UNE online courses

[Jchen14]

Hey everyone,

I completed my undergrad this spring and took biochem and microbio in the summer which I received a C and a C+ (A- in the lab), respectively, which does not look on my application. I am contemplating taking pathophys and genetics or retake biochem and microbio online via UNE online.

Has anyone taken these courses online at UNE? If so, how hard were they? How long did the courses take? Any insight would be helpful. I'm not really sure what I'd be getting myself into if I go in blind. Plus, the only online course I ever took was medical terminology at my university during undergrad. 

 

P.S. Should I retake biochem and microbio OR should I take pathophys and genetics? Does it matter? I want to prove that I can do well in upper level bio courses.

[Jdabrowski]

Depends on what is considered a pre-req at the schools you want to apply at. If they are pre-reqs retake them and do well, if not I personally would still retake one and then take another course.

[Jchen14]

Depends on what is considered a pre-req at the schools you want to apply at. If they are pre-reqs retake them and do well, if not I personally would still retake one and then take another course.

Micro and biochem are prereqs at most of the schools I want to apply. Genetics is a prereq for a handful of schools that interest me, but not a prereq for any of the schools I plan on applying this coming up cycle.


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[Jdabrowski]

I would retake them and try to get the A all around. You've been through them once so you should know which concepts you didn't quite understand. Get the pre-reqs A's and that does help your application.

[mooredc]

Definitely retake Biochem and Micro. Also, (everyone who has seen me say this ignore me haha) I highly recommend Doane University's online program over UNE's. I can personally vouch that the biochem course is incredible and the professor is amazing (only one professor teaches the course) it is 8 weeks long and I couldnt have enjoyed it more. 

[Jchen14]

9 minutes ago, mooredc said:

Definitely retake Biochem and Micro. Also, (everyone who has seen me say this ignore me haha) I highly recommend Doane University's online program over UNE's. I can personally vouch that the biochem course is incredible and the professor is amazing (only one professor teaches the course) it is 8 weeks long and I couldnt have enjoyed it more. 

Thanks for the insight stranger! I can't find any info. on post bacc tuition costs for Doane. Can you link me? 

[mooredc]

18 minutes ago, Jchen14 said:

Thanks for the insight stranger! I can't find any info. on post bacc tuition costs for Doane. Can you link me? 

https://www.doane.edu/graduate-and-adult/prerequisites-for-the-health-professions

[Jchen14]

https://www.doane.edu/graduate-and-adult/prerequisites-for-the-health-professions

Awesome! Very comparable to UNE’s costs. Why do you think Doane is a better choice than UNE?


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[mooredc]

23 minutes ago, Jchen14 said:

Awesome! Very comparable to UNE’s costs. Why do you think Doane is a better choice than UNE?


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So I took organic at UNE and it was miserable. I was left to my own devices more or less. The only lectures were a guy reading powerpoints. He never even drew out a reaction but expected us to on tests. Miserable. 

Biochemistry at Doane was so engaging. The whole class is based off of being able to draw out reactions and complete assignments based off of mastering the material. There are very few exams. Instead, you must prove your comprehension by recording yourself teaching various topics and completing various assignments. It is hard to explain really, but it was awesome. And professor Beio, the guy who teaches it, is fantastic. He is in tune to the fact that most people taking the courses are adults trying to complete prerequisites and he caters the class to us. I just cant say enough good. And they dont even pay me to say the good that I do say! Haha

[Jchen14]

So I took organic at UNE and it was miserable. I was left to my own devices more or less. The only lectures were a guy reading powerpoints. He never even drew out a reaction but expected us to on tests. Miserable. 
Biochemistry at Doane was so engaging. The whole class is based off of being able to draw out reactions and complete assignments based off of mastering the material. There are very few exams. Instead, you must prove your comprehension by recording yourself teaching various topics and completing various assignments. It is hard to explain really, but it was awesome. And professor Beio, the guy who teaches it, is fantastic. He is in tune to the fact that most people taking the courses are adults trying to complete prerequisites and he caters the class to us. I just cant say enough good. And they dont even pay me to say the good that I do say! Haha

That’s great! I’ve heard mixed reviews regarding UNE’s courses in general. I would take the courses at a college but I’m working full time now and going to class would most definitely conflict with work.

Do most PA schools accept Doane’s online courses? I know that a lot of schools accept UNE’s which is why I was looking into taking class there.

Thank you so muchhhh for the help!!


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[mooredc]

19 minutes ago, Jchen14 said:

 

That’s great! I’ve heard mixed reviews regarding UNE’s courses in general. I would take the courses at a college but I’m working full time now and going to class would most definitely conflict with work.

Do most PA schools accept Doane’s online courses? I know that a lot of schools accept UNE’s which is why I was looking into taking class there.

