Hi,

I am very confused between the two programs (biochem biomed and mol bio) for Second year. I was reading through the courses and I find both of them interesting, but am more inclined towards biochem. But some of my friends were telling me that molecular bio is easier and biochem is very hard comparitively. Is that true? Also how are the labs like? what do u do in them?

Thanks in advance.

Difficulty is subjective...

The Mol Bio lab course (3V03) was a cloning experiment where you had to clone a segment of DNA into a plasmid and determine what its function is. Lab reports took a lot of time as usual with a lot of it being dedicated towards online research and critical thinking.

Originally Posted by ~AKU~

Hi,

I am very confused between the two programs (biochem biomed and mol bio) for Second year. I was reading through the courses and I find both of them interesting, but am more inclined towards biochem. But some of my friends were telling me that molecular bio is easier and biochem is very hard comparitively. Is that true? Also how are the labs like? what do u do in them?

Thanks in advance.

Don't pick a program based on what other people tell you is easy or hard. If you're interested in biochem, do that. Plenty of people enter biochem every year and do just fine. If you're interested in it, it won't feel like as much work, because you'll actually like it.

Orgo labs are like first year chem. I don't have personal experience with 2L06, but I remember a lot of people complaining about it at the time but then in third year they were glad they took it and learned a lot and found it a valuable course. From what I gather, it's a lot of work, but a great learning experience. **** labs are...****. That course has changed from when I took it, though.

If you're in specialization and taking bioorgo in third year, those labs are very interesting and not difficult either.

Also, if you take the right courses, you should be able to switch between biochem and mol bio if you enter one and decide you don't like it and want to try the other. It's not guaranteed though, because they're both limited enrollment programs.

Thanks! And as u guys said, if you r interested in something, u shouldn't mind working hard! So i think I will go with biochem

Good choice, its a great program. Second year is the same for everyone in biochem, then in 3rd year if you're in specialization you'll do another lab-based course (3P03), 1 or 2 more specialized courses, and a thesis. If you stay in core, you get a lot more electives, but a lot of them have to be biochem or similar courses, and you don't get the research experience from the 3P03 and thesis (although you could still do a thesis).