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What university courses useful for the MCAT?


Guest Eyes2NV

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hey everyone...can someone please e-mail the courses you MUST take for the MCAT in university to this following e-mail:

 

sweet2nv@icqmail.com

 

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really need to sit down and ponder upon med school....

 

or I guess you can just post them here?

Thank you!!!!

 

 

 

Edited to include a more descriptive title. -Ian

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Guest bad hombre

there aren't any courses you HAVE to take, but most people take:

 

1st year bio

1st year general/inorganic chem

intro orgo (1st or second year)

1st year physics.

 

and a lot of people find it useful to take a 1st year humanities course to practice for verbal and writing.

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There are no courses that you HAVE to take in order to write the MCAT. You can write the MCAT after taking grade 9 science or after finishing your PhD - AAMC really doesn't care. They don't check to see what science courses you have taken or even if you have taken any relevant courses at all.

 

That said: The MCAT tests you on biology, organic chemistry, general chemistry, general physics and verbal reasoning. Where you acquire your knowledge of these topics (course or on your own) is up to you. There are as many 'good to take before you write the MCAT courses' as there are people that write the MCAT. Everyone will tell you something different. Some will tell you to take physics at university, others will never take a physics course ever in their life. Some will swear that you need physiology, others will get a 14 in bio with no physiology background at all. It is really up to you. Just make sure that when you prepare you do as many practice tests as possible and make sure that you have had some exposure to all of the topics that you may be tested on.

 

Good Luck.

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Guest therealcrackers

If you have a couple of years under your belt, a course in genetics and a course in biochemistry would be useful to have as prep, but you would not have to take them JUST for the MCAT; if they fit into your program, great, but if you're an engineering student with insane numbers of required courses that may be a bit of a squeeze. Any essay course would be good; preferably one where you have a decently small number of students per TA, so you can get some decent feedback for the essays you write (advertising you are a meds gunner in the English courses will not endear you to them, more than likely).

 

This is, of course, just my opinion, yadda yadda yadda, but I hope it helps.

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Guest LIPOSUCTIONATOR

Eyes2NV, as long as you did you chemistry, physics, and biology in high school you should have no problem with these sections on the MCAT. Although I did take 1st year university chemistry, I did not take any university physics and I thought the physical sciences was the easiest part of the MCAT (of course, you must take into account the principle of individual differences)

 

What I do recommend, however, is taking organic chemistry at the university level the summer you write the MCAT. I did this the past summer and all the MCAT orgo questions seemed like a cakewalk.

 

The Liposuctionator

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  • 6 months later...

I see that organic chemistry is a key topic on the MCAT. Since everyone is talking about taking an introductory organic chemistry course, is it just the 100 level organic chemistry that you are referring to. I'm a UBC student, so would CHEM 123 (Physical and Organic chemistry) be sufficient for the MCAT?

 

EMHC

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Guest LIPOSUCTIONATOR

EMHC, I attend U of T and there is a first year organic chemistry half course CHM138H which I found didn't go into much depth. I took a second year half course CHM247 during the summer I wrote the MCAT. It was far more helpful than CHM138. I don't know exactly what UBC's orgo courses are like, so I can't offer any you advice there. In all honesty though, you could do well on the MCAT without taking any organic chem courses. They tend to be notorious as GPA killers, so don't take em solely in preparation for the MCAT. If you want to apply to Western meds in Ontario, they require a full year in Orgo which is why I took those two half courses.

 

LIPO

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