Chemistry and Microbiology

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Pathologist

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This fall I'm planning to take Gen Chem I and microbiology. I had two years of high school chemistry and got A's, but I'm kind of worried about college chem. Has anyone taken both of these at the same time? Did it cause you any problems? Thanks
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Pathologist:
This fall I'm planning to take Gen Chem I and microbiology. I had two years of high school chemistry and got A's, but I'm kind of worried about college chem. Has anyone taken both of these at the same time? Did it cause you any problems? Thanks
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Hey Path,

In my opinion, most high schools do not do a very good job at preparing students for university chem. However, given the fact that you have been getting A's in your courses, I would think that you will do fine!

Just familiarize yourself with big topics like Acid/Base Equilibrium, Titrations, Kinetics, Electrochemistry, Stoichiometry and Thermodynamics! Those tend to be the biggies in first year G-Chem. I'm not sure about your school but here, O-Chem is introduced in General Chem 1 ... You might want to get a head start reading up on those alkanes and alkenes.

As for taking G-Chem and micro together, I think that won't be a big problem. It's pretty much standard first yr stuff. I took Calculus 1, G-Chem 1, Bio 1, Physics 1 and Computing in my first semester and did fine.

Good Luck !
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Depends on what else you're taking with it and whether you mean gen chem I or II. Chem I will likely be very similar to what you took in high school, whereas chem II will probably get a bit more in depth (introduction to thermodynamics and quantum mechanics). Micro is completely memorization. And usually (at least at my university), there is a LOT of stuff to memorize - especially when you get into the immunology part. But I wouldn't worry much about taking them at the same time, especially if you have a good memory.
 
Those two classes seem very rasonable. if those two classes were all i had to worry about i would be very happy. Don't worry kid, it's going to get alot worse. if you can't handle those two together you should just forget the whole idea of medicine. It is good,however, that you are asking these types of questions in advance, and just to let you know med-schools do look at work-load. Hard classes taken together along with above average grades look very good! Notice i said above average grades, for all those people who think if you make a B your screwed... give me a break... i know plenty of people who have gotten in with multiple B's on their transcript, however they got in because their work load ws so heavy and they at least proved they were motivated and up to the challenge. Don't worry you'll do fine!
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Those two classes seem very rasonable. if those two classes were all i had to worry about i would be very happy. Don't worry kid, it's going to get alot worse. if you can't handle those two together you should just forget the whole idea of medicine. It is good,however, that you are asking these types of questions in advance, and just to let you know med-schools do look at work-load. Hard classes taken together along with above average grades look very good! Notice i said above average grades, for all those people who think if you make a B your screwed... give me a break... i know plenty of people who have gotten in with multiple B's on their transcript, however they got in because their work load ws so heavy and they at least proved they were motivated and up to the challenge. Don't worry you'll do fine!
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Don't worry, they'll be cake...
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Trust me... people worry entirely too much about that kind of stuff in undergrad. The class isn't self taught-- someone is getting PAID to teach you the BASICS of Chem (you said Chem I, right?)and Micro. People who are getting their gen-ed requirements will be with you, which will cause the professor to slow down and explain everything thoroughly--if they do their job, you'll be fine. Now later on in your 3XX and 4XX level classes, when the gen-ed's and wannabes are gone... look out
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take it easy

homonculus
 
ha. i'm majoring in chem/biochem/micro. have you taken any bio in high school? if not you may want to take semester of gen bio and hold off that micro. right now, i'm finshing up gen chem 2, and planning on taking micro next spring.
 
I'm pretty sure that gen bio is a prereq for micro in all universities. You need a good understanding of generic respiration to understand all of the different respiration exceptions that occur in various microbes (ugh...bringing back memories of green and purple sulfur bacteria).

In any event, I wholeheartedly agree with the above posters. Take a bunch of hard courses at once to start building up resistance. Otherwise, med school will seem like suffocation.

[This message has been edited by rxfudd (edited April 26, 2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by cap'n crunch:
ha. i'm majoring in chem/biochem/micro. have you taken any bio in high school? if not you may want to take semester of gen bio and hold off that micro. right now, i'm finshing up gen chem 2, and planning on taking micro next spring.

Yep, I've taken gen bio II and anatomy already. General bio is a requirement for micro. Thanks everyone for the advice
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