Did your school offer it as a one semester course, or as a 2-semester sequence? Which did you take? The place where I’ll be taking it, the University of Minnesota, offers both, one for majors (the survey) and one for non-majors (the sequence), and I’m trying to decide which one to take.
I only need to take one class, but that could be either the survey or the first semester of the sequence. True to the usual logic of the U of M, the survey course is for more credits than the one required for majors. Also, the survey course description is rather vague. It’s just called “Biochemistry.” The other one is called “Biochemistry I” and has “Structure, Catalysis, and Metabolism” in the description.
Has anyone heard of this before? Is there any benefit to taking the more detailed (but lower credit) version for majors? Or do surveys cram more info in during a shorter time? I am somewhat better at chemistry than at biology, so if one’s more chem oriented, I’d prefer that. And what does it mean when a biochem class is not designed for majors? Will it be taught in the language of poetry or something? It has all the same prereqs…
I took Biochem at the U of M, both as an undergrad and in grad school - though a long time ago. It was the one semester course - I'd recommend this. But talk to the professors and ask them about the difference. Maybe you would prefer the other. If you're not a chem major it probably doesn't matter.
It may also depend which department is offering the course. U of Minn often has different chemistry courses for the IT (Institute of Technology) program vs the CLA program (College of liberal arts). Generally IT courses require more math & calculus background.
But I'd just ask the profs if I were you.
LM
take the one for non-majors. The one for majors is going to include alot of minute details about what molecule does what in the conversion of Cholsterol to a steroid. Fuhgetaboutit. Do the one which gives you a broad overview of biochem.
I also did part of my grad school coursework in the med school and though we did most of the first year courses with the med students the grad students had to take grad school biochem rather than med school biochem because the med school course wasn't rigorous or detailed enough.
i.e. you don't need a really hardcore biochem class in prep for med school. So if you don't mind going 2 semesters instead of 1, do as futur recommends and take the survey.
LM
Thanks! It's amazing how many versions there are of each class at big schools like the U. I'm glad to get your input.
| QUOTE (2ndave @ Jun 4 2003, 11:34 PM) |
| Did your school offer it as a one semester course, or as a 2-semester sequence? Which did you take? The place where I'll be taking it, the University of Minnesota, offers both, one for majors (the survey) and one for non-majors (the sequence), and I'm trying to decide which one to take. I only need to take one class, but that could be either the survey or the first semester of the sequence. True to the usual logic of the U of M, the survey course is for _more_ credits than the one required for majors. Also, the survey course description is rather vague. It's just called "Biochemistry." The other one is called "Biochemistry I" and has "Structure, Catalysis, and Metabolism" in the description. Has anyone heard of this before? Is there any benefit to taking the more detailed (but lower credit) version for majors? Or do surveys cram more info in during a shorter time? I am somewhat better at chemistry than at biology, so if one's more chem oriented, I'd prefer that. And what does it mean when a biochem class is not designed for majors? Will it be taught in the language of poetry or something? It has all the same prereqs... |
Hi there,
GWU has three or four versions of Biochemsitry. There is a two-semester class in the Biology Department that is essentially Cell Biology. It is an undergraduate course for Biology majors. There is a two-semester graduate level course called General Biochemistry that is for graduate students in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. This is a total of 10-credits of graduate credit that is very rigorous and designed for folks who are going on in further graduate study. There is a third one-semester course that is taught in the Department of Chemistry that is geared toward undergraduate Chemistry majors who anticipate medical school. There is finally the Medical Biochemsitry that is open to medical students only. It is not a rigorous at the graduate school General Biochemistry but is not open to undergraduate or graduate students.
My advice would be to take the Cell Biology-type Biochemistry. Most of the new and interesting things that you need to work with are in this course. You need to be familiar with receptor-ligand chemistry, integrins, protein chemistry and glycolipids. You also need a pretty good grounding in endocrine chemistry with understanding the nature of hormones (peptides, steroid and thyroid models of action), third messengers and the like. You don't need a course that expects you to memorize the structures of the amino acides etc.
If you can get a good two-semester Human Physiology (not Anatomy and Physiology) course, opt for that course as much of what I describe above, would be covered in that course. .
Natalie
