UMich Molecular/Cell Biology Grads-I have questions for you!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
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<p>Basing off this</a> thread, I have some questions for you, if you're reading this.</p>

<p>What courses did you take? I realize that you don't "declare" your concentration until sophomore year (at least that's what the LSA site told me), but how does it work? Do you finish your courses and take some GE/"interesting" classes along the way? Did all your work fit into four years? Was it academically intense? (i.e., study really hard, party not as hard?)</p>

<p>Class sizes-manageable? 200-300 seems the average and that's normal but still daunting. </p>

<p>Internship opportunities. Are they widely available (in terms of accessibility, competition, etc.). What are the premed/academic advisors like?</p>

<p>Going off that whole "declare concentration later" thing, is it hard to get into the MCB major? Along with this, what's the grade distribution? I've heard most LSA students get B-'s to B+'s, and the average GPA is 3.1. </p>

<p>That's all I can think of. I know it's a lot of questions, but I'm pretty anxious about Mich (and vs. Davis, I've posted a few threads already but still haven't made a solid choice, but I just want to know about Mich here). I thought the application process was nervewracking, but this is srs bsns. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>my one regret from Umich is that I chose the MCDB major. Dont get me wrong, I made it out alright, Ivy league PhD program, and good research lab experiences at umich… but I derived no pleasure from my mcdb classes. If I were to do things over again, I would pick either biochem or neuroscience instead. </p>

<p>The deal with MCDB is that the department has a serious grade deflation policy. You dont really notice it at first, because freshman and sophomore year you’re mostly taking premed bio classes like biochem, genetics, orgo, etc. Once you get to your last year or two, MCDB hits you with cell bio, and molecular bio (mcdb 427 and 428). These are classes required for the major, taken primarily by seniors. The years I took these classes, they had averages of C and C+, respectively. Keep in mind that the student body enrolled in these classes has already taken and passed all the lower level prerequisites to get to this point, and who have done well enough in those courses that they havent switched into easier majors to recuperate their GPAs. </p>

<p>Around my sophomore year I saw a big exodus among my med-school bound friends. They were switching out of the more hardcore bioscience majors, and into phsych and bbcs instead. For medschool they needed higher grades than they could get in mcdb, etc. The gpa with which I got accepted into a top phd grad program would have excluded me from any top medical schools had I been interested in applying to one.</p>

<p>Essentially all bio majors have a B to B- average grade distribution for the core classes… and then the mcdb 427-428 has a C+ average.</p>

<p>I was disappointed in the variety of upper level electives offered in mcdb, and resentful of the attitude among the mcdb department of trying to fail their senior students. Keep that in mind when thinking about majors</p>

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<p>I see. So then for med-school and just for a more pleasurable (in the lightest definition of the word) education, biochem is a better choice?</p>

<p>I should have said, but the biggest reason I’m asking is because I also got accepted by UCDavis for Biochem/Mol. Bio. I feel like the two schools virtually the same when it comes to community/experience (aside from cost and location), so the only deciding factor between the two schools is the quality of that major for med (or Plan B-jobs/more research in case I don’t get in). </p>

<p>Thanks again for answering. I thought this thread had died.</p>

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<p>Can you tell me a little more about your plans? What kind of bio you are interested in? Are you med-school bound? I might be able to answer your questions better if I knew more details.</p>

<p>I’m not familiar with UC Davis, so I wouldnt be able to compare programs, but I might be able to tell you what Umich would offer.</p>

<p>Edit: do you qualify for instate tuition at either UCDavis or Umich?</p>

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<p>My plan essentially is Bio (either Biochem or MCB, but after reading your post, looks like Biochem) for UG, and then go to med school and get my MD specializing in cardiology. If I don’t get into medschool, I’ll apply to grad school for a degree in a biotech field, and go work in the industry. </p>

<p>I know it sounds kind of far-reaching but I’m trying to think ahead with what I know.</p>

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<p>ok, so I am less familiar with biochem than I am with the biology concentrations at umich. I haven’t heard any horror stories, and at the same time, biochemistry has a well-deserved reputation of being difficult. ‘Biochemistry’ is a concentration within the chemisty department, whereas ‘cmb’ is a concentration within biology. As such, the required courses you would be taking after sophomore year are quite different. You can look through here: [LSA</a> Course Guide](<a href=“LSA Course Guide Search Results: UG, Fall 2011, Subject = CHEM”>LSA Course Guide Search Results: UG, Fall 2011, Subject = CHEM) to see what kinds of courses the chemistry department offers. <a href=“http://www.umich.edu/~michchem/undergrad/concentrate.html[/url]”>http://www.umich.edu/~michchem/undergrad/concentrate.html&lt;/a&gt; has information on what a biochem concentration would require.</p>

<p>I am more familiar with premed classes because with a biology concentration I ended up having to take most of them. The math, physics, genchem, orgo, intro bio, genetics, and biochem are all taken as part of the pre-med track. These are all large lecture courses, where upwards of 85% of the grade is derived from 3-4 exams over the course of the semester. The grade average tends to be between 2.7-3.0 (B- to B). You can expect most science electives to have an average gpa of 3.0-3.7 (between B and A-)</p>

<p>Of course, a GPA around 3.0 wont get anyone into a top med school, so towards the later semesters I started noticing that an increasing number of premed students were majoring in spanish, psych, bbcs, etc. While this is not unique to umich, the nonscience majors had significantly higher grade averages, and as such appealed to students planning on applying to medical schools. Of course a significant portion of cmb concentrators remained premed, but around sophomore year a good number of premeds switched over into the softer sciences. (one caveat, is that if you do take cell and molecular biology senior year, [the two classes with historic C+ averages] and apply to medical school in fall of senior year, the schools dont see those grades in the initial application.)</p>

<p>Ultimately I have a suspicion that premed students were being much more savvy about protecting their GPAs than I was. I just counted on extensive lab research experience to pull me through.</p>

<p>How do the students fare? At this point this is a harder question for me to answer since not enough time has passed. I know of a number of truly exceptional students who have gone on to Harvard Medical School or Johns Hopkins after completing a science major at Umich, though I dont know what GPAs they had. Some others are staying on for a 5th year to recuperate GPAs, or are currently enrolled in masters programs like the School of Public Health, and plan to apply to medical schools afterwards. Yet others changed their mind regarding medical school, and are applying to pharmacy or dental or physician’s assistant programs instead.</p>

<p>For myself, I graduated with a 3.5 overall gpa and a 3.1 cmb gpa, and I interviewed at some of the very top phd programs in biology. I do feel like I had great opportunities to do research as an undergraduate, and that the reputation of umich helped compensate for a lower gpa. Had I made wiser choices regarding major selection, I might have graduated with higher grades. </p>

<p>If either of these schools is significantly cheaper, then I would definitely recommend going for the lower price tag. Both schools have top-notch rankings and great research. Most of the complaints I have regarding my education at umich stem from the mcdb major I chose and the dearth of electives in genetics. I loved Ann Arbor, had an amazing research mentor my last two years, and have now been admitted to my dream graduate program. Most significantly, because I had instate tuition at umich, I was able to graduate debt-free in 3.5 years. </p>

<p>Just avoid cmb at umich (unless you are consistently scoring in the top 5-10% of your premed courses), if you want to still graduate with the kind of gpa a top10 medical school would require.</p>