College

[hedgimon]

Don't know what O-Chem is. If you mean organic chemistry, not really. I don't see how it's particularly relevant to the practise of medicine anyway (my boyfriend is a chemist and none of what he does would be useful to me).

Not the MCAT, no. Over here the universities generally ask for either something called the UKCAT (basically an abstract reasoning exam) or BMAT (from what I can gather, you have to write an essay - but I only took the UKCAT).


Sorry - accidentally replied without a quote. Was responding to the poster doing med.

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That's so crazy! I'm about to start medical school next week but I had to get a 4-year Biochemistry degree first

Is stuff like O-chem just part of the Med program in the UK? And do you not have to take the MCAT?

Sorry - see my above reply.

 

[Zandy]

I'm heading into my third year taking a honours bachelors degree in pure mathematics ^^. I feel as though I have a relatively uncommon major but it would be super cool to meet someone with the same major xD.

 

[ams]

Don't know what O-Chem is. If you mean organic chemistry, not really. I don't see how it's particularly relevant to the practise of medicine anyway (my boyfriend is a chemist and none of what he does would be useful to me).

Not the MCAT, no. Over here the universities generally ask for either something called the UKCAT (basically an abstract reasoning exam) or BMAT (from what I can gather, you have to write an essay - but I only took the UKCAT).


Sorry - accidentally replied without a quote. Was responding to the poster doing med.

- - - Post Merge - - -



Sorry - see my above reply.

I feel like a basic understanding of how the chemicals that you're prescribing patients actually work is probably important. In North America organic chemistry and biochemistry are pretty integrated into med curriculum.

I know a couple of students I went to high school with went to the UK and Ireland to do Medicine because they could get in with like a B average and no university. Hopefully they're never my doctor

 

[hedgimon]

I feel like a basic understanding of how the chemicals that you're prescribing patients actually work is probably important. In North America organic chemistry and biochemistry are pretty integrated into med curriculum.

I know a couple of students I went to high school with went to the UK and Ireland to do Medicine because they could get in with like a B average and no university. Hopefully they're never my doctor

Basic understanding, yes, we get that. Modules that go in-depth? Not really. We get taught drugs, interactions, how they work etc but not on an atomic, proper organic chemistry depth. There's no need, as you will soon find out.

All medical schools in the UK require As. Can't comment on Ireland. Though trying to bait me out is a nice touch. Might want to tone that down if you ever meet a patient.

 

[KCourtnee]

I love readings y'all's goals I didn't know this many people would be in college, or as far into college as some of you are.

Did anyone else live in the dorms?

 

[Athariel]

Ha. My now husband lived in a dorm when I met him. He lived in the honor's dorms, and they had unlimited visiting hours. And his roommate was totally cool with me staying over sometimes. So yeah...I slept in the dorms quite a bit that semester. All I can say is they're really freakin small, but if you adjust the bed to it's second highest level and then put the desk under that, you'll find you have a lot more floor space. :]

 

[Alienfish]

I will be going to uni this semester.. a bit later than I expected due to certain stuff -. -.

Only one class though but it will keep me busy (about documentary films/theory)

 

[Katelyn]

I'm starting my first semester of college this fall *sweats nervously*. But, I'm going to major in English and am hoping to become an English teacher at the high school I went to! ^-^

 

[Nuclear Bingo]

I'm about to begin my third year in university. My goals are to pass and find a hawt girlfriend. I will be living on campus at UNT

 

[ShinyYoshi]

I love readings y'all's goals I didn't know this many people would be in college, or as far into college as some of you are.

Did anyone else live in the dorms?

I lived in the dorms my first year as a freshman. When I signed up for a dorm to live in, all the ones I wanted were totally full, so my friend and I ended up living in some tiny dorms. Her bed was seriously 2 feet away from mine and our bathroom connected with 2 other girls. 4 girls sharing one tiny bathroom. You can imagine how well that went.

We definitely made the most of what we had, though. We threw stupid parties, got in trouble, played GameCube in the dorm lobby, had movie nights, went on random trips around town at weird hours, and just made some really fun memories.
As much as I hated the tiny room I lived in, I loved the friends I made along with the memories :') dorms are definitely more social than apartments!

 

[ams]

Basic understanding, yes, we get that. Modules that go in-depth? Not really. We get taught drugs, interactions, how they work etc but not on an atomic, proper organic chemistry depth. There's no need, as you will soon find out.

