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Is taking First year biology absolutely necessary as an HKIN grad?


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Hey there everyone. 

I've been trying to get a solid answer on this idea for a while and maybe y'all have some insight to this. I am a Bachlors of Human Kinetcs (BHKIN) holder with a solid GPA, but I have the absolute disadvantage right now of not having a lot of hard science pre-req's that most schools want. As a result, I am going back to school and acquire these. Right now I am retaking A&P (too old) and also Org Chem and Biochem right now as I got waivered access into these courses through their respective departments (I have taken gen chem req's already). My only issue right now is that I am seeing a lot of schools requiring first-year biology hardfast, which is a huge bummer because I have already been exposed to a lot of the material that would be required for PA school in other HKIN courses. Is it the lab hours they are looking for, I wonder? I dunno.. I am super frustrated already with having to retake some courses because I am a more mature student and am trying to save wherever I can in retaking courses. Am planning on trying to push past pre-reqs to get into either Cell Biology or Genetics. 

Is there more information on what makes the first year bio's mandatory? 

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I hate bio too, but it's a basic medical science requirement for most programs. Trying to "push past pre-reqs" won't get you too far, unfortunately - there are tens of thousands of other applicants who do meet the prereqs, and your application will most likely get auto-rejected if you don't meet the stated requirements. My advice would be to take the bio series at your local community college. Good luck! 

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Each program decides what is mandatory.  In order to get 100% accurate answers, you'd have to ask each individually.  It's likely the content more than the lab but that doesn't mean there's any way to get it waived.

Take it at a community college and call it a day.  

Unfortunately as stated above, there are thousands of applicants for every available seat and programs don't need to make accommodations to fill their classes.  A lot of applicants find themselves retaking courses for the sake of meeting admission requirements.  It's the name of the game.

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I am a big fan of each candidates achievements and experiences being taken into account rather than solid prereq requirements. I liken the application process to dating, its a numbers game and if a person does not fulfill your basic desires in a partner you would never even give them the chance.

The prereqs for a course are just the basics, I had to learn that the hard way. Even though in my mind I would be the perfect candidate to them I could not even get 10 hours of shadowing even though I have worked with PA's for thousands of hours one on one. Or my GPA was 3.39 and they wanted 3.4 even though I have over 300 credit hours. Or my basic biology class was 10 years ago even though I have taken a dozen advanced biology courses over the past 5 years. 

You will never be able to push past the minimum requirements. Take it from me, its not worth the money you have to pay for application fees. You need to be able to get your interview for them to consider you. There are online courses that are more expensive by a small margin that can be taken in 8 weeks or less that can fill your gaps.

  

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 I will echo what has been mentioned above. I had to bite the bullet and take General Biology 1 and 2 last fall in order to check off some boxes for my applications this cycle. It was frustrating at the time, but I took them online and had them both completed in 10 weeks. Now, I know not all schools accept online labs or sciences in general so you have to look into that aspect, but it took the sting out of needing to complete those classes in a traditional 16 weeks per class scenario. I will say, having a bachelor of science already and (at the time) nearly 200 credit hours of transcripts with some upper level BIO, and as you said being a more "mature" student, that I learned quite a bit in those classes. Plus, if its 2 more A's you're adding in there, even better for your GPA!

To answer your question about why its a requirement, I do not have much insight into it besides the fact that the extreme competitiveness of getting into these programs has admission committees working to come up with what they feel will get them the type of applicants they desire applying to their programs. 

I start PA school this January, and although GEN BIO 1 and 2 were not pre-reqs for the particular program I was accepted to, adding those credits and the A's that came with them did nothing but improve my application. Eye on the prize.

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