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Molecular bio vs. Biochem (biomed specialization) ~AKU~ Academics 4 06-06-2012 09:59 AM
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Molecular bio and biochem

 
Old 01-31-2013 at 09:09 PM   #1
gggggg
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Molecular bio and biochem
Can someone tell me their experience with these 2 programs? I want to switch next year and was wondering if someone can tell me more about the difference between the 2 programs and which program has more interesting courses.
Old 01-31-2013 at 09:14 PM   #2
starfish
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Interest is subjective.

Personally I find biochem more interesting. I also hate the way the bio department is organized.
The best thing to do is look at the courses you have to take in each program and see which has more courses you want to take.
Old 01-31-2013 at 10:17 PM   #3
jenpower
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I originally wanted to be in Biochem, but ended up in MBG because of the high cut-off last year, and I'm actually glad it worked out that way. My first term was basically a Biochem schedule and I didn't really like it. I don't know about upper years, but in 2B and 2BB there are groups presentations, which I really dislike. The material was interesting but not as interesting as Mol Bio courses like 2C03. I agree that the Biology department is rather disorganized which can be annoying.
It really just depends on what you'd rather do, just go through the undergrad calendar.
Old 01-31-2013 at 11:59 PM   #4
A_L3
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I'm in Mol Bio, and think it's a pretty great program. I obviously can't speak for biochem, but everyone that I know in that also likes it.
Ultimately, just go look at what you'll actually take in each program, see what looks good. You probably can't go too wrong.
If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask me. It's difficult to answer a question as broad as yours.
Quote:
I don't know about upper years, but in 2B and 2BB there are groups presentations, which I really dislike.
You get lots of presentations in third year (some solo, some group). Tutorials in third year simply become read paper, presentation on paper, discuss paper.
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Old 02-01-2013 at 07:18 AM   #5
kaitotst
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I'm not in mol bio, so I can't really tell you a perspective on that, but all I can tell you is that biochem is suuuper awesome.

The way the program works is completely different from first year, to the point where it might even be more chill and more interesting.

The program makes you take a full year inquiry course that introduces you to the fundamentals of biochemical laboratory techniques, how to do presentations in a formal manner, write reports, etc. The best part of a presentation is the question and answer period. It may sound stressful but you'll have a group of 6-10 people in every presentation you do for biochem and if everyone works hard (which people 90% of the time do) you'll have lots of fun learning new and awesome things, as well as become good friends w/ your members.

In terms of difficulty, I'd say it's not too bad. 2B03 biochemistry was a bit hard for me, since our professor was relatively on the harder side of the spectrum, nevertheless he's an amazing lecturer. You could really seen passion for the subject when he talks (but too bad he moved to UofT, so you'll never see him again). 2BB3's format makes the course pretty interesting too. it's 8 weekly quizzes, that are worth 5% each, having 5 questions per quiz, all mc (so each question = 1%), but the quizzes are pretty tricky.... and it forces you to study ahead of time.

The faculty I've met so far in biochem are really welcoming/nice/helpful, so you won't make the wrong decision if you choose to specialize in biochem next year.

But then again, don't look at the face value of the program. Join it because you have a passion/developing a passion for the field. The reason why I enjoy memorizing 20 amino acids, structural motifs and being able to stand looking at papers all the time is because I find all of this very interesting.
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