All medical schools in the UK require As. Can't comment on Ireland. Though trying to bait me out is a nice touch. Might want to tone that down if you ever meet a patient.

I did a semester last year but had to defer for a year for personal reasons. Our first test was on biochemistry, so memorizing each step in glycolysis, TCA cycle, beta-oxidation of lipids, protein synthesis and structure, etc. It was stuff I (and all other students) learned in our undergrad Organic and Bio chem courses. I can't imagine a metabolic specialist getting into residency and having to learn these mechanisms for the first time. I think the curriculum is genuinely quite different. I had a friend who did a semester in Australia before entering into a Canadian med school and found the North American curriculum very intimidating due to her lack of chemistry and cell biology background. As she explained it the Australian curriculum was much less detailed.

Sorry to have gotten snarky, I just found your comment about chemistry not being relevant to medicine really offensive given that where I'm from we're taught very differently. It's also common here for medical doctors to be research scientists so that could affect the type of education that we get.

 

[Dunquixote]

I'm in college, but I'm taking a break due to personal reasons. I was supposed to graduate in February 2014, but I ended up failing my history capstone class. I signed up for the pre-requisite (since I tried to register again for the capstone but found out that I didn't even pass the historical research class) and ended up failing that one again. And now, I'm working part time as a merchandiser and my student loans are biting me in the butt; and I'm still dependent on my parents. ><

But, pushing all that depressing stuff aside, other than the procrastinating, I don't regret much of my college experience so far and I still want to go back to school for things that are my interest (and not towards a degree) once my student loans are all paid off. I've gained more interests, insight, and awareness. My major is history and my minor is political science; my years in college taking courses about other cultures and current events has helped me understand that I need to dig deeper and open my eyes and want to look past what the stupid textbooks taught me, and what my country's government advocates, in order to understand the whole picture and what is really going on. I love learning. ^_^

 

[hedgimon]

I did a semester last year but had to defer for a year for personal reasons. Our first test was on biochemistry, so memorizing each step in glycolysis, TCA cycle, beta-oxidation of lipids, protein synthesis and structure, etc. It was stuff I (and all other students) learned in our undergrad Organic and Bio chem courses. I can't imagine a metabolic specialist getting into residency and having to learn these mechanisms for the first time. I think the curriculum is genuinely quite different. I had a friend who did a semester in Australia before entering into a Canadian med school and found the North American curriculum very intimidating due to her lack of chemistry and cell biology background. As she explained it the Australian curriculum was much less detailed.

Sorry to have gotten snarky, I just found your comment about chemistry not being relevant to medicine really offensive given that where I'm from we're taught very differently. It's also common here for medical doctors to be research scientists so that could affect the type of education that we get.

Oh, we had to do that too, in first year. I have honestly never used it again. As you say though, it would be useful to a specialist. (Although I will also say that that was not the first time we learnt that; TCA cycle etc was learnt in school aged 16/17). Maybe we do learn along the lines of similar things, we just don't have defined modules (at my medical school, anyway - there are vast differences in teaching styles over here).
My comments about not needing organic chemistry were nothing against your style of teaching over there, just an honest opinion. I don't know how in depth your chemistry modules go - we could have entirely different ideas about what constitutes 'organic chemistry' - I was just commenting from the perspective of someone who has had a few years of medical education and a fair bit of experience in the medical field outside of that. As I said, my boyfriend has a degree in chemistry and his organic modules were of no relevance to me (though when he did a module in medicinal chemistry, I knew far more than he did about specific drugs; he was taught how to make them, we learnt how they work). That doesn't mean I'm offending your way of doing things, but I apologise if it came across as insulting.

 

[Midoriya]

I'm starting college in one or two weeks taking Art Appreciation, Philosophy, and Speech for my classes. The college I'm going to I've already taken Dual Credit at during my high school years and thanks to that I already have 21 hours of college credit down. Starting this fall though I'm going in person since I've graduated high school, so it will be the real deal for me. I plan on going to this college Spring semester as well, and then It's off to a big university starting fall of 2016 to major in Computer Science for four years.

 

[ilovebob123]

I'm starting my second year of college in 2 weeks, and I'm doing early education and childcare, in the hope of being a nursery nurse!