye on it as we get closer to the application timeline</p></li>
<li><p>It doesn’t hurt D’s preparation for MCAT if she takes biochem after MCAT since it is not part of MCAT</p></li>
<li><p>It is ok to take it during glide year after graduation</p></li>
</ol>
<p>With this, I have a follow-on question. My D is currently in an out-of-state private,and if she takes biochem after graduation, it will most likely be when she is back home and will do it in our state university. Is it ok? I read from this forum that if students take their science classes (esp. the required ones) from schools other than where they get their undergraduate degree from, it will be not looked upon favorably (as in trying to do it done in an easier school). Does this “rule” apply where my D’s situation?</p>
<p>If she is taking it after graduation, has moved back to her home address and is taking it at a reputable 4 year college or university near her new (home) address, I don’t think there will be a perception she’s trying to avoid a difficult course at her home (UG) university because she is no longer a student at that university.</p>
<p>Adcoms understand there are some realities student have to deal with. (Like they move after graduation and no longer have access to their UG campus.)</p>
<p>However, I would still recommend that she not take it during summer session at her new school if at all possible.</p>
<p>Clarified with D. There are different Biochems at her school. 2 semester Biochem is hard, one semester is easy. There is no reason to take a hard one if you have a choice. Biochem is part of Med. School anyway. So, when some said that Biochem was hard in contarary to others, we were comparing apples to oranges. Also,. D. said that it was also easy because it covers mixure of Gen. Chem, Orgo, Bio, Genetics, all of which she has taken before.</p>
<p>Just one other data point for you: my son got into multiple medical schools without taking biochem. The only school I recall he couldn’t apply to was University of Michigan. That was a coupld of years ago, so maybe tha has changed. </p>
<p>I think is it recommended at many medical schools because they teach it at a very fast pace in the first year of medical school, so having some background may help, although my son did fine. </p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that with GPA, MCAT score, ECs, recommendations and all the other aspects of an application before them, whether someone has taken biochem plays any role in admission.</p>
<p>I was looking at BioChem at my son’s school.</p>
<p>In order to take the BioChem lab class, a student has to take both BioChem I and II (II can be a co-requisite)</p>
<p>Son used his AP Chem credits to go right to Orgo I and II, so he needs other Chem classes with labs to “make up” for skipping Gen Chem. </p>
<p>What can he take other than BioChem with lab?</p>
<p>One of Med. Schools that D. has been accepted DOES require Biochem. The requirement has been added after D. has applied to Med. Schools and after she has registered for Fall semester. So, she had to change her schedule, dropping one of her minors to accomodate Biochem and another requirement. It looks like it is better to take Biochem to avoid potential difficulties in a future unless you are determined NOT to apply to Med. Schools with such requirement. However, good number of them strongly recommend taking Biochem. And as I mentined, the hard one is not required, you can complete this requirement by taking easy one semester class, if you have a choice.</p>
<p>mom2-- </p>
<p>PChem usually has a lab. (And he might like it since lab is all electronic-equipment based. More like a physics lab than a chem lab.) And IRRC your son is an engineer so he’s should have an adequate math and physics background for the course.</p>
<p>Is there an upper level inorganic or analytic class that has a lab?</p>
<p>"What can he take other than BioChem with lab? "</p>
<p>-This is the question for Med. School’s adcom. Each Med. School is different. D. has addressed similar questions in regard to Math and English requiremnts with several adcoms of Med. Schools that she has applied. They were very nice answering all of her questions.</p>
<p>according to msar, only 15 schools require biochem. But, I have read elsewhere that Hopkins is adding it as a requirement, which makes 16. Of course, other med schools could add the requirement, as well.</p>
<p>^Yes, it is changing every year as well as other requirements, like Anatomy.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>What do y’all see coming down the pike for changed req’ts. </p>
<p>How do these med schools expect new applicants to have time to adjust to new req’ts. Do the med schools “ease” these req’ts in with a 2 year “heads up” or what?</p>
<p>That’s interesting about anatomy. I don’t think our state flagships even offer it. (The Cal States do offer anatomy, however.)</p>