jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hello guys, I'm about to start Grade 12 in September, and I'm interested in perhaps becoming a doctor one day. I was reading some articles on premed and applying to medical schools in addition to some of the undergraduate courses required by UBC. An article at premed101.com stated that in order to apply third year, one should complete all the "pre-req courses" for the MCAT - English, Inorganic + Organic Chem, General Bio, and Biochemistry - by the end of second year to write the MCAT immediately after. However, the MCAT biochem "prep course", Biochem 300, is a third-year course that has second-year organic chemistry courses as prereqs. So, is it impossible to cover all the topics on the MCAT by second-year? Does this mean that UBC premeds will have to take the MCATs after third year and apply fourth year? Please excuse me if I have made some glaring, obvious error in coming to my conclusions. I am, after all, an underinformed high school student. Cheers, Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoithinkyouare Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Hello guys, I'm about to start Grade 12 in September, and I'm interested in perhaps becoming a doctor one day. I was reading some articles on premed and applying to medical schools in addition to some of the undergraduate courses required by UBC. An article at premed101.com stated that in order to apply third year, one should complete all the "pre-req courses" for the MCAT - English, Inorganic + Organic Chem, General Bio, and Biochemistry - by the end of second year to write the MCAT immediately after. However, the MCAT biochem "prep course", Biochem 300, is a third-year course that has second-year organic chemistry courses as prereqs. So, is it impossible to cover all the topics on the MCAT by second-year? Does this mean that UBC premeds will have to take the MCATs after third year and apply fourth year? Please excuse me if I have made some glaring, obvious error in coming to my conclusions. I am, after all, an underinformed high school student. Cheers, Jeff AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BIOCHEM 300!!!!!!!!! :eek: haha actually it's not thaat bad, I enjoyed it much more than bioc200.. anyway I'm guessing you're going to go to UVic as well... you do NOT need bioc300 to do well in the MCAT. There might be only a few biomolecule/interaction questions, but usually details are in a passage. Don't worry... and don't mainly prep for the MCAT by taking specific courses, as the information is far too broad (however the exposure is great). Working through prep materials is all that's needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 LOL! The material doesn't sound easy... your scream has got me worried! Just to clarify a bit, I was actually referring to the Biochem 300 course at UBC. (It is all so confusing! ) Apparently, there is no Biochem 200 at UBC, so I was wondering if anyone should actually take the MCAT without taking an actual biochemistry course. Would the material in prep books and self-studying be enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antisera Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Biology 201 at UBC is a biochem course, and should cover enough of the information needed to write the MCAT after 2nd year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Biology 201 at UBC is a biochem course, and should cover enough of the information needed to write the MCAT after 2nd year. Oh, ok. That makes sense now. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoithinkyouare Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 ohh. you have nothing to worry about apparently UBC 3rd year bioc is waay easier than that found at uvic. a number of uvicers actually transfer to ubc just to take that course in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 ohh. you have nothing to worry about apparently UBC 3rd year bioc is waay easier than that found at uvic. a number of uvicers actually transfer to ubc just to take that course in the summer. How is/was it at UVic? I've heard that the undergraduate environment there is much better than the one at UBC. eg. smaller classes, less vicious competition, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoithinkyouare Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 How is/was it at UVic? I've heard that the undergraduate environment there is much better than the one at UBC. eg. smaller classes, less vicious competition, etc. Environment wise, UVic is small and cozy. There is a more relaxed atmosphere than at UBC. Although the major classes still have 200+, it's still much less than at UBC. I had offers/scholarships to here, SFU and UBC, but going back, I would have probably better evaluated the course options open to me at each school and made my decision on that - though I am happy here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolboy Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 I loved Uvic (all seven years of it) - the smaller size and the great city. However you can get distracted easily because you feel like there is so much more to do in your day then just school (oh, the fountain). You lose out of the GPA conversion when you apply to UBC med, but I thought the school more than made up for it. Biochem. 300 was super tough, but I took it in 2003, and I've heard they've changed it a bit, so I'm not sure if it still has that reputation as the hardest upper level course at Uvic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Environment wise, UVic is small and cozy. There is a more relaxed atmosphere than at UBC. Although the major classes still have 200+, it's still much less than at UBC. I had offers/scholarships to here, SFU and UBC, but going back, I would have probably better evaluated the course options open to me at each school and made my decision on that - though I am happy here. I'll definitely keep your advice in mind when I choose a university next year. I loved Uvic (all seven years of it) - the smaller size and the great city. However you can get distracted easily because you feel like there is so much more to do in your day then just school (oh, the fountain). You lose out of the GPA conversion when you apply to UBC med, but I thought the school more than made up for it. Biochem. 300 was super tough, but I took it in 2003, and I've heard they've changed it a bit, so I'm not sure if it still has that reputation as the hardest upper level course at Uvic. If you don't mind me asking, what is the GPA conversion? (I know, I'm so clueless ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoithinkyouare Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Uvic uses a 9 point GPA scale 9=A+ 8=A 7=A- 6=B+ ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolboy Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Yes, so if you get an A+ at Uvic (with say a score of 95%), then UBC will look at it as 90%, and not 95%. Whereas UBC uses percent, so if you got 95% in a course, then you get 95% counted toward your GPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoithinkyouare Posted August 16, 2007 Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Yes, so if you get an A+ at Uvic (with say a score of 95%), then UBC will look at it as 90%, and not 95%. Whereas UBC uses percent, so if you got 95% in a course, then you get 95% counted toward your GPA. fortunately the GPA loss does not seem to be an issue at UBC; however, going abroad it may be more significant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffg Posted August 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2007 Ah, ok. A bit unfair for the UVic-ers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolboy Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Yes! but you get to go to school with a lot of rabbits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 pfft, at ubc we have lots of cute squirrels...i had lunch with one of them today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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