Thank you so muchhhh for the help!!


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I got in to multiple programs, including Yale, with Doane courses. I dont say that to brag but instead just to show that schools with very strict rules accepted it. 

[Jchen14]

Definitely retake Biochem and Micro. Also, (everyone who has seen me say this ignore me haha) I highly recommend Doane University's online program over UNE's. I can personally vouch that the biochem course is incredible and the professor is amazing (only one professor teaches the course) it is 8 weeks long and I couldnt have enjoyed it more. 

Awesome, thank you. Did you take one course at a time or multiple courses concurrently?

How hard were the classes? I can probably commit 2-4 hours a day to them. I’m also studying to retake the GRE.


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[PACrankset]

Agree with above. I took Chem at UNE at it was terrible, same sort of thing reading from powerpoints. Another option is Mass General Institute of Health Professions. I took Biochem through them and it was a great class. Very engaging, thought the content was relevant. I also was accepted to multiple programs that required Biochem with that class. 

[tlhayes2020]

I think it depends on the classes you take at UNE. I took Genetics, Microbiology, and Nutrition all through UNE, did well, and was accepted into a great program. On the flip side of that, when I was doing research on online courses, I read a bunch of mixed reviews on several of the courses at UNE. It's probably what you make of it but best to have all of the information available.

P.S. I took each of those courses concurrently and probably spent 3-4 hours per night and finished in about 10 weeks (self-paced).

[PAortheHighway]

I took biochem through UNE online - wasn't terrible but also wasn't the best. Feel free to message me if you want any more info!

[Jchen14]

17 hours ago, milesHenson1 said:

Agree with above. I took Chem at UNE at it was terrible, same sort of thing reading from powerpoints. Another option is Mass General Institute of Health Professions. I took Biochem through them and it was a great class. Very engaging, thought the content was relevant. I also was accepted to multiple programs that required Biochem with that class. 

Never heard of them! The hard part of this online class process is researching which schools offer online courses and which PA programs accept online courses. 

How long was that class at MGIHP? How much did you pay?

[Jchen14]

19 hours ago, HawkIPA2020 said:

I think it depends on the classes you take at UNE. I took Genetics, Microbiology, and Nutrition all through UNE, did well, and was accepted into a great program. On the flip side of that, when I was doing research on online courses, I read a bunch of mixed reviews on several of the courses at UNE. It's probably what you make of it but best to have all of the information available.

P.S. I took each of those courses concurrently and probably spent 3-4 hours per night and finished in about 10 weeks (self-paced).

I researched SDN's UNE online course thread and some say that the courses they took were nightmares of a class. Studying 3-4 PER night for a class while managing to only score a B - this would break my soul.

[PACrankset]

4 hours ago, Jchen14 said:

Never heard of them! The hard part of this online class process is researching which schools offer online courses and which PA programs accept online courses. 

How long was that class at MGIHP? How much did you pay?

The class is a full semester long, which I think for them was about 12 weeks + or - a week. It is roughly the same price as the UNe program and $1,800. So not cheap but I thought it was a good class and I was able to have my current employer reimburse me for the tuition cost. Below is a link for the syllabus and other information.

https://www.mghihp.edu/academics-schools-departments-center-interprofessional-studies-and-innovation-online-23

 

[tlhayes2020]

2 hours ago, Jchen14 said:

I researched SDN's UNE online course thread and some say that the courses they took were nightmares of a class. Studying 3-4 PER night for a class while managing to only score a B - this would break my soul.

I had found the same information. Some of the classes have undergone changes in recent years so I'm not sure how much better that's made it. The main complaints seem to be against O Chem and Biochem. Again I managed to pull off A's in all three courses that I mentioned and learned a decent amount (especially genetics and nutrition). I think the big appeal with UNE is that the courses are self-paced and if you put your nose to the grindstone, you can potentially finish what is designed to be a 16-week course in as little as 3. So for example, if application deadline is approaching or CASPA is about to open and you really need the grade, you can speed through the course, get a pretty good grade (depending on the course), and get your final grade recorded in 24-48 hours and a transcript sent out and received by CASPA or your school within a week. 

I do agree though that it would be pretty demoralizing to put in so much work to eke out a B-. I think one of the big downsides with some of the UNE courses is how much a midterm or final exam could be weighted, especially if you've had a terrible professor. You could be performing well on everything in the course and get screwed because you didn't read the text underneath an obscure figure in the textbook...

