<p>Would adcoms mind seeing me taking gen physics lab and gen bio in 3rd or 4th year?
The reason I want to do this:
-for gen phys lab in 3rd or 4th year is because I didn't know that med schools in general wanted physics lab course and this lab wasn't required for my degree so I didn't take it in 1st or 2nd year.
-for gen bio in 3rd or 4th year is because I previously skipped intro bio with my AP bio credit and now I found out that it is not a good idea to skip this college intro bio, which can be helpful for the MCAT, and not all med schools accept AP bio credits.</p>
<p>I already took advanced bio courses like genetics and biochem. Wouldn't they think it strange to see me taking a gen bio in 3rd or 4th year after taking those advanced courses?</p>
<p>Some people told me that when you take which courses doesn't matter. The only important thing is doing well in them. But I wonder if that's also true for this case as well?</p>
<p>No that should be fine - a lot of people at my undergrad school (UCLA) take the bio series of classes out of order (not sure why). I didn't take the last chem lab classes until my last quarter. As long as you get them done. However, it is a good idea to get at least the non-lab courses done before you take the MCAT as those classes provide the base knowledge for the test. But it sounds like you haven't taken it yet.</p>
<p>But it wouldn't hurt to take gen bio after taking upper level bio class with a lab, right? I haven't taken any bio course with lab but this coming Fall I'm going to take genetics 2 which has a lab component.</p>
<p>Why would you take an introductory class after having taken upper levels if you don't have to? It seems to me the equivalent of riding a bike with training wheels after you've already learned how to ride without them.</p>
<p>Really? So for UCLA's "One year of college mathematics to include the study of introductory calculus and statistics," they'll accept like multivariable calculus and like Statistics for biology or something like that?</p>
<p>I think what he meant is that the course is called "Statistics for Biology." And yes the stats class can be found in any department (math, econ, psych, whatever). As long as the title clearly indicates that it is a stats class, you're okay. And multivariable calc. is perfectly acceptable for math.</p>
<p>
[quote]
All medical schools will accept more advanced courses.
[/quote]
Then I have no other reason to explain this. But it can only help, especially for the MCAT, right? What if an adcom asks this in an interview?</p>
<p>They're much more likely to ask why you went back and took a more basic class than to ask why you skipped it in the first place. As for the MCAT, I'll let somebody else answer. I don't really remember.</p>
<p>Since I just took the MCAT, I'll take a crack at this one...</p>
<p>my advanced courses (cell bio, genetics, physiology, endocrinology) covered everything general bio did but in 20 times more detail. Taking general bio after those classes would not have helped me with anything in the slightest. At the least, anything that intro bio covered that those classes did not could be easily learned from a prep book/prep class. Not worth taking the whole class, though.</p>
<p>edit: also BDM, I see you've hit the big 8K in posts. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Then what should be an appropriate explanation for this? I can't drop the course now due to a $100 penalty. I can't switch it with another course either because all the other courses I want to take are full. Taking the course can't really hurt, but I don't know what I should say if this comes up during an interview.</p>