"Medical Microbiology" at Harvard?

[lizzo76]

Sorry, not a question about what post-bac I should go to, or anything like that...

I am currently taking prereqs at the Harvard Extension School. I am not completely sure that I am working towards med school, but maybe towards rehabilitation science or a related field... possibly even nurse practitioner. In any case, I would like to take Microbio but the class offered at HES is "Medical Microbiology" - apparently, they focus on the material which is relevant in human disease states. At least one of my potential programs will accept this. Has anyone taken this class? Thoughts? Hard? Easy? The professor is Tara Mann, who I think also teaches biochem.

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[common man]

couldn't find much info.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=876878

i'm sure the class will be rigorous but manageable. i guess hes won't let you see the course evaluations to decide. i'm not at the campus but i think these instructors are nice and approachable. i'd just go in and chat with her.

 

[NJD519]

From what I heard, the Biochemistry course taught by her was a bit challenging -- so you can judge from that. However, it is noteworthy to say that Biochemistry is challenging in general, and the information I got about the course was from only one person. Nonetheless, if you're not looking at MD, NP (like you said you might), PA, Ph.D., etc... then something like Medical Microbiology isn't necessary IMO. But if you are, then it's definitely nice to have taken, and looks good on your transcript.

I took it undergrad and I found it very interesting, but still challenging. Personally, In your situation -- taking the pre-reqs and all -- I think you should have at it. It might give you some insight on whether or not you still would want to pursue medicine, with respect to its material and difficulty.

But this is just me babbling.

 

[spaceships]

I'm also wondering about this class. It sounds fascinating. From what I heard about her biochem class though, she was rather disorganized and didn't really put in effort to tie concepts to applications in medicine, or make it interesting and relevant in any way.

Lizzo, have you been able to talk to anyone else about their biochem experience? That would clue us in a bit. (I'm not in the Boston area right now.)

 

[paperaeroplane]

I have a friend who took biochem with her last semester, and while she said it was not the best teaching experience, that it was a manageable class. Not super easy, but definitely possible to do well in.

 

[lizzo76]

Thanks for all the responses. I think it looks fascinating, but I decided not to take it. I realized that it would conflict with A&P II... the microbio class would be on the same night as my A&P lab, and overlap with the last half hour of lab... plus at least one of the microbio midterms is scheduled for the same date as one of the labs (which we don't have every week, but are always on Wednesdays when we do.) So there, I've got both the overlap problem and the whole issue of not being able to review right before the exam, as I like to do.

Oh well... I may take it next year.