Newbie with help needed :)

[titaniumdays]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi guys,

I have been reading threads in here for some time and love all the support and advice given. This is my first post, and I have some questions regarding my course schedule. Any input would be appreciated.

Background Info: Im 24 with a BSB in marketing. My GPA wasn't that great- a 3.2.

This is my tentative plan as I hope to be accepted and starting pharm school in fall of 2012. I also am looking at hospitals to volunteer at.

Fall 10- Anatomy & Physiology 1, General Chemistry 1, Calc 1, and English
Writing.
Spring 11- Anatomy & Physiology 2, General Chem 2, Speech, Elective.
Summer 11- Ochem 1
Fall 11- Biochem 1, Ochem 2, Elective, Elective
Spring 12- Biochem 2, Microbio, ELective, ELective

BUT here's my problem... Im starting to get really nervous about calc
as in high school I didn't learn any trig stuff. So the whole sin, cos,
is pretty much foreign to me. In college, I took short calc and that didnt involve any trig.

Do you guys think I should take Calc in my last semester and take a precalc/trig in the fall as credit or no credit? That would mean that I would be taking A & P 2, General Chem 2, and Microbio all in one semester.

Thanks in advance for the help!🙂

 

[Passion4Sci]

Do you guys think I should take Calc in my last semester and take a precalc/trig in the fall as credit or no credit? That would mean that I would be taking A & P 2, General Chem 2, and Microbio all in one semester.

A&P 2, Gen 2 and Micro in one semester is going to be rough with 3 labs.

The nested question here is whether you should take a PreCalc class at all, or just go right to Calculus. Well, if it's zero sum and you either take PreCalc P/NP and then Calc, leaving you with the 3 lab semester or skipping Pre Calc and going right into Calc, I'd take the refresher course. But I was pretty rusty / bad at math so, someone better at it miiiight think differently.

 

[mandydp6]

Hi guys,

I have been reading threads in here for some time and love all the support and advice given. This is my first post, and I have some questions regarding my course schedule. Any input would be appreciated.

Background Info: Im 24 with a BSB in marketing. My GPA wasn't that great- a 3.2.

This is my tentative plan as I hope to be accepted and starting pharm school in fall of 2012. I also am looking at hospitals to volunteer at.

Fall 10- Anatomy & Physiology 1, General Chemistry 1, Calc 1, and English
Writing.
Spring 11- Anatomy & Physiology 2, General Chem 2, Speech, Elective.
Summer 11- Ochem 1
Fall 11- Biochem 1, Ochem 2, Elective, Elective
Spring 12- Biochem 2, Microbio, ELective, ELective

BUT here's my problem... Im starting to get really nervous about calc
as in high school I didn't learn any trig stuff. So the whole sin, cos,
is pretty much foreign to me. In college, I took short calc and that didnt involve any trig.

Do you guys think I should take Calc in my last semester and take a precalc/trig in the fall as credit or no credit? That would mean that I would be taking A & P 2, General Chem 2, and Microbio all in one semester.

Thanks in advance for the help!🙂

The first thing I noticed was you're taking Ochem 2 the same semester as biochem? I thought ochem 2 was a pre-req for biochem...not something you can take together.
I'm not sure how to advise on the calc...I took pre-calc because it had been 5 years since graduating high school since any math. Other people will tell you you will be fine without it.
For starters though, double check into those chemistry courses, as you may need to do some shifting either way it goes.

 

[RDuran]

Fall 10- Anatomy & Physiology 1, General Chemistry 1, Calc 1, and English
Writing.
Spring 11- Anatomy & Physiology 2, General Chem 2, Speech, Elective.
Summer 11- Ochem 1
Fall 11- Biochem 1, Ochem 2, Elective, Elective
Spring 12- Biochem 2, Microbio, ELective, ELective

As was mentioned above, the second semester of OChem is a prerequisite to OChem. Some schools do let you take the 2 courses concurrently but that would be pretty tough since both course require a lot of work.

BUT here's my problem... Im starting to get really nervous about calc
as in high school I didn't learn any trig stuff. So the whole sin, cos,
is pretty much foreign to me. In college, I took short calc and that didnt involve any trig.

