How hard is a chem major?

[sgp]

I’ve taken 4 nursing level chem classes including inorganic, organic, biochem and just 1 pre-med level. Anyone who’s read my other post form yesterday knows that I’m seriously considering quitting nursing and pursuing pre-med via chemistry. In all my nursing chem classes I got high As. The highest chemistry I’ve taken though is general chem I, the premed version of general chem. I got a 98 and my teacher told me that I was one of the very few students he’d had that he thought would actually make it and become an MD. Test averages were around 65 give or take a few and my lowest was a 98 (my labs brought my overall score down slightly). This class gave me a big confidence boost that has since subsided into my typical fear that I will eventually not be smart enough to succeed at some unforeseen level. I think it does help that I absolutely love chemistry and so far cannot get enough. I tend to relate way more than most would consider possible to chemistry, to the point where I annoy people. No one will cook with me anymore after this past holiday season and my rambling about denaturation, vapor pressure, etc!

I’d love to hear from any chem majors that can help me put things in a real perspective. Will my performance likely stay high or are there many people who do very well and fall off because it becomes too difficult? I’m taking general chem II next semester and I’m already worried that this will be the class where all the smart people, that I’ve been so worried about, will be waiting. I’d also love to hear how upper division performance compares to lower division.

Thanks much!

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[armybound]

Major in a subject that you really enjoy. If you like chemistry, do chemistry.

 

[NickMB]

Major in a subject that you really enjoy. If you like chemistry, do chemistry.

And if you like nursing, do nursing. If you like nursing, and chemistry, however...I would go with nursing. On the off chance you don't get into med school, you can work with a nursing degree. What can you do with BS in Chemistry 🙄?

 

[[pj]]

And if you like nursing, do nursing. If you like nursing, and chemistry, however...I would go with nursing. On the off chance you don't get into med school, you can work with a nursing degree. What can you do with BS in Chemistry 🙄?

Work for a median starting salary of about 30k.

 

[chemphd]

And if you like nursing, do nursing. If you like nursing, and chemistry, however...I would go with nursing. On the off chance you don't get into med school, you can work with a nursing degree. What can you do with BS in Chemistry 🙄?

Lots of things. If you want to see other things you can do with chemistry (for whatever reason), go to www.acs.org. If you do research or internships over the summer, depending on where in teh country you are, your starting salary can be reasonably high (a friend of mine started at $55K/year last year, and a bunch of people I went to undergrad with started at a little over $40K in industry- over 4 years ago).

If you really like chemistry, I'd say go for it. I was a chem and German major undergrad (now doing my Ph.D. in chemistry) and I love it. I really enjoyed orgo, and a lot of my classes. I like the way chemists think- starting from basic principles and going from there. The way of thinking is pretty analytical- less memorizing random facts and more systematizing information. For me, the worst part was P Chem, but that was more the prof. I had than anything else. He was working on writing a PChem lab textbook, and we were the guinea pigs😀

If you go chem major, be forewarned that your junior year will likely be pretty hellish- this is completely normal. At most schools, you're taking both physical and analytical chem, and are in lab several days a week during your junior year. It does get better, and in my case, I became good friends with all of the other chem majors that year- there were 6 of us, and we were together pretty much non-stop😛 It also doesn't mean that your GPA will be terrible. It mostly means you'll be doing a LOT of chemistry🙂

If you have any questions about being a chem major, feel free to PM me.

Good luck with your decision

 

[sgp]

I like the way chemists think- starting from basic principles and going from there. The way of thinking is pretty analytical- less memorizing random facts and more systematizing information.

I love this about chemistry too. Nursing claims to be that way but so far I'm thinking it's the opposite. We're supposed to be so holistic and consider the total person etc. My head just doesn't work that way. I just want to think about what their molecules are doing and go from there, not if they need an extra pillow.

