Any Biochem majors from UBC here?

[Guest smooth operater]

yeah, but I wonder how hard the biochem program in UBC compared to other university.

 

if you have done 3rd biochem and has the time to do so, can you list the "class average" of each courses you have taken?

 

These are...

BIOC 301

BIOC 303

BIOL 334, 335

CHEM 304, 305

CHEM 313, 333

 

Thanks!

[Guest TKP 123]

hello,

 

I dont have transcripts on my hands now. I think BIOC 301 has pretty high class average. It is a lab course and with written exam

 

I hate chem 333.... very boring stuff.

[Guest Ollie]

Salary is non-yunion but level 5 part time so about $28000/year (3.5 hours per day) Likes i said, salary depend on prof and your level of expertis.

So, BurnabyBeaver, you are saying you are being paid as a Tech 5 for glass wash and other prep stuff? Ummm, I'm gonna call BS on that one. Tech 5's usually have an MSc along with LOTS of experience or have BSc with LOTS and LOTS (like decades) of experience. Even the most generous supervisor not going to pull that one over on HR.

 

 

UBC techs may be non-unionized, but it is not true in other organizations. For example, techs in BC Cancer Agency are in union and they need to pay for the union fee.

Only the clinical diagnostic technicians are union at BC Cancer (same as all hospitals) and this usually involves completing a certification in clinical lab science (or something like that). The techs in the research centre are not unionized, but I think they get paid a bit better than UBC techs. I made $42,800 at the Tech3 level after finishing my MSc.

[Guest smooth operater]

yeah, I heard chem 333 is boring. In fact, I heard most of chemistry courses are boring. I guess I will just have to suck it up and bust my butt to do well in it.:hat

 

I hope none of upper lvl courses will have a sub-70% average like the organic chemistry course in 2nd yr. I also heard Bio 334 and 335 are killers. Many people actually failed the midterms.

[Guest TKP 123]

HTML Comments are not allowed

[Guest smooth operater]

huh?

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey there smooth,

 

Most of the third year courses I took had averages ranging from 70-80, which is a bit better than second year.

 

As a sidenote, based on your previous posts, I suggest that you take courses that you enjoy, as opposed to those with high(er) class averages. I found that because I enjoyed those classes more, I did well in them. If you are interested in medicine, then take courses that will be relevant later.

 

If you talk about your studies in your essay or interview, you can sincerely say that you enjoyed them as opposed to saying (or not saying) you took them so you could get a higher mark. It sounds as if some of the biochem options do not interest you, perhaps a general science or an integrated science degree may be a better option.

 

Marks are important, but they aren't everything.

 

Best of luck next year. I hope that you do well.

[Guest TKP 123]

For some reasons, my posts says "Some HTML Comments are not allowed"... I don't understand either, lol...

 

 

Sorry, Smooth, I agree with the previous posters... If you don't find yourself to be competent in Chemistry/Biochemistry courses, then you may not want to be in Biochemistry.

 

 

I believe that you can still try to do a Major Thesis in the General Science Program, as long as you find a prof to supervise you.

 

TKP

[Guest smooth operater]

hey Scrubbed.

 

did you actually do a biochem degree at UBC? I heard biochem classes in general are harder than other life sci classes.

To be honest, I am not too passionate going into biochem. My only reasons for going for it is b/c it will provide more opportunity (i.e teaching highschool chemistry, lab tech, research) in case professional schools don't work out.

[Guest TKP 123]

The other good course to consider is the microbiology program. I think the immunology component is pretty good, probably because i love immunology. It will be a good pre-med program as well as for research jobs out there.

[Guest smooth operater]

I am interested to learn more about biochem, but I don't think that I am passionated enough to learn it in depth.

 

The only reasons that I would go for biochem are that it has a CO-OP option and it's a good degree to fall back on if professional schools don't work out. I can pursue to teach highschool chemistry or work as lab teach with biochem degree, wherease I can't think of anything that I can do with integrated Sci. or general sci. as plan B.

[Guest TKP 123]

what else do you want to know about biochem?

[Guest smooth operater]

i can't get into microbio program b/c I didn't complete microbio 202.

 

so the only options i have are general sci., integrated sci. and biochem.

 

How much $ does a CO-OP student earn in general and how many does she/he work per day on average?

[Guest scrubbed]

Hey SO,

 

I did Microbiology and Immunology. It's tough to say whether it is harder or easier than biochemistry. It depends where you can best apply your skill set.

