Chem 2 Lab; Necessary?

[wackzack]

Hi all, I am a post-bacc premed student. I took General Chem 2 over the summer, but they were not offering the lab and suggested I take it in the fall or spring. I am working full time, however, (at an HIV research Institute) and do not have the time to take the lab in addition to my other courses. If I wanted to take the Chem 2 lab it would have to be next fall after I finished my other courses, but this would force me to delay me application another year.

Is the fact that I never took Gen Chem 2 lab going to affect my application and if so, how much. Otherwise, I am doing very well. I have a 3.8 GPA in my science courses.

thanks
wackzack

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[IvyHopeful20]

Yes, it's necessary. It's a requirement at pretty much every medical school that you take Physics with lab, chem with lab, biology with lab and o-chem with lab. Unfortunately, it's very highly unlikely you'll be able to get around that.

As for how much? Well, you're not going to get in without taking it. Some schools allow you take pre-reqs while applying, so you can apply and only apply to those schools. If you do have to make that choice, make a decision on whether the opportunity cost of a year less of a physician salary is more or less important than a year of whatever you're doing now instead of taking the lab.

 

[Catalystik]

Looking through the msar, There are 17 US mainland med schools that don't require Gen Chem lab. Many are not OOS friendly.

Most schools don't require completion of the prerequisites until matriculation, so you could take it during the application year.

 

[wanderer]

More importantly, how many schools need a year of lab for each science. I remember looking into this the first time I applied since I hadn't taken a second bio lab. Most schools had vague descriptions on what was acceptable, but I think most want a full year of lab.

Also if you take upper level lab (like p-chem) you could probably get away with not taking chem 2 lab.