Prerequisite courses fall

[vasoolraja]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I would really appreciate if you would help me make a decision regarding whether or not to take General Chem I and Calculus I together this fall. I work full time - 40 hours a week and I also have a family with a 2 year old son. I am thinking of taking Gen Chem I and Calculus I online. These courses are 4 credits each. Do you think it is unwise to take them together, considering that I work fulltime and I have a family? Or should I take Chem I with some easier courses in humanities?
It would be very helpful if you all help me decide!
Thanks in advance!

 

[ArkansasRanger]

I would really appreciate if you would help me make a decision regarding whether or not to take General Chem I and Calculus I together this fall. I work full time - 40 hours a week and I also have a family with a 2 year old son. I am thinking of taking Gen Chem I and Calculus I online. These courses are 4 credits each. Do you think it is unwise to take them together, considering that I work fulltime and I have a family? Or should I take Chem I with some easier courses in humanities?
It would be very helpful if you all help me decide!
Thanks in advance!

If you're great at math it shouldn't be a problem. If it doesn't just click with you then think again. Chemistry is really nothing but math, btw. It's quite misleading.

 

[rxlea]

Careful with the online chem class. Some school don't take online lab sciences.

 

[vasoolraja]

Careful with the online chem class. Some school don't take online lab sciences.

Chem I is not online, but calculus I is online. I am little scared to take both these courses together because I am not sure if I will have enough time to do well on both these courses. Both these courses together add up to 8 credits!

 

[rxlea]

Chem I is not online, but calculus I is online. I am little scared to take both these courses together because I am not sure if I will have enough time to do well on both these courses. Both these courses together add up to 8 credits!

I have taken a few online classes and I have found them to be more time consuming than the in person classes. You could just start the class and see how it goes in the first week before the drop/add cycle is over. That's what I would do.

 

[delano2000]

Chem I is not online, but calculus I is online. I am little scared to take both these courses together because I am not sure if I will have enough time to do well on both these courses. Both these courses together add up to 8 credits!

I would honestly not advise you to take Calculus I online.
I took Calculus I, Physics I and Stats in the same semester and got As in all three. It can be done.

 

[delano2000]

I have taken a few online classes and I have found them to be more time consuming than the in person classes. You could just start the class and see how it goes in the first week before the drop/add cycle is over. That's what I would do.

I am taking Psychology and Music right now online and yeah they are very time consuming. I have to write papers every other day and the semester just started. Thankfully the Music class is only 5 weeks but the Psyc. class is 10 weeks and then I will be attempting OChem II in summer II.

 

[vasoolraja]

I would honestly not advise you to take Calculus I online.
I took Calculus I, Physics I and Stats in the same semester and got As in all three. It can be done.

Thanks delano: I leaning towards taking Chem I and some easier humanities course in the fall instead of Calculus I. I work fulltime and also have a family and so I am worried if I will get enough time to crack both chem I and Calculus I.

 

[dnguyen401]

I took Calc I, Gen Chem I, and Bio II together in one semester and did very well. If you're a math kind of guy...go for it!

 

[pharm B]

A big factor in this decision is your abilities in the math area. I did well in Cal I and II, but I don't know if the same would have been true if I'd taken the courses online instead of in a class room. The online aspect is the only thing that would give me pause about taking these two courses together in the same semester.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Just be aware that online classes must be disclosed, and will probably have some amount of negative stigma attached to them, with high grades being very suspect and lower grades having little leeway.

 

[pharm B]

Just be aware that online classes must be disclosed, and will probably have some amount of negative stigma attached to them, with high grades being very suspect and lower grades having little leeway.

That is if your schools use PharmCAS. I'm not 100% on this (so do your own research), but I believe Feik SOP is the only Texas school that uses PharmCAS. The other schools use proprietary application processes, so you'd have to see if they make you declare whether a course was taken online or not.

From my recollection: Texas A&M and Texas Tech just wanted transcripts (which don't necessarily say online or not). I want to say UT was the same way.

Edit: confused this thread with another where I knew the applicant was applying strictly to Texas schools. Bottom line: PharmCAS requires you to declare if a class was taken online, so non-PharmCAS schools might not know whether or not the class was online or not.

 

[vasoolraja]

I took Calc I, Gen Chem I, and Bio II together in one semester and did very well. If you're a math kind of guy...go for it!

