Biological and Biomedical Science

BarnhallBull

Hi, i've just finished the Leaving Cert and have applied to do Biological and Biomedical Science in NUIM with a view to hopefully doing medicine as a mature student when i'm finished (points for medicine are just too high:()

Could anybody who's currently doing the course maybe give me some info about it please? Or anyone else thinking about doing it next year share anything you've heard?

Thanks

xXx-Ginny-xXx

hi!!

thinkin of doing that next year (still undecided between that and science ed). i heard the points are well below 400!! and you get a clinical placement which wud be good for medicine...hopefully someone else has more inhf on it i need it also:D:D:D:D

thaks :pxxxxxx:p

BarnhallBull

You get a clinical placement? I didn't even know that, that's great! I was going to do general science as it obviously gives you more options but I really want to do medicine and apparently this is a good degree to lead into it...

As for the points, i think they were 380 last year but they've been dropping by about 10 a year so they shouldn't be too high. I don't know where you're from but i only live a few minutes from the college so i know a load of people there and they all love it:o

Fingers crossed!

brozio

hi I have just finished my degree in biological sciences, i was very happy with the course overall, if your interested in the medical side of things this course is far better than general science. you get more options in the modules that you can do compared to general science (particularly in 3rd and 4th years).
I would highly reccomend this course to anybody who is interested in the medical side of biology and the fact that the course now has a clinical placement option makes it even better (I wish I had that option!).
Good Luck

Lor-Aine

hi,

I've just finished first year. Just a few things I think might help:

- they accepted almost twice as many people last year (71 instead of 40) by accident so thats why the points went down instead of up.

- As far as I know to get a clinical placement is very rare and It takes up a lot of time in your final year meaning less time to study

- For us they decided to drop QM maths (lower level) and everybody had to do higher level and I know almost everybody had huge difficulties with but I think that they are letting people do it this year.

Anyway I really enjoyed the first year and i intend on doing medicine in the end as well. Its really interesting and I think it would be better than general science if you want to do medicine.

I just thought I'd let you know bout them things before you decide.

eamoss

Lor-Aine wrote: »

- For us they decided to drop QM maths (lower level) and everybody had to do higher level and I know almost everybody had huge difficulties with but I think that they are letting people do it this year.

That was for everyone who was studying Maths in first year, Science and Arts both had to study standard Maths but tbh if you did higher level Maths you should have no problem doing the Maths.

Like anything if you put in the work you will be fine. Which fúck all of first years do.

As for the course I know people doing it but cant remember how they find it.

BarnhallBull

Thanks a million Brozio, Lor-Aine, Eamoss, really appreciate it:o

Lor-Aine did you do Honours maths for the LC? I did pass but that was mainly so i could properly concentrate on my other subjects without the extra work needed for honours, i probably could have got an honour in higher level if i put the work in, I just made the decision to cut back on that and focus more on my other subjects, is the maths on this course really difficult or is it manageable for someone who is OK at maths?

eamoss

Have a look for yourself these are the exam papers for all of the modules that first year science does
MT101s
MT102s
MT111s
MT122s

BarnhallBull

Thanks Eamoss, that looks pretty tough actually! I guess it wouldn't be so bad once i learned it though... hopefully!:eek:

moggins7

Lor-Aine wrote: »

hi,
- For us they decided to drop QM maths (lower level) and everybody had to do higher level and I know almost everybody had huge difficulties with but I think that they are letting people do it this year.

one more reason to love the math physics department. best part was it was only the bio students that were complaining... and i bet you passed so stop your belly aching...:p:cool:

The guy

moggins7 wrote: »

one more reason to love the math physics department. best part was it was only the bio students that were complaining... and i bet you passed so stop your belly aching...:p:cool:

Not everyone in Bio was complaining, the people who complained the loudest never showed up to lectures.

pippa87

hi
i just started this course in nuim a few weeks ago, love the biology and biomedical science parts, really interesting, i took up chemistry which im finding difficult but i suppose its learnable,
the huge problem i have tho is the maths, it says when applying that u need a D3 in ordinary maths, which is very misleading as the maths in this course is very difficult,:eek:alot of ppl are having problems with it, it is honours maths so i would say to anyone applying for this course check what the maths is like to see if u think u can do it, im thinking of dropping out due to this.

Michellenman

pippa87 wrote: »

hi
i just started this course in nuim a few weeks ago, love the biology and biomedical science parts, really interesting, i took up chemistry which im finding difficult but i suppose its learnable,
the huge problem i have tho is the maths, it says when applying that u need a D3 in ordinary maths, which is very misleading as the maths in this course is very difficult,:eek:alot of ppl are having problems with it, it is honours maths so i would say to anyone applying for this course check what the maths is like to see if u think u can do it, im thinking of dropping out due to this.

Get thyself to the maths support centre!

http://supportcentre.maths.nuim.ie/

Duddy

Make sure to know yer Immunology, Molecular Bio, and Biochemistry - nearly all the modules have some factors of these in them.

There's a marking scheme on the noticeboards about exam answers that's really helpful (B = Good answer, some originality etc), and we've been told many times that while the lecture notes will get you a 2.2/2.1, lecture notes and some outside reading will get you a first.

Oh, and try get some placement work in the summers, in a lecturer's lab (good grades needed) or in a hospital (ring em and see) or in industry (usually a friend of a friend type thing)

Hairspray

Heya i'm a 4th year doing this course and i love it! I would highly recomend it to anyone who loves biology and science but has no interest in chemistry, maths or physics.

The maths in 1st year is very hard especially if you did ordinary for the leaving. However if you knuckle down in and go to everything the math support center has to offer you will pass. The best part about this course for me was easily getting to do the arts option in 1st year. I chose antropology and doing this really confirmed for me that arts wasn't for me at all and that science is what i love!

In terms of placements i've done 2 weeks work shadowing in the matter hospital medlabs in 2009 and then this summer i did a 10 week research project in NUIG. Now im in my final year i get to do a 16 week research project which so far is pretty good.

This course dosen't have any speciality which at times when talking to people from other colleges can seem like a downside. It isnt really as you come out of this course a well rounded biomedical scientist that has the ability to read any paper or study any course and have some idea what it is going on.

Overall a very underatted excellent course that i would highly recomend .

LeixlipRed

Hairspray wrote: »

Heya i'm a 4th year doing this course and i love it! I would highly recomend it to anyone who loves biology and science but has no interest in chemistry, maths or physics.

Scary that after four years you can't see how those 4 disciplines are interlinked and everything you do is underpinned by maths as well. That's my main issue with this course. There's never any attempt to explain to students how maths and biology are related. The biology department don't even want to mention maths in case people are scared off. I truly believe there are people out there who've qualified from this degree but can't add fractions. Scary stuff.

Hairspray

What i meant was not everyone wants to study chemistry for 4 years when they intend on having a career in the biological sciences.

FYI i do understand where chem, maths and physics comes in.
Chem is in all cellular interactions, if you dont get that you won't make it through second year.

Physics is in the machinery that is used to for analysis of samples e.g mass spec, spectrophotometery, FACS. If you can't understand the principles of physics and how they can be applied to biology then it will be hard to understand your results.

And finally maths! Maths is everywhere in a biologists work from the fact that rates of change is in cell growth, using simple maths for cell counts and complex statistics to find out if your results are actually worth something.

FYI cell count uses fractions.