<p>Hello all. I got accepted to PLME 2016/2020 and am looking forward to Brown in the fall. I have an idea of what I would like to study (Chem A.B.) and I was wondering if anyone with personal experience could give me feedback on this rough outline of what I think I will be taking. Obviously this is just a rough estimation of what I plan to take as of now, and I am completely aware that I will probably change my mind many times over.</p>
<p>I’ve only included classes that are prerequisites for or are required classes for chem A.B. or PLME (the two Bio classes). As of now I am leaning toward AB not ScB because I have interests outside of chemistry (foreign languages, Lit, Histroy, other sciences) so the AB would give me more time to study other subjects. I also have very little interest in research as of now, so not having to do that is a plus. </p>
<p>My main concern is the amount of work required to do two lab sciences (especially Org I and Biochem) in the same semester. I am not adverse to work, but do you think it’s too much? What about the time commitments?</p>
<p>You will have lots of people telling you not to take genetics your first semester. This advice is not completely unfounded, because firstly, it is not the easiest class to have to deal with your first semester at Brown, and secondly, there are many other classes that would serve as a more pleasant introduction to biology at Brown, even if you already have AP Bio (equivalent to credit for Bio 20). That said, I took genetics my first semester and did well. At the end of the day, you know your own background the best.</p>
<p>Orgo and Biochem are doable together, which strangely enough, was what I did as well. Do note that although Orgo I is officially a co-req for Biochem, your life might be easier if you do Orgo I first and Biochem later, depending on your current comfort with organic chemistry. Biochem has no lab, so that’s not an issue. In fact, the only work for Biochem are the 3 mid-terms and the final (and in-class i-clicker quizzes), so almost all your time (which can be quite considerable) spent on this class is on studying for the exams.</p>
<p>What is genetics like? How’s it graded? Any lab?
What is taught in biochem? The class descriptions on banner aren’t great.</p>
<p>I started an orgo class at my high school for all the premeds this year. It’s like a semester and maybe a half of orgo taught by the AP chem teacher. I don’t figure on this making orgo easy, but it should help some.</p>
<p>There is a lab component for genetics, though it is nowhere near as time intensive as orgo lab. Basically you do some breeding experiments with flies, and do some simple recombination stuff and run some gels. There are weekly problem sets for genetics, and those require some degree of problem solving and can be somewhat time consuming. There are also two mid-terms and a final. When I took the class, the lab, homework and each mid-term counted for 100 points, and the final 200 points, though things might have changed a little. </p>
<p>Biochem topics (copied from syllabus, each line is one 90 minute lecture)
1 Introduction - Amino Acids & Peptides
2 Protein Structure
3 Protein Function
4 Enzyme Kinetics
5 Enzyme Catalysis & Regulation
6 Lipids & Membranes
7 Carbohydrates & Introduction to Metabolism
8 Glycolysis
Exam I Lectures 1 through 8
9 Citric Acid Cycle
10 Oxidative Phosphorylation
11 Photosynthesis & Carbon Fixation
12 Gluconeogenesis & Glycogen Metabolism
13 Lipid Metabolism
14 Amino Acid & Urea Metabolism
15 Integration & Regulation of Metabolism
16 Amine and Nucleotide Metabolism
Exam II Lectures 9 through 15
17 DNA Structure, Topology, & Recognition
18 DNA Replication & Repair
19 RNA Synthesis & Processing
20 Translation
21 Gene Regulation
22 Recombinant DNA
Exam III Lectures 16 through 22
23 Perspective on Gene Expression
Final Exam All Material</p>
<p>Biochem is very, very fact heavy. But if you are good at studying for this kind of stuff there isn’t really much beyond that.</p>
<p>Also, since you are PLME, there are a few PLME people on here who may be able to address your specific situation better. They usually post quite frequently so I would wait for them to chime in.</p>
<p>If it doesn’t work, login as guess and you’ll get access. Biochem at Brown looks very similar to ours except that our short answer section is much harder for some reason (they ask you to think about some weird situation/solution for a problem not really emphasizing something discussed at great length in lecture. Also, almost everything ends up having something to do with some disease or medical phenomenon, I didn’t care for it). Also, the grading is more relaxed in you guys’, and trust me, you should appreciate it (most people end up between C and B- in ours because it’s graded on the traditional scale with no curve even if everyone does badly on a test. We got a 65 on one and there was no scaling so it was a D). Brown seems like a cool place and perhaps a more relaxed environment for pre-meds (and that’s a good thing). Brown’s cell biology course (at least the one shown on the guest access) looks cool (took it here in spring and it was really cool, plus my prof. had a completely different approach to teaching it. I wish I could have taken it as freshman). Seems like that would be something good to take if you have AP credit and want to advance to upperlevels by frosh year.</p>
<p>Your proposed schedule looks pretty good to me. I might point you towards a different bio course instead of genetics - the one that comes to mind is Immunology (BIOL0530). It’s amazingly taught and very useful for medicine - I took it this past semester and absolutely loved it. Genetics, from what I’ve heard, is somewhat of a mixed bag.</p>
<p>Besides that, the only semester that currently looks questionable is your freshman spring - Biochem and Orgo I are notably tough to take together, and adding a multivariable calculus class to that might not be the best idea. You might want to push Biochem off until later if you’re set on taking it.</p>
<p>Once you get to Brown, you’ll be able to talk with your PLME advising dean about all of this. The PLME advising is absolutely amazing, and they’ll help you chart your path. Also, make sure you take a First-Year Seminar (FYS)! It’s a great chance to get a small seminar-style class in your first year, especially since many of your classes look like they’ll be large lectures.</p>
<p>I’m not really wanting to take many (if any) classes pass/fail, but if I were to pick ahead of time… What classes would you have taken pass/fail as a part of PLME?</p>
<p>Don’t take genetics first semester frosh year. You need adjustment and fun time. (unless you don’t want to have free time to get to know your hallmates etc.)
