Hi! I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on taking Organic Chemistry 1 and Organic Chemistry 2 in the summer ( during back to back sessions), such as taking Orgo 1 in session 1 and Orgo 2 in session 2 of the summer. The reason for me doing this is because a lot of the upper level classes require, orgo 1 and orgo 2 as a pre req. I also was thinking to do this because I would be able to ONLY focus on Orgo during the summer. I am planning to apply to Med school later on and I was wondering if this sends a bad message or is it a good message since it would be more intense during the summer. Thanks
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Organic Chemistry in the summer?
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Summer classes tend to be easier or the same. Admissions won't really care when you take it. If the extra $$ for summer classes is not prohibitive for you and you aren't missing out on better opportunities to spend the summer, then it's fine to take it as a summer class.
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Probably fine, don't make it a habit. If have a course or here(prereq) that is over the summer, it's most likely fine, if it becomes a trend, that can mean trouble.
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Oh god, don't do it.
In all honesty, if you're taking it back to back and know you'll be OK with crying and dry heaving all the time due to anxiety, do it. (I'm being facetious, but it's rough! Seriously, OChem is something that I've realized you have to let sink in, and summer sometimes just moves way too fast for that.) That being said, if OChem 1 and 2 are going to be back to back throughout the summer, give it a shot (if you don't care about getting a break this summer.) However, I took one semester of OChem over the summer and then hated myself because of the burnout the next semester. I'm lucky my program has a generous drop deadline, or else a 'W' would have been on my transcript.
I'm currently a post-bacc, and the pace was rough on many of my classmates-- the majority of us entering the 2nd semester in the fall felt the burnout, and this accelerated semester convinced our professor to just not do a 6 week summer course in OChem ever again. My 19 year old cousin (also pre-med) took it at the same time and when I would come home to visit, we would sit, study together and mostly cry and eat our feelings. (I wish I was joking...)
If you're going to do this: Don't. Fall. Behind. Do all the homework, go to your professor's office hours constantly-- for every course credit hour, multiply that by 3, and that's how much you should be studying for that class at least per week. Good luck if you decide to take it.
In all honesty, if you're taking it back to back and know you'll be OK with crying and dry heaving all the time due to anxiety, do it. (I'm being facetious, but it's rough! Seriously, OChem is something that I've realized you have to let sink in, and summer sometimes just moves way too fast for that.) That being said, if OChem 1 and 2 are going to be back to back throughout the summer, give it a shot (if you don't care about getting a break this summer.) However, I took one semester of OChem over the summer and then hated myself because of the burnout the next semester. I'm lucky my program has a generous drop deadline, or else a 'W' would have been on my transcript.
I'm currently a post-bacc, and the pace was rough on many of my classmates-- the majority of us entering the 2nd semester in the fall felt the burnout, and this accelerated semester convinced our professor to just not do a 6 week summer course in OChem ever again. My 19 year old cousin (also pre-med) took it at the same time and when I would come home to visit, we would sit, study together and mostly cry and eat our feelings. (I wish I was joking...)
If you're going to do this: Don't. Fall. Behind. Do all the homework, go to your professor's office hours constantly-- for every course credit hour, multiply that by 3, and that's how much you should be studying for that class at least per week. Good luck if you decide to take it.
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I agree with you.
It's doable but it's really hard
Depending on professor you will hate it or love it
Good luck
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I did this. Got As in lecture and lab. I thought that it was easier than I expected until I started to see the exam averages and the amount of people dropping. I didn't go anywhere during the class, spent all weekend studying and I got a head start on reading the first 10 chapters +problems before the class started. I think that's why I thought it was easy, I was always ahead in the reading and had time to go to office hours and do lots of problems. Meanwhile people were falling behind in the reading from week one, that will kill you.
Do the reading, stay on pace or ahead and do lotssss of problems. You can focus only on Orgo if you choose to.
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It's definitely do-able if you put in a lot of hard and consistent studying time. However, I wouldn't recommend it. Since summer classes are so condensed, a lot of important material is glossed over or left out entirely. Further, because summer classes are so short, most students aren't able to take the information they've "learned" and store it as long-term memory. It's a lot easier to retain information you take in over the course of a normal semester-length class. This becomes very important when to start studying for the MCAT. Take it from someone who's taken both hardcore sciences and gen eds in summer, I'd only recommend taking gen eds in summers unless it's an easy intro science class or a low-yield science like ecology (definitely not orgo).
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I'm taking Orgo 1 over the course of this summer, and I'm dreading it. I think I'd probably lose my marbles if I tried to take both Orgo I and Orgo II in that time. But I haven't taken a chemistry class since 1999, so you're probably a lot more capable of making it work than I am.
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Don't do it, relax and enjoy your summers! Do some volunteering, shadow a doctor, the class will always be there. The free time won't be.
I took Orgo 1/2 over the summer as a first time taker/post-bac. student. Honestly, if I didn't have to do so given my timeline, I would have dropped after the first week of Orgo 1. I realize other people here are saying some schools offer less rigorous coverage as it is condensed however the University I attended covered every topic just as a regular semester course would. Needless to say, 10 hours of lecture and 8 hours of lab weekly was awful. Additionally, that doesn't include lab prep time nor prep time for class/studying for exams (3 exams and a final). Overall, if you need to do it, it's definitely possible. However, if it isn't necessary, I'd recommend against it (then again, this is very dependent on how Orgo is taught at your school). If you decide to proceed with taking it over the summer, definitely don't let yourself fall behind!