I wonder how you guys are able to take so many courses in one semester when you have full time jobs. I work from 8am to 5pm, 5 days a week. In the fall this year only general chem 1 and org chem are offerred at 6 pm in the university close to where I live. There are no saturday classes. All of the colleges and universities here offer the lab based pre requisite courses between 8 am and 5 pm. I can't take off to attend the courses during work hours because my boss will get suspicious. The only thing I can do is take whatever is offered after 5 pm. Due to my circumstances I will only be able to take gen Chem 1 this fall. May be I can take an online humanities course in addition. I am worried because the adcom may view my transcripts negatively if I take just 2 courses per semester.

(However, I have two Master's degrees in fisheries sciences and I have handled several credits per semester during these programs).

I would be very happy to read your comments.

 

[PharmTech8241]

I would just take Gen Chem I with some easy humanities...I worked full-time and went to school full-time and it was tough but I didn't have a family to care for...so you should ease your load so you can take care of your family without your grades suffering

 

[CutaneousRabbit]

I'm curious what you plan on doing when you have to take a really demanding class -- o-chem, biochem, or even A&P. And also how you plan on taking the PCAT a year or two after finishing chemistry.

 

[socalgirlie]

you can always try, and if it seems too daunting drop one 🙂 gl

 

[vasoolraja]

I'm curious what you plan on doing when you have to take a really demanding class -- o-chem, biochem, or even A&P. And also how you plan on taking the PCAT a year or two after finishing chemistry.

I had taken courses like food chemistry and advanced biochemsitry during my Masters program back in India and I have done extremely well. I like chemistry and I prefer to take two courses in chem at the same time and finish it off. But, the universities here require that I complete chem 1 before taking chem 2. So my option in this fall is to take chem 1 and calculus 1. Since calculus 1 is offered online, I assume it to be more demanding. It will take all my time, so I am thinking of taking chem 1 and a humanities course this fall.
Further, most of the lab based courses are offered between 8 am and 5 pm. Since I work full time from 8-5, I wouldn't be able to take these courses. I will be able to take courses that are offered after 5 pm.
I haven't thought about the PCAT at the moment, but hope to accomodate it sometime in the future!

 

[pinksparkly]

. And also how you plan on taking the PCAT a year or two after finishing chemistry.

I am taking the PCAT on Saturday - over a decade after finishing chem. Granted, I have spent the better part of the last six weeks re-teaching myself. And watching Chad's videos on coursesaver over and over again, with a little MIT OCW thrown in.

OP, I would not take Calc online unless you have a huge aptitude for math. I just took Calc last semester, and going to class and watching the instructor was the single most important thing that I did for that class. I got an A, but that would not have happened if it had been online.

 

[vasoolraja]

I am taking the PCAT on Saturday - over a decade after finishing chem. Granted, I have spent the better part of the last six weeks re-teaching myself. And watching Chad's videos on coursesaver over and over again, with a little MIT OCW thrown in.

OP, I would not take Calc online unless you have a huge aptitude for math. I just took Calc last semester, and going to class and watching the instructor was the single most important thing that I did for that class. I got an A, but that would not have happened if it had been online.

Pinksparkly: Thank you so much for your reply. I am thinking of taking calculus later on by attending classes physically, instead of online. Anyway, this fall I will take chem I and an online humanities course.

By the way, how long is PCAT scores valid? Do schools accept scores that are 3 to 4 years old?

 

[levothroxin]

I took Calc I, Gen Chem I, and Bio II together in one semester and did very well. If you're a math kind of guy...go for it!

why dont you become a doctor with such a high GPA? such a waste

 

[levothroxin]

why dont you become a doctor with such a high GPA? such a waste

 

[charfdorn]

why dont you become a doctor with such a high GPA? such a waste

Get out of here. Pharmacy is not the fall-back for would-be med students who don't have good enough grades. It's a legitimate choice and it doesn't mean you aren't "good enough" to be a doc.

Also, your undergrad GPA has NOTHING to do with your ability to practice medicine or, for that matter, pharmacy.

 

[Passion4Sci]

Get out of here. Pharmacy is not the fall-back for would-be med students who don't have good enough grades. It's a legitimate choice and it doesn't mean you aren't "good enough" to be a doc.

Also, your undergrad GPA has NOTHING to do with your ability to practice medicine or, for that matter, pharmacy.

Seemed like maybe he was being sarcastic... hard to tell though.