Perry asked 11 months ago
Hello! I am currently a junior and want to attend Grad School, but the area I am interested in has Biochemistry as one of their pre-reqs. Some grad schools take a C, while others require a B- in the class. I took MCDB310 during my sophomore year and sadly ended up with a C+ (I definitely took on too much that semester). I want to show future Grad Schools a better grade in a biochemistry class, so would you even recommend taking another biochemistry class to begin with? And if so, what could I take since I already took MCDB310 and Biolchem415 and Chem351 do not get credit? Thank you so much!!
Raheem Ahmed answered 10 months ago
Hi Perry,
I hope you are doing well! When thinking about taking another biochemistry course, you should look at where you want to apply. When making your list of schools, from there, you can see if there are schools that you are interested in that require a B-. However, if most of the programs you would like to apply to require at least a C, then I don’t see a reason to take another biochemistry course, especially if the graduate program isn’t heavily centered on biochemistry.
However, additional biochemistry courses that you could take since you have already taken MCDB 310 would include:
- CHEM/BIOLCHEM 451 – Advanced Biochemistry: Macromolecular Structure and Function
- Offered in the Fall/Winter
- CHEM/BIOLCHEM 452 – Advanced Biochemistry: Cellular Processes
- Offered only in the Winter
- CHEM 455 – Special Topics in Biochemistry: Nucleic Acids
- Offered only in the Fall
These courses require MCDB 310 as a prerequisite and cover biochemistry topics at an advanced/deeper level. If you were to complete one of these courses and receive a higher grade, then I believe that most graduate programs would view that favorably. However, I understand that taking another biochemistry course isn’t something that most people would want to do since these classes can be very heavy in workload and difficult. So, ultimately, I would evaluate what types of graduate programs you want to apply to and where to make the best decision on if you would like to take another course.
I hope this helps! Feel free to follow up on this Q&A post or make another post if you have any further questions!
Best,
Raheem, PMH Co-President