I’m a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology concentrator. Most of my sophomore year was spent taking concentration requirements/pre-medicine requirements. I did explore some of my interests that were outside of my concentration as well. Feel free to reach out to me for any questions regarding these courses at my email jelynn_ellianna_tatad@brown.edu.
Fall 2021
CHEM0360 – Organic Chemistry II
- Part three of the infamous chemistry sequence. A dreaded requirement for those who are pre-med, but most certainly very possible to do well in, despite its reputation of being difficult. A strong foundation of Organic Chemistry I (likely from some summer reviewing) is imperative to do well.
- Incredibly problem-solving heavy course, even more so than in the first course of the sequence. Homework assignments were few and far between, but valuable in gauging knowledge of content. HIGHLY recommend using the suggested textbook problems to regularly test your knowledge.
- Just like in CHEM0350, there are TA-designed packets that can help you get more practice with the different types of reactions you might encounter in exams. Be warned that these packets actually tend to be much more complicated than the exams are designed to be, as they’re meant to ensure that you know these topics like the back of your hand.
- In my year, I was taught by Professor Charles Morton and Paul Williard, and we had 3 midterm exams and a final that had both an in-person exam and a take-home portion. Be warned that this is to change, as Professor Matthew Zimmt is usually in charge of the course and will return to campus in Fall 2022 to teach the course again.
- CHEM0360 on The Critical Review
BIOL0800 – Principles of Physiology
- Possibly the most common biology course that is used to fulfill a pre-med biology with lab course. Also the most relevant, along with genetics. This course gives a strong foundation on the functions of some of the key systems of the body.
- Assignments included weekly quizzes, lab reports, and non-cumulative exams. The quizzes and exams were more application-based questions, while lab was more straightforward. Personally, I struggled a bit with the assignments.
- In this semester, the course was completely online, with pre-recorded lectures and lab portions. This will change as of Fall 2022.
- BIOL0800 on The Critical Review
PHP1510 – Principles of Biostatistics and Data Analysis
- A very low-stress statistics course that has applications to public health. Teaches basic statistics topics along with some R, which isn’t difficult for programming noobs to learn.
- Assignments included 3 homework assignments, two take-home midterms, and a final paper. All of these were pretty low-stress and easy to complete.
KREA0100 – Korean I
- This course gives a strong foundation on basics of the Korean language. I personally really enjoyed this course, not only for its content but also because our course had a strong friendship-like bond from doing speaking practices together.
- Meets every day for about an hour and will usually have some sort of TA speaking section (in my semester, we had it weekly for 30 minutes).
- Does have assignments almost daily (at least when Professor Cheol-Rin Park taught it. He left after Spring 2022 semester), so be aware of that. In my opinion, these assignments didn’t take a while. These included writing vocabulary words 3 times each, completing quizlet sets, finishing workbook problems, and correcting said-workbook problems.
- On top of forementioned weekly assignments, we had a midterm group interview, 2 one minute speeches, a writing assignment, and a final group presentation. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but I do find it to have been my most fulfilling course that I’ve ever taken.
- KREA0100 on The Critical Review
Spring 2022
BIOL0280 – Introductory Biochemistry
- The “final” course in the chemistry sequence, despite not being in the chemistry department. This class is a requirement for almost all pre-health students and a vast majority of biology-related concentrations. The course goes into protein function, macromolecule processes, and central dogma process in a lot of detail, so be prepared to devote a lot of time into this course.
- The professors changed every few weeks, which made it difficult to get used to a teaching style or know what exactly might be tested on.
- We had weekly assignments on Sapling (homework software). These didn’t really correlate with what would be tested on the exam, and professors were transparent about the fact that homework was primarily used to de-emphasize the weight of exams on our grades.
- We had a whopping 4(!!) exams total (including a final), but these were non-cumulative. It was difficult to study for these, as question styles would change with the professors.
- BIOL0280 on The Critical Review
BIOL0500 – Cell and Molecular Biology
- This course goes into topics relating to cell organelles and central dogma. I personally took it as I was told its content was quite complementary to BIOL0280, but in my opinion, it didn’t help too much. I would say it would be more beneficial if you take BIOL0500 before BIOL0280, as opposed to concurrently.
- As someone who took a lot of introductory biology courses prior to this class, I found the content a bit dry and I had learned a lot of the topics before. I would not recommend taking BIOL0500 if you took BIOL0200, NEUR0010, and BIOL0800 already, as the topics were a bit redundant.
- Grade is primarily determined by the three noncumulative exams. We had weekly section that provided a decent bit of extra credit.
- BIOL0500 on The Critical Review
KREA0200 – Korean II
- The second semester counterpart of the introductory Korean sequence. I found that the coursework ramped up a lot, and I was a lot more lost than I was in KREA0100. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the course, though I will not be continuing the Korean language sequence.
- Same class structure and assignments as KREA0100, except the vocabulary word assignment was replaced with writing sentences with vocabulary words.
- KREA0200 on The Critical Review
UNIV0123 – Practical Introduction to Peer Advising
- A brand new, half-credit, mandatory S/NC course that is devoted to the theories behind peer advising. A very low-stress class that opens up priority into peer advising positions you may be interested in, such as the Meiklejohn Peer Advising Program, Peer Career Advising, Health Careers Peer Advising, and more!
- There are weekly lectures and sections that are led by students in the Meiklejohn Program. Assignments include weekly discussion posts, the Meiklejohn application as our midterm, and a group final project targeting any advising aspect you’re interested in.
- All in all, it’s a very interesting course that is really flexible with how you can approach its assignments. Would definitely recommend!