Do you guys think I should take Calc in my last semester and take a precalc/trig in the fall as credit or no credit? That would mean that I would be taking A & P 2, General Chem 2, and Microbio all in one semester.

Thanks in advance for the help!🙂

Don't worry about the trig for Calc I since all the trig derivatives and integrals can be memorized. Taking A&P 2, chem 2, and micro in the same semester will KILL you. Each of these courses require a lot of work to do well. You will find that chem II will be a lot more difficult and time consuming than chem I......

 

[mandydp6]

Don't worry about the trig for Calc I since all the trig derivatives and integrals can be memorized. Taking A&P 2, chem 2, and micro in the same semester will KILL you. Each of these courses require a lot of work to do well. You will find that chem II will be a lot more difficult and time consuming than chem I......

Frankly, I found Chem 2 to be the most difficult of all 4 semesters of chemistry courses...general and organic. Weird, maybe, but true!

 

[delano2000]

The first thing I noticed was you're taking Ochem 2 the same semester as biochem? I thought ochem 2 was a pre-req for biochem...not something you can take together.
I'm not sure how to advise on the calc...I took pre-calc because it had been 5 years since graduating high school since any math. Other people will tell you you will be fine without it.
For starters though, double check into those chemistry courses, as you may need to do some shifting either way it goes.

It would be a GPA suicide to take them together IMO. You will need to know about the mechanisms and so forth that you learn in OChem II in order to do well in Biochem.

 

[VegasGirl1987]

Hi guys,

I have been reading threads in here for some time and love all the support and advice given. This is my first post, and I have some questions regarding my course schedule. Any input would be appreciated.

Background Info: Im 24 with a BSB in marketing. My GPA wasn't that great- a 3.2.

This is my tentative plan as I hope to be accepted and starting pharm school in fall of 2012. I also am looking at hospitals to volunteer at.

Fall 10- Anatomy & Physiology 1, General Chemistry 1, Calc 1, and English
Writing.
Spring 11- Anatomy & Physiology 2, General Chem 2, Speech, Elective.
Summer 11- Ochem 1
Fall 11- Biochem 1, Ochem 2, Elective, Elective
Spring 12- Biochem 2, Microbio, ELective, ELective

BUT here's my problem... Im starting to get really nervous about calc
as in high school I didn't learn any trig stuff. So the whole sin, cos,
is pretty much foreign to me. In college, I took short calc and that didnt involve any trig.

Do you guys think I should take Calc in my last semester and take a precalc/trig in the fall as credit or no credit? That would mean that I would be taking A & P 2, General Chem 2, and Microbio all in one semester.

Thanks in advance for the help!🙂

Are you going to be working as well? Or just going to school? Because it will be a lot of work.
For me, the key in getting good grades in my science pre-requisites was taking the prep courses. Before I took General Chemistry I and II, I took Preparatory Chemistry because I was not sure I remembered enough from high school. I ended up getting A in both General Chems with no problem. I also took a prep bio class and got an A in Micro. Also took a precalculus class and it helped out a lot. I ended up getting an A in calculus as well. If your science background is good then you should have no problem with your course load. But if you are like me, I suggest maybe taking extra 2 semesters and taking it slow. Because it would be a waste of time if you got a bad GPA and had to retake some courses. It will not look as good on your transcript than getting a good grade the first time.

 

[DASicari]

If you are dead set on taking summer science classes, you may want to take organic 2 over the summer after your organic 1 class is complete. I know that my undergrad school did not offer organic 2 in the fall (only in the spring) as they were meant to be taken one after the other in sequence. You may also want to make sure the courses are available the semesters you are planning on taking them. Microbiology for me was only offered during the fall semester.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

It would be a GPA suicide to take them together IMO. You will need to know about the mechanisms and so forth that you learn in OChem II in order to do well in Biochem.

I took two semesters of Biochem and never once used an Orgo mechanism in them. Sure, maybe some terminology was discussed for certain molecules (i.e. keto-enol tautomerization of nucleotides) but Biochem is more of an emphasis on structures and pathways more-so than reaction mechanisms.