Do take a “more fun” bio course. (could be one of the freshman seminars if one looks interesting, or strongly consider cell bio “intro”) even if you took AP Bio as it is a great course. Immunology is a bit tougher, but “liked”, and neuro is a favorite.</p>
<p>Don’t take biochem and orgo together. You may be surprised how hard both are and don’t want to end up dropping one or both because of that. </p>
<p>Do take bio at least 2/3 of your first 3 semesters. A fair number of potential chem majors, esp PLMEs change to bio when they find out how grueling the chem is. </p>
<p>Do take a freshman seminar if it looks interesting. At least register for one, you can always change during shopping, but it’s hard to get into one if you don’t start out that way and most students love them. (even if not something you might otherwise take.) This is often something to consider (or required) S/NC. </p>
<p>While it is a good idea to have a rough plan, don’t worry too much, it will change!</p>
<p>Also, this should probably have its own thread somewhere broader than Brown, but a number of docs and I have had discussions on “what are the most useful classes you took as an undergrad” for later life as an MD.
They include:
Basic psychology
Statistics
Logic (yes in the philosophy dept, that one)
Accounting (basic)
Ethics
Any course that really did public speaking.
Spanish
Introduction or basic computer skills, or electrical circuits.
For orthos, material science engineering type class.
Surprising to undergrads, but not to MDs is that of the traditional “premed” courses, the only ones that seem to be mentioned are: genetics, immunology, biochem, histology, cell or microbio or similar.
Just some “food for thought” in picking some classes.</p>
<p>As far as fun classes go, I definately plan on them. I only included the classes I need for my intended major/PLME on this list. I plan on continuing my French and starting Spanish coursework (I do Rosetta Stone now). I also have interests in history/literature/poli sci and other humanities. I see myself taking a couple of astronomy (big space buff here…for my app on the question that was “If you could do anything without failing what would it be?” I put command the first manned mission to Mars.) and advanced physics (relativity and quantum theory fascinate me, as weird as that sounds). </p>
<p>Brownalumparent and anyone with first hand knowledge, why specifically do you think genetics is a bad idea first semester? </p>
<p>Also, the biochem/orgo I together was actually the semester I was most worried about when I made this schedule, so not taking them together is something I’ll be thinking about.</p>
<p>I’m basically going to echo everything Bruno14 said. Genetics is both notoriously difficult and not universally liked. Immunology, on the other hand, was fantastic and a good introduction to the Bio department at Brown for Freshman fall.</p>
<p>Truth be told, the chemistry department here is not that great. If you know that is what you love, then go for it, but otherwise I would not worry too much about planning because you might decide on another major.</p>
<p>I would hold off on taking biochem until Sophomore spring. That is by far the more common route. That is what I am doing and I am a biochem major.</p>
<p>I want to point out that the cell bio class up on MyCourses right now is BIOL1050, which is an amazing class co-taught by Ken Miller. It is, however, not “the intro cell bio class”. The intro cell bio class is BIOL0500, which is taught in the spring, and has somewhat more mixed reviews.</p>
<p>Regarding genetics your first semester, I don’t think it is absolutely a bad idea (since I did it myself), but do be prepared for a challenging course. It is not difficult in the sense that you need to spend a lot of time studying for it, but in that requires some skill in solving genetics problems (much like solving a puzzle) that you might not have been exposed to in high school. It is ABSOLUTELY not true that you won’t have any free time if you take genetics. In the spectrum of time-sucker classes at Brown, genetics is not even a blip on the radar. As I said, you know your own background the best.</p>
<p>If you are applying for PLME but are doing a major in bio do you do the question: If you are interested in one or more of the following academic areas at Brown, we would like to know a bit more about you for Chemistry/Computer Science/Geology/Mathematics/Physics? I just am not sure if you would have to have an interest in Chemistry for pre-med or is it talking about your desired concentration? Thank I really appreciate any help!</p>