[Jchen14]

20 hours ago, HawkIPA2020 said:

I had found the same information. Some of the classes have undergone changes in recent years so I'm not sure how much better that's made it. The main complaints seem to be against O Chem and Biochem. Again I managed to pull off A's in all three courses that I mentioned and learned a decent amount (especially genetics and nutrition). I think the big appeal with UNE is that the courses are self-paced and if you put your nose to the grindstone, you can potentially finish what is designed to be a 16-week course in as little as 3. So for example, if application deadline is approaching or CASPA is about to open and you really need the grade, you can speed through the course, get a pretty good grade (depending on the course), and get your final grade recorded in 24-48 hours and a transcript sent out and received by CASPA or your school within a week. 

I do agree though that it would be pretty demoralizing to put in so much work to eke out a B-. I think one of the big downsides with some of the UNE courses is how much a midterm or final exam could be weighted, especially if you've had a terrible professor. You could be performing well on everything in the course and get screwed because you didn't read the text underneath an obscure figure in the textbook...

How was the genetics course? During biology I and II, I particularly disliked genetics because it the subject just confused me. How many hours/week did you spend? I'd be open to taking it but it makes me nervous thinking about taking it online.

[tlhayes2020]

1 hour ago, Jchen14 said:

How was the genetics course? During biology I and II, I particularly disliked genetics because it the subject just confused me. How many hours/week did you spend? I'd be open to taking it but it makes me nervous thinking about taking it online.

The course content itself was okay because genetics is interesting. The delivery of the course definitely needs some work. The lecture was useless so I ended up using the book for most if not all of the class. That ended up being okay because the unit exams were open book/open note and so is the final exam. I also wasn't a huge fan of the required lab. I'm pretty sure that all of the other courses with UNE have an optional lab component. I'm not sure why this one was required. There was zero correlation of concept between lecture and lab so there was no need for it to be "required." The labs themselves were poorly designed (virtual labs are also an extra fee). The lab report questions were poorly worded leading to being docked nit-picky points. I spent 2-3 hours a night on genetics (which was the majority of my time spent) out of the three classes that I took. This included weekends mainly because I wanted to finish so that I could apply when it would still be considered "early." It wasn't my favorite course, but a necessary evil in order to reach the end goal. 

Overall, I would rate the class at a 5-10, mainly because I finished early and it helped my application a ton, and also because genetics is pretty interesting. My advice though, would be to take it elsewhere if you can. Only use UNE genetics as a last resort. Unfortunately, I was not able to find another alternative. Maybe a community college. 

Micro and nutrition were two of their better courses.

[KrebsCycle]

On ‎12‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 6:45 PM, tlhayes2020 said:

Micro and nutrition were two of their better courses.

Those that have taken Microbiology with Lab at UNE, can you offer some more details about the class? Is an A doable? 

Also, I've looked at the cost of the LabPaq alone and it's $323.00. Is that right? It seems awfully expensive.

 

Edited May 23, 2018 by KrebsCycle
typo

[roundabout]

I've seen quite a few programs that say that online classes are not accepted. Between every program having different prereqs and a handful of those programs not allowing online courses, did most of you just pick schools that fell within the margins of accepting online and having the majority of the same prereqs?

[nattyb]

On 5/23/2018 at 2:58 PM, KrebsCycle said:

Those that have taken Microbiology with Lab at UNE, can you offer some more details about the class? Is an A doable? 

Also, I've looked at the cost of the LabPaq alone and it's $323.00. Is that right? It seems awfully expensive.

 

I just finished up Micro with the lab at UNE. The class was definitely doable, and I got a 96% while working full time. The LabPaq is about $300, so all in all it totals just under $2,000 for the lecture and lab together if I remember correctly. Honestly it was really simple and easy to do. They only make you proctor the final exam- the rest you can consider "open note", so if you don't get an A you're probably not putting any effort in. The professor is really responsive, although I agree with previous posts that they basically read off of PowerPoint slides and don't put much extra effort in. I really learned from the textbook primarily; I stopped watching the lectures halfway through the course. You get 16 weeks to finish it, but I finished the course in 12 Weeks and was able to use the last 3-4 weeks to study for the final. 

[AllisonH]

I completed Micro & Biochem through UNE.  I hate online classes so for me I chose to take them at UNE so that I could finish them at my own pace.  My experience with Micro was similar to that of nattyb.  Though I found it quite stressful having so much of my final grade dependent on the one final exam!  Biochem was a bit more work. I ended up with a B- in that class but I also had to complete it in 3 weeks due to some personal issues so I was happy with my outcome given I was still working during that time as well. My biggest issue with Biochem was that it was a new professor, all the materials were from another professor and the new one didn't seem to know what was going on.  The new professor would contradict information presented by the new professor and he seemed to grade the required discussions in a rather haphazard manner.  But as I mentioned before, I needed to complete the material in a truncated timeline so I was a bit stuck.  Hope you find this helpful!