If you go chem major, be forewarned that your junior year will likely be pretty hellish- this is completely normal. At most schools, you're taking both physical and analytical chem, and are in lab several days a week during your junior year. It does get better, and in my case, I became good friends with all of the other chem majors that year- there were 6 of us, and we were together pretty much non-stop😛 It also doesn't mean that your GPA will be terrible. It mostly means you'll be doing a LOT of chemistry🙂

I'm already a junior, almost senior. Changing to chem does mean about 1 semester more than it would take to finish the nursing but at least all I'd have to take is chem major stuff. 5 semesters left of nursing and 6 if I switch. Plus I'm 25 so I'm already "old"!

 

[[pj]]

Work for a median starting salary of about 30k.

To clarify: for those with less than a year of technical experience.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

what you major in doesn't mean much. So do something that you will do well in. Enjoying it is an added bonus.

 

[chemphd]

To clarify: for those with less than a year of technical experience.

The mean was $33,700 ish in 2004 if you look at the ACS starting salaries survey (I'm a member, so I get chemical and engineering news- whee!- and it has all of this stuff in it)

 

[chemphd]

Plus I'm 25 so I'm already "old"!

25 is not old🙂

And if you really really like chemistry- maybe an extra semester is worth if? Could you go talk to your gen chem professor and see what they say about starting a chem major now?

Good luck (again)!

 

[pakbabydoll]

CHEMISTRY... You own it to yourself.

 

[[pj]]

The mean was $33,700 ish in 2004 if you look at the ACS starting salaries survey (I'm a member, so I get chemical and engineering news- whee!- and it has all of this stuff in it)

Okay, I'll admit that I'm a little dated with my information 😛

But personally, I did biochem with more interest towards chemistry. And all the reasons listed above are good things to take into account.

 

[ChePibe]

I you like Chemistry then it should be a breeze. If you don't, then don't even go there.

 

[BlitzSleep]

Being a chem major isn't that hard. I chose Biochem because the only difference is if you want a chem degree you take physical chemistry 1 & 2 course, for a biochem degree you take biochem and proteins & nucleic acids course.

Chemistry itself doesn't fascinate me as much as Biochemistry, and if it's fascinating then the difficulty level of the course really wont matter to you because you will WANT to learn about it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[ryno]

Alot of people view a chem major as someone who is taking the path of most resistence. Every time I tell someone that I am a chem major they ask why? Its just easier for some of us...

 

[chemphd]

Alot of people view a chem major as someone who is taking the path of most resistence. Every time I tell someone that I am a chem major they ask why? Its just easier for some of us...

People do seem to think you're punishing yourself. But they always seem so impressed🙂 "Wow! You're a chemistry major. You must be really smart!" (or maybe that's just my family😛)

 

[sgp]

Chemistry itself doesn't fascinate me as much as Biochemistry, and if it's fascinating then the difficulty level of the course really wont matter to you because you will WANT to learn about it.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Good point. GE, especially arts and humanities are WAY harder classes for me. I'm simply so uninterested that I'm totally miserable in those classes. I actually got my first A- in the past 2.5 years of super full time enrollment this past semester. It was in humanities of course! All my chem classes have just felt like I'm spending time doing my hobby.

 

[sgp]

CHEMISTRY... You own it to yourself.

What does this mean?

 

[sgp]

25 is not old🙂

And if you really really like chemistry- maybe an extra semester is worth if? Could you go talk to your gen chem professor and see what they say about starting a chem major now?

Good luck (again)!

Yeah, I'm going to talk to my favorite chem prof next week.

On a side note....I have math to catch up on if I'm going to do this too. Is there any correlation between doing well in chemistry and doing well in math? Math scares the hell out of me mainly because I've had so little exposure to it.

 

[Quadratic]

And if you like nursing, do nursing. If you like nursing, and chemistry, however...I would go with nursing. On the off chance you don't get into med school, you can work with a nursing degree. What can you do with BS in Chemistry 🙄?

Take a few graduate engineering courses and become an accredited engineer, make 80k or more.

But I guess I was supposed to let you get away with that....

 

[Geekchick921]

If you like chemistry, go with chemistry. I'm a huge advocate of "It doesn't matter how far into college you are. If you've decided you really want to do something else, do it." I wish I had done that, personally. 1 semester is not a lot of time at ALL, and you may kicking yourself later if you don't do it.

