I'm having problems with my undergraduate course selection

[Guest Pyrrolysine]

Hi guys, I'm a student with plans to go to medical school and I understand the long and tough road to get there.

 

I need some suggestions.

 

I'm a student at the University of Toronto who is about to begin first year of studies of Biochemistry(second year student at UofT). I need some advice on my course selection.

 

Do prospective medical school students need a course in third year physiology in their undergrad program? Is it necessary that I take it for the MCAT?

 

Do you people think a course in Human Anatomy in my second year is really useful toward my future goal?

 

If you were a Biochemistry student looking forward to medical school, how would you plan your time table? I'm totally stuck right now, I need some help.

 

Any advice would be really really appreciated!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi Pyrrolysine,

 

Well done on embarking on the Biochem program--I don't think that's one of the easier ones to gain entry to! As to some bits of advice, here are a few:

 

a) Most medical school applications that I've seen do not specifically require a physiology course, although you could use a physiology course mark to satisfy many of the "life science" course requirements that appear within applications. If you're going to be tackling the MCAT in the near future then courses like PSL201 or PSL302 will cover many topics that are addressed on the MCAT, e.g., neurophysiology, CV, GI and endocrine systems, etc. Of course, you could always learn these things on your own, but if it is part of your program anyway...

 

On Anatomy courses, certain ones may be favourable for you to take if you hope to attend UT's medical school. In the past (and perhaps the UT moderators could jump in here to verify the status quo) it was the case that if you passed ANA301H (Human Embryology) at UT in your undergrad, then you could be exempted from an embryology block during first year. If you're interested in taking this course, beware as, annually, this course fills up pretty quickly.

 

As to your last question, I did focus a little on Chemistry during undergrad, but not Biochem specifically so hopefully someone can give you some Biochem-specific advice. In general though, it may be best for you to look more closely at the courses that seem most interesting to you and to go from there.

 

Good luck,

Kirsteen

[Guest cheech10]

I took immunology, which was similar to the biochem program (at least for the first 3 years). I can't really give you timetable advice because the programs have changed quite a bit. I'll try to answer some of your questions though.

 

1) You don't need physio, for med school or the MCAT. If you think you will enjoy it, go ahead and take it, but you can do fine on the MCAT without it. PSL302 is WAY more in depth than you need. I've also heard different opinions about the difficulty of the course, some say it's hard, others say it's ok.

 

2) You also don't need anatomy. Take it if you like, but you can learn everything for medicine in med school.

 

Basically, try to find courses you enjoy to fill in your extra space. Oh, and watch out for MGB311. I hated that course and the essay was a real pain.

[Guest DMac]

I too am having some worries about course selection....I was wondering if anyone knows anything about taking the writing course for scientists (WRT300H) as fulfulling the COURSE LOAD req's for med school, even though it is a NON-CREDIT? I ask because I will basically be able to fulfill my degree req's for pharmacology next year (4th), but I do need some "birds"...any help is greatly appreciated!!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi DMac,

 

If you're interested in filling your timetable with a for-credit writing UT course (I can't say whether or not they're easy courses though), check out the two Innis College writing courses in the calendar. (Actually, there are way more than two in their writing program, but the two I'm thinking of most closely match the non-credit course that you're describing here.) Unfortunately, many people don't seem to be aware that Innis provides courses other than those in cinema and film.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest dr funk]

Hands down, the easiest course at U of T (by reputation) is semiotics (VIC120)... that is, IF you can grab a spot. If you're an upper year student, you will have extreme difficulty getting in unless you have a unwitting first-year student reserve a spot for you (they get priority for enrolment). Other than that, courses with a reputation for being bird courses are generally not that easy to get a high mark in. Mostly, they get their reputation from the minimal workload in the course, which doesn't necessarily mean that the syllabus will make it easy to get a high mark (eg. assignments that take no effort or time, but everybody gets a mark within 70-80%).

[Guest frivolous]

Everybody gets a 70%-80% in the course?? If you need a course like that to boost your GPA, that's pretty sad.

[Guest Pyrrolysine]

Thank you so much to everybody who replied!

 

The advice is really helpful!

 

Best of luck to you all!