<p>Hey whats up guys. I am about to be a first year pre-med and I was just wondering if I need a bio lab ( I already have a chem lab w/ chem class). My biochem advisor basically told me there was no lab, which was kind of weird to me, so basically I am stuck in molecules and cell w/o a lab. HALP!!! (necessary or unnecessary)</p>
<p>Most med schools will require at least a year (or certain number of hours) of bio with lab.</p>
<p>You need two classes worth, if you are a semester system. Take genetics and cell bio with labs.</p>
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<p>Hmm…Are you pretty sure that even if biochem includes a lab, the biochem lab would be considered a lab for a bio by medical school adcom?</p>
<p>It appears to me that at many medical schools, biochem may be considered as a chemistry (e.g., Univ. of Illinois, JHU, maybe some UCs), or even neither chemistry nor biology (e.g. some texas medical school, e.g., BCM, I think, as it requires biochem in addition to tons of “real” bios.)</p>
<p>Frankly, I myself is still not 100 percent sure about what the biochem is, as far as the medical school admission is concerned. I think many colleges (not medical schools) treat it more as a chemistry (but not as any of the general/inorganic chemistry courses required by medical schools) than a biology. But it does not matter what the college’s stance is here; what matters is the opinion of the medical school adcom.</p>
<p>My premed child said to me jokingly that I had been searching for the answer for this particular question for years and are still not very sure about it. A premed advisor at a different school appears to have a different opinion on this. (He himself is not worried about it, but he dare not tell me that, in his own judgement, biochem is for sure a bio (or a chem.)</p>
<p>Maybe the course name “biochemistry” should be banned as it causes too much confusion :-)</p>
<p>Biochemistry is a chemistry course and would never be counted for biology. It is a matter of the root name, which is chemistry, just like a lipoprotein is a protein with fats on it and a proteolipid would be a fat with proteins attached to it. I guess if OP could find a “chemobiology”, that would work :D</p>
<p>Thanks, mmmcdowe. Let me repeat this sentence to myself again and again: Biochem is a chemistry not a biology. Biochem is a chemistry not a biology. Biochem is a chemistry not a biology. …Now I feel better :-)</p>
<p>Then, wait, another related question: could it be regarded one of required organic chemistry courses, or one of the general/inorganic chemistry courses? or just an ADDITIONAL science course whose GPA is included in the calculation of BCPM but which is not one of the eight required prereqs? That is, it is a “C” as in BCPM, but not a pre-req “C.”</p>
<p>To simplify the matter (in order to answer this particular question only), let us exclude those medical schools which specifically require biochemistry (e.g., BCM) in addition to 4 terms of chemistry.</p>
<p>I know that biochem can be used for chemistry replacement, but that it would be best to confirm from school to school to see which chem courses it can replace (most simply say “any higher level chemistry course”). The problem with it being used for O-chem is that usually biochem requires previous o-chem classes. Biochem builds a lot of O-chem, where as gen chem goes on towards inorganic (or “advanced inorganic” depending on the school) and physical chemistry. O chem goes on towards biochem, advanced organic chem, biophysical chem, and basically any specialized biochem course. </p>
<p>Biochem definitely is a BCPM course, but would not be counted in the pre-req GPA unless it was used as a pre-req or is required as a pre-req.</p>
<p>Thanks again, mmmcdowe.</p>