Is there any course like organic chemistry in med school?

[mrh125]

call me crazy, but out of all the courses i took in college o-chem was my favorite. i liked how if you knew the concepts you could essentially predict most reactions really well and understand them intuitively. Sure there was a lot of memorization (simpler memorization imo), but it wasn't a lot of work for me because I got into the right mindset quickly. Are there any courses in med school similar to that specialities that would become good for someone who likes ochem?

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[Goro]

Nope

Lots of physiopogy, though

call me crazy, but out of all the courses i took in college o-chem was my favorite. i liked how if you knew the concepts you could essentially predict most reactions really well and understand them intuitively. Sure there was a lot of memorization (simpler memorization imo), but it wasn't a lot of work for me because I got into the right mindset quickly. Are there any courses in med school similar to that specialities that would become good for someone who likes ochem?

 

[loltopsy]

Biochemistry is applied organic chemistry. Having a good sense of how organic works helps a lot with understanding the material deeper, which makes it easier to remember and understand. You don't need to know specific reactions and mechanisms, just the broad strokes.


Another class that helps was Microbial Physiology. It taught me in depth how cell physiologic pathways worked, which made understanding liver biochemical pathways much easier.

 

[mehc012]

Biochemistry is applied organic chemistry. Having a good sense of how organic works helps a lot with understanding the material deeper, which makes it easier to remember and understand. You don't need to know specific reactions and mechanisms, just the broad strokes.


Another class that helps was Microbial Physiology. It taught me in depth how cell physiologic pathways worked, which made understanding liver biochemical pathways much easier.

Really? Because normal Biochem is nothing like organic chem. It takes all of the fun bits, skips them in the magic enzyme box, then makes you focus on all of the boring aspects of it.

 

[loltopsy]

Really? Because normal Biochem is nothing like organic chem. It takes all of the fun bits, skips them in the magic enzyme box, then makes you focus on all of the boring aspects of it.

We had to memorize the mechanism for the enzyme chymotrypsin action. Since I loved organic and tutored it, I memorized it in about 5 minutes because they consisted of basic organic principles that if you remember make things very easy. Besides that, understanding general chemistry helps greatly with pathways in terms of equilibrium. Also, they show you the structures of many coenzymes and while you don't need to know them, knowing them lets you easily remember their function (ie how many electrons they can hold). I can go on and on, but it helps. And undergrad biochem is very different than medical biochem.

 

[mehc012]

We had to memorize the mechanism for the enzyme chymotrypsin action. Since I loved organic and tutored it, I memorized it in about 5 minutes because they consisted of basic organic principles that if you remember make things very easy. Besides that, understanding general chemistry helps greatly with pathways in terms of equilibrium. Also, they show you the structures of many coenzymes and while you don't need to know them, knowing them lets you easily remember their function (ie how many electrons they can hold). I can go on and on, but it helps. And undergrad biochem is very different than medical biochem.

Haha, I understand that many of these subjects build on each other...sorry, I think my frustration at the years of "but you're an (organic) chemistry major with a (micro) biology minor...why don't you just take the extra biochem courses and get the concentration?" is showing. I loved organic chemistry and microbiology, but Biochemistry was, quite frankly,
It's related to orgo, sure, but, at least in my experience, the thought process and the kind of information emphasized were not exactly similar. I wouldn't say that someone who liked orgo would necessarily enjoy biochem. That's all I was trying to say.

 

[Frazier]

Your days of pushing electrons around will be over.

 

[mehc012]

Your days of pushing electrons around will be over.

Alas, I gave up on those dreams when I realized I had no desire to get the Ph.d I always imagined myself completing.

edit: goddamn chem always has me typing pH.d instead of Ph.d
oops.