Medical How can I get general Chemistry pre-medical requirement if I didn't take in high school?

[Catalystik]

Okay so I'm currently in my second semester of college, and i'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I dropped out of high school, and I obviously can't go back in time and change the fact that I never took high school chemistry or physics (which is one of the pre-reqs to take Gen Chem 1 at my institution) so my only option is to take CHEM-101 Survey of Chemistry (which I of course will not be able to use as a prereq for Gen Chem 2, nor will it allow me to take Gen Chem 1.) However, my school has introduced to me a unique pathway to be able to take Gen Chem 2, and I'd like to know how adcoms will view this. So next Fall, I'll be taking the survey course, then during the Spring, the same professor will allow me to audit his Gen Chem 1 class (for which I'll receive an AU on my transcript.) All of the professors here that teach Gen Chem 2 will allow students following this pathway (whom haven't taken high school chemistry or physics) to take their Gen Chem 2 class. How will this be looked at by med schools? I'm constantly hearing from people in medicine about how understanding they are towards certain circumstances. Will this potentially be one of them? Thanks in advance.

This approach will not fulfill the published admission requirement of many med schools. You need a graded, in-person class for the prerequisites, including Chem I, or your application list of potential med schools will be seriously limited. Yes, some schools don't "require" Chem I. And some "might" provide a waiver of the requirement, but if they won't or can't, it might be too late to get the class in prior to matriculation, and then you would not be allowed to start med school.

Instead, look into the option of taking Introductory Chemistry at a CC or on-line. Ask your advisor if those options would allow you to qualify for Chem I at your school. Keep in mind that wherever you take it, the grade will be included in your application GPAs by the med school application service, so give it your best.

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[Mr.Smile12]

You also need to be sure the chemistry class you take is appropriate for majors in chemistry and biology. There is usually a chemistry for non-science majors at every institution, which it sounds like you have been presented as your option to fulfill the requirements. Don't do that.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you very much for your responses. I’ve researched all 28 schools on my list and only one (Harvard) makes even the slightest mention of whether or not the courses should be taken at the major level. And even they simply say that the courses should be “comparable” to major level courses. I didn’t know what to do with this info (or lack there of) so I figured I’d keep this thread going and get you guys’ take on this?

Do you really believe most applicants to Harvard take less rigorous classes because of what Harvard says are its minimal requirements? You can stick out as the outlier in a way that harms your chances because you choose not to be on par with others who are successful in the admissions process if you want to. I would rather know what would make my application desirable in a crowded field of smart applicants.

 

[lord999]

To the OP, no, there is not a specific requirement because certain schools have different offerings at the Chemistry level for the intro class, but if you read the overall requirements for medical schools, all classes must be taken for a science major level not necessarily the individual major. To paraphrase @Mr.Smile12 , who actually is an active Admissions Officer, all science classes (and really all classes) must be able to satisfy a science major's requirement in both contact hour and rigor, but that can be variable. For example at my university, Bio, Material, and Chemical Engineers DO NOT take the university General Chemistry class, they get a version called Inorganic Chemistry for Engineers, but as that class has the same rigor (just a bit more heavy on the kinetics and thermodynamics as a preview to the upper division Thermo/Heat and Mass Transfer classes, and more emphasis on transition element chemistry to deal with material science, and less emphasis on stoichiometry since it's assumed that you can balance an equation when you show up). The majors class for General Chemistry is also sectioned off and is restricted to true majors in Chemistry/Biochemistry, because their second semester covers the topic with a more rigorous version of Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis in preparation for Chemistry major's "favorite" class for detail oriented work, Instrumental Analysis and Analytical Chemistry. Everyone else who needs the General Chemistry for their science majors takes another class that does not have either topic focus. The third is the baseline class that most medical schools assume, however, the other class sequences would be acceptable as they are at least as serious if topically a bit different. But that's why the flexibility exists, it is not because we want our applicants to take the bare minimum, we want the class that they take to be applicable to their actual major if they must take the sequence for anyway without unduly penalizing them for topic overlap. As for the above three, they are different in style and topic presentation, but they all cover at least the bare minimum of the curriculum necessary.

And it varies for the health sciences. For Pharmacy majors, the committee does have a preference that they take the true "major" class for all Chemistry with Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis AND Instrumental Analysis if not in Engineering, the actual standard General Chemistry class is penalized on the application if the student could have taken the major's or engineer's class as a possibility, but the General is accepted if no other class could apply.

What would not be acceptable would be a General Chemistry class that fulfills Liberal Arts requirements but would not fulfill a science major's requirements in the main fields. What is being proposed would not satisfy the contact hours requirement, but also, General Chemistry II tends to assume that your trig is in order for the Qualitative/Quantitative Analysis topics, and going from the "high school" or "fundamental" class straight to that one might not be the best for grades. Honestly, I would take Fundamental Chemistry, then take General Chemistry off-sequence or have a breather and ensure that you have Calculus done before you show up to General Chemistry. The first semester probably would not fulfill a science major's requirement, and if it does, it is unlikely that the health sciences application would accept that first semester as that would need to be replaced with the General Chemistry I.

 

[lord999]

Thank you so much for this. I appreciate every point you made in your post (especially the break down of the different course offerings at your institution and how they provide flexibility to an extent.) However, and I sincerely hope you don't take this to mean that I'm being stubborn in the slightest, the only schools I've seen explicitly state that prerequisites MUST be taken at the major level are the public Texas schools. Perhaps you can point me in the direction of a source where it is mentioned in no uncertain terms, that the science prereqs being taken at the major level are obligatory? Thanks for your time.

And as I explained and you read, there’s flexibility involved. Look, if you’re answer shopping, I’m sure you’re going to find that the literal answer is that any class works. Mayo has their prerequisites explicitly set that way to cast a wide net. But you should know that we consider at our discretion the appropriate class and will actually ask the admissions staff in certain situations to give us context (Reed College with their descriptive evaluations falls in that category). If you take classes with lesser rigor, if there is even questions of suitability of schedule, it puts your application in the wide wild world of personal judgment, and I wouldn’t want my career’s fate left up to someone else’s day, would you? But, if you took beneath the strength of schedule and just manage with that low rigor to do well on MCAT, then an argument can be made that whatever the circumstances, you’ll probably be fine, but as you can on these Boards, that’s a miracle. If your MCAT is just average and your strength of schedule is weak, it’s not a strong application.

But consider this. Dropping out worked for you, but I’d never ordinarily recommend it to anyone because it takes unusual work ethic to dig yourself out of that hole. You made it to college against better odds, which is different than the majority of dropouts. What my and others advice here is that rather than continue to find yourself with a self imposed challenge, why not do this on the up and up and not make it harder later? My advice beyond the question is to consider what we’d actually do as opposed to what we should do. But anyway, I’ve said my piece and follow it or not, I hope you realize that’s the competition is fierce and you know you’re already behind. Don’t compound the mistakes by going for a shortcut over a precipice, you might fall off...