 

[phathead]

I took two semesters of Biochem and never once used an Orgo mechanism in them. Sure, maybe some terminology was discussed for certain molecules (i.e. keto-enol tautomerization of nucleotides) but Biochem is more of an emphasis on structures and pathways more-so than reaction mechanisms.

Ugh pathways.

Biochem is more intense than Orgo, which is were most of the problems will come in.

That being said, for pharm school you generally only need Biochem I. Biochem II, from what I have gathered, is an even bigger kick in the nuts than Biochem I lol

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Biochem II, from what I have gathered, is an even bigger kick in the nuts than Biochem I lol

At my school Biochem II is a straight emphasis on nucleic acid metabolism and protein synthesis. I found this a heck of a lot more interesting than memorizing all of the metabolic pathways from Biochem I. Plus we learned the MOA's of a few drugs (Cipro, Allopurinol, Antibiotics during prokaryotic protein synthesis).

Now the Lab was pure hell. Unless the though of 20 pages of Michaelis-Menten kinetics turns you on.

 

[delano2000]

I took two semesters of Biochem and never once used an Orgo mechanism in them. Sure, maybe some terminology was discussed for certain molecules (i.e. keto-enol tautomerization of nucleotides) but Biochem is more of an emphasis on structures and pathways more-so than reaction mechanisms.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I was going by what one of my professors said.🙄 Seems like it may be way more complicated than I anticipated.

 

[b1234]

I took two semesters of Biochem and never once used an Orgo mechanism in them. Sure, maybe some terminology was discussed for certain molecules (i.e. keto-enol tautomerization of nucleotides) but Biochem is more of an emphasis on structures and pathways more-so than reaction mechanisms.

I took a one semester biochem class and we actually had to be able to understand quite a few organic mechanisms. Things like acetals and hemi acetals, various different bonding mechanisms for how enzymes interact with substrates etc.

At my school Biochem II is a straight emphasis on nucleic acid metabolism and protein synthesis. I found this a heck of a lot more interesting than memorizing all of the metabolic pathways from Biochem I. Plus we learned the MOA's of a few drugs (Cipro, Allopurinol, Antibiotics during prokaryotic protein synthesis).

Now the Lab was pure hell. Unless the though of 20 pages of Michaelis-Menten kinetics turns you on.

Ew... Michaelis - Menten kinetics... Using Lineweaver - Burke is so much easier... Did you have to go through the derivation of the Michaelis - Menten equation?

 

[RDuran]

Frankly, I found Chem 2 to be the most difficult of all 4 semesters of chemistry courses...general and organic. Weird, maybe, but true!

No...you're completely right....Chem 2 was definitely the most work out of all courses. It wasn't so much the lectures but that labs that were difficult and time consuming....

 

[titaniumdays]

Thanks guys for all the advice. I will look into the course schedules. It's still a long ways off until next year when I will be taking those upper division science courses.

Maybe I could take ochem 2 with a molecular bio course in the fall and take biochem 1 and microbio? Or take ochem 2 with microbio and take biochem 1 and molecular bio in the spring? That would probably be a killer too...Or I could just find some school that teaches a 5 credit biochem class and then i wouldnt have to take biochem 2 or a molecular bio course.

 

[phathead]

Thanks guys for all the advice. I will look into the course schedules. It's still a long ways off until next year when I will be taking those upper division science courses.

Maybe I could take ochem 2 with a molecular bio course in the fall and take biochem 1 and microbio? Or take ochem 2 with microbio and take biochem 1 and molecular bio in the spring? That would probably be a killer too...Or I could just find some school that teaches a 5 credit biochem class and then i wouldnt have to take biochem 2 or a molecular bio course.

At my school, microbio was an unofficial pre-req for molecular bio. That being said, I didn't find microbio to be any harder than my gen bio courses.

What I would do is take your first semester as it is and see how it goes. If you end up doing really well in it (like mostly As) keep with this guideline. If you struggle significantly at any point with the courseload, I would suggest stretching things out for another year.

And have you taken your gen bio courses? Don't forget to consider genetics too, several schools require that class whereas no schools, to my knowledge, require molec bio