Confused on Organic Chem for transfer

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Vault-Tec

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Hey all,
So throughout high school and college I've been told that ochem should be taken at a 4-Year institution. But I've been reading the articulation agreements for schools such as UCLA (Major: Physiological Sciences) and they say you MUST complete one semester of organic chemistry, preferably two, prior to transfer.

Am I missing something here, or is this the new normal? Some of the departments at my target schools have implied that some of their pre-reqs are no longer optional but mandatory due to higher competition. But I wanted to know if anyone has talked to a counselor/advisor specifically about this ochem issue.

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Hey all,
So throughout high school and college I've been told that ochem should be taken at a 4-Year institution. But I've been reading the articulation agreements for schools such as UCLA (Major: Physiological Sciences) and they say you MUST complete one semester of organic chemistry, preferably two, prior to transfer.

Am I missing something here, or is this the new normal? Some of the departments at my target schools have implied that some of their pre-reqs are no longer optional but mandatory due to higher competition. But I wanted to know if anyone has talked to a counselor/advisor specifically about this ochem issue.
In your case, you obviously have to take ochem prior to transfer. I believe you'd be an exception to the general rule, which I'm sure is aimed more at people attending 4 year schools looking for an easier time by taking some weed out classes away from their home institutions rather than people like you, who are going to have an Associates degree prior to transfer to a a 4 year school.
 
In your case, you obviously have to take ochem prior to transfer. I believe you'd be an exception to the general rule, which I'm sure is aimed more at people attending 4 year schools looking for an easier time by taking some weed out classes away from their home institutions rather than people like you, who are going to have an Associates degree prior to transfer to a a 4 year school.
Thanks for the reply, I think I see what you mean...people who start at 4-years but try and take ochem at a CC. But this whole time I've heard from other CC transfer students to follow the same logic: postpone ochem until after transfer to be a more competitive med school applicant. Some pre-med classmates are doing this but they are on the transfer admission guarantee with UC Davis so maybe their pre-reqs are slightly different.

I was surprised that the standards could be that different between schools in the UC system. Guess I just needed to hear advice it from someone with more perspective on the pre-med pathway.
 
Thanks for the reply, I think I see what you mean...people who start at 4-years but try and take ochem at a CC. But this whole time I've heard from other CC transfer students to follow the same logic: postpone ochem until after transfer to be a more competitive med school applicant. Some pre-med classmates are doing this but they are on the transfer admission guarantee with UC Davis so maybe their pre-reqs are slightly different.

I was surprised that the standards could be that different between schools in the UC system. Guess I just needed to hear advice it from someone with more perspective on the pre-med pathway.
You totally get it. Med schools prefer prereqs at 4 year schools, but, every year, a lot of people are accepted with at least some prereqs at CCs, for whatever reason. You needing it to be able to transfer is as good a reason as I can think of. Just make sure you really do need it to transfer. If so, don't worry. It's not the end of the world.

A lot of people report admissions success with Cs in ochem at 4 year schools, so I can't imagine taking it a CC would be disqualifying. If you are ultimately unsuccessful, it absolutely will not be because of the one ochem class.
 
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