PhD admission requirements in transcript

[fornali]

Hello! I am very very new to grad cafe and my one question is what classes are required usually in undergrad for a PhD in Genetics? I am currently a sophomore in college studying biology, and I am planning on going on to get my PhD. My academic advisor is beginning to talk about classes that she believes I should take in undergrad to get into graduate programs, and we are currently at an impasse with Organic Chemistry II, which would give me a whole year in organic chemistry. I have tried to find specific lists on several different programs but I have not found much information

 

Thanks!

[AllieKat]

Current biochemistry PhD student that took biochem I pass/fail (skipped biochem II) in undergrad due to tight scheduling with my music degree. Not one soul asked me about it. I highly doubt anyone from a genetics/biomedical science program will care about you not taking organic II. But if you take it and get a C...a lower GPA could be a deciding factor down the road.

[BabyScientist]

Generally if you've taken the standard intro biology coursework they're cool with it 

[DRMF]

In my experience very few programs list specific course requirements (the few that do likely don't mean it seriously anyway - there was one Immunology program that still listed "virology" as a required class but I was assured by a senior faculty member at my school that that didn't matter). So one specific course by itself is not going to do much harm; however, an overall lack of relevant coursework will be damaging. Honestly, they've got so much to look at in an application, the transcript itself is likely not getting that much reading time except the GPA and maybe making sure there aren't too many Cs and such.

Also, I don't know about your school but my academic advisers were not the best source of information re: how to get into grad school for sciences, since most of them had humanities/social sciences degrees. Talking to real professors who serve on admission committees is much more important - go to those "How to get into grad school" panel talks and ask your questions there.

On another note if you want to leave MD or MD/PhD options open, that's a whole other story.