Also something to keep in mind, I've seen it said on these boards before that adcoms don't really like to see someone apply to medical school after just finishing a nursing program. There is already a nursing shortage and apparently they don't like someone fill up a class spot then go right into medical school instead. I believe working as a nurse for awhile then deciding you want to become a doctor instead is different, but that's not your situation.

 

[Mohammedshsh]

Work for a median starting salary of about 30k.

Chemists make from 30-109k. To make 109k you need 10 years of experience, though.

 

[pakbabydoll]

What does this mean?

f the OP loves chemistry then she should major in Chemistry.

 

[al112987]

Chem majors have it really bad. I'm almost positive that no other major (other than maybe physics) has to deal with classes as confusing as physical chemistry (where you basically learn that all the chemistry you've spent your first two years of college is wrong)

That being said, I'm good at math, but pretty lousy at chem. idk why I'm still a chem major.

 

[xanthomondo]

Chem majors have it really bad. I'm almost positive that no other major (other than maybe physics) has to deal with classes as confusing as physical chemistry (where you basically learn that all the chemistry you've spent your first two years of college is wrong)

That being said, I'm good at math, but pretty lousy at chem. idk why I'm still a chem major.

lol there's a good chance OP that you won't find these confusing. I chose chemistry because its different from what you'll learn in med school. All of your bio knowledge will just be trumped in med school, so what's the point? So you can study plants?

Also chem/physics major do the best on the mcat in PS and BS statistically

 

[Mohammedshsh]

lol there's a good chance OP that you won't find these confusing. I chose chemistry because its different from what you'll learn in med school. All of your bio knowledge will just be trumped in med school, so what's the point? So you can study plants?

Also chem/physics major do the best on the mcat in PS and BS statistically

Astrophysics 🙂

 

[Crixivan]

Chemistry was a challenging major at my school with only a few students graduating each year. On the other hand, many of the early classes were great for MCAT prep.

Do remember that many chemistry-related jobs require graduate work should you not go into medicine when you're finished with school.

 

[xanthomondo]

Do remember that many chemistry-related jobs require graduate work should you not go into medicine when you're finished with school.

Not all though, there are mannyy BS/BA chem jobs out there. Just prepared to check your brain at the door... you will be paid $20 an hour to be a lab monkey, doing whatever the lab wants you to do (unless you score a research job...but even then)

 

[chillyphilly]

I graduated with a BS in chemistry last spring and started at $55,000 right away. Chem is a great major if you change your mind or decide to take time off between undergrad and med school. (which is obviously what I chose to do)

 

[bellaepie]

I wouldn't do a chem major simply because (at my school, at least) you need to go through diff eq, and that sounds pretty horrible. 👎

 

[Chemist0157]

Yeah, I'm going to talk to my favorite chem prof next week.

On a side note....I have math to catch up on if I'm going to do this too. Is there any correlation between doing well in chemistry and doing well in math? Math scares the hell out of me mainly because I've had so little exposure to it.

Definitely. Good math skills can make chemistry classes alot easier, especially University/Inorganic and Quant. Chemistry classes are intertwined with math, except Organic I guess 😛

If you like chemistry, go for it! I love being a chemistry major, even though people make faces when I tell them that, lol. I feel like I come out of these classes really understanding some difficult concepts, rather than just memorizing information.

I'm going to be sad when I don't have as much chemistry in med school.

 

[chemphd]

Do remember that many chemistry-related jobs require graduate work should you not go into medicine when you're finished with school.

The positions most in demand are for RA's (research associates)- those can be with or without experience, and require a BS (or BA) or *maybe* a MS. The undergrad chem majors (BS level) I know have a much easier time finding jobs than recently-minted PhD's.

 

[xanthomondo]

I wouldn't do a chem major simply because (at my school, at least) you need to go through diff eq, and that sounds pretty horrible. 👎

You'd be surprised. Diff EQ sounds tough but it's easier than the other calculus classes.