 

It's a tough decision choosing a program. I hope that the right decision comes to you.

[Guest petiD]

A co-op student typically works 9-5. Depending on where you work, flexibility can be considerable... I was able to take a week off before the MCAT to study and a week after the MCAT to go on vacation! I think flexibility usually varies inversely with pay. Academic lab... more laid back.... less pay (but often more of an opportunity to take more responsibility and learn than say a working at biotech company... or so I'm told).

Pay... well, I wouldn't count on saving much money during that time. I think the pay can be anywhere from $1200 to $2000 a month... with some exceptions... like I'm on co-op right now and am getting paid $3000 a month... I'm their first co-op student and it's with a gov't agency. I'm sure they'll figure out soon that they don't usually pay us that much!

I'm happy I did co-op. I think it played a big part in my being accepted to med school.... I was able to gain good experience with reputable health research scientists, make some good connections that facilitated volunteering positions and good references... But I think it's largely what you make of it. And you can probably get the same exposure and connections through directed studies, I guess... But it was nice to take some semesters off during undergrad to just work and have your weekends back.

good luck,

p.

[Guest TKP 123]

When I was a Biochem Coop student, I work basically from 9-5. However, this is only the standard time... Everything depends on your research - if your experiment does not go too smoothly, you can stay a little bit late. I have several occassions staying late (until 7-8pm) in one of my Coop jobs because of the incubation time of the cells. But on the positive side, it can be pretty flexible for the time you show up. Let's say you stay pretty late one day, you can probably show up a bit late the next day (like 9:45am - 10am), as long as you can finish your assigned task within a set period of time.

 

I agree with PetiD that being a Coop student allows you to build up your research experience and relationship with the experts in the field. These can help you to find a job after graduation, as well as to enhance your profile for med school application.

 

Sometimes, you don't know whether you like something until you try it out. Going to biochem probably isn't as bad as you think.

[Guest smooth operater]

CO-OP sounds like a great opportunity to sharpen up our characters in preparation for professional schools later on, plus I think it's a great way to get away from the books.

 

I am just concern that after taking the two genetic courses (bio 334 and 335), my grade may drop a bit. I heard the class average for both of those courses are sub 70%.

 

How difficult is it to find a CO-OP postion esp. in the acadamic labs?

 

I plan to take biophysical lab in 4th year to lighten up 3rd yr course load. Does taking biophysical labs in 3rd prepare me better for CO-OP? I heard this course is kinda useless.

 

 

Thanks for the help as always !!

[Guest TKP 123]

biophysical lab? do you mean Chem 305?

 

Regarding the usefulness of this course, if you plan to focus on life science field in your Coop (such as working with cells, cloning, pathogenesis-related, etc...), then yes, this course is pretty useless.... The material which will be useful for your Coop will be Bioc 301, BIOL 335 (if you end up in molecular biology lab)... BIOL 334 may be useful too, but depending on whether you are in a lab involving genetics.

 

TKP

[Guest smooth operater]

yeah, i mean chem 305. I guess I will take it during my 4th year.

[Guest andrewuofm]

bio 334 335 were dead easy when I took them

I barely studied and got 90% + in both.

 

334 was basically highschool mendelian genetics. 335 was a bit harder but still very very easy.

[Guest TKP 123]

I would advise you to pay attention to both BIOL 334 and BIOL 335, as they were not dead-easy and 334 is not only dealing with basic mendelian genetics. It can go to very complicated problems.

 

Always be heeded when you take these 2 courses.

[Guest petiD]

The average for the Bio 335 midterm this year was 50% and the final grade average was 65%! It seems to alternate though... I would predict that they won't make the same mistake again next year and that the average will go up. WHo knows.

p.

[Guest adduction]

I wouldn't count on it. When I took the course (spring '04) the midterm avg was a high 60 and the final avg was 65...sounds more or less the same to me...

[Guest canuck0000]

I have to agree with adduction on the BIOL 335 averages not really changing much. When I took the course two years ago (2002-2003 year), the midterm marks were pretty high (high 70's or low 80's) but the final average was 69 since the final exam was designed to lower the class average. The final average only ended up being that high after they scaled the final exam by taking the final exam marks out of 20 less marks (that is, if you got 60/100 on the final exam, they changed the mark to 60/80), so the unscaled marks would probably have been low to high 50's :x .

[Guest petiD]

I stand corrected...

Just thought they were a little nicer than that... Man, what do they get out of having their class get a 65% average. Whatever.

p.