Prerequisites Question

[JaceTMS]

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Hi, so at my school the 1st year chem course i took is called "chemistry, a molecular science", which would be construed as one year of general chemistry...however, the course is actually half organic, half inorganic/physical chem. in 2nd year, I took half course in organic chem, which means I can take one more half course in organic chem to fulfill requirements (because if you just look at course names, it's obvious that I complete requirements)

However:

1)would it be possible to explain somehow, somewhere, that the 1st year course is half organic, half inorganic/physical, and then take another chem course in lieu of orgo (i.e. analytical chemistry)?
2)If so, how would I go about proving and explaining my situation?
3) In addition, is there any way to do this without the adcoms just looking only at the transcript and saying, "oh it seems like this person didnt' complete the prerequisites (i.e. they'll see one full year course that seems like a gen chem course, one half year orgo, and one half year something else)" and discounting my application right off the bat?

thanks

 

[AestheticGod]

What's the course number of that chemistry class?

 

[JaceTMS]

aestheticsgod i PM-ed you

 

[LogicofMan]

.

 

[JaceTMS]

bump, as course selection is coming up very soon

please read my original post before replying, thank you very much in advance.

 

[blub1212]

Hi, so at my school the 1st year chem course i took is called "chemistry, a molecular science", which would be construed as one year of general chemistry...however, the course is actually half organic, half inorganic/physical chem. in 2nd year, I took half course in organic chem, which means I can take one more half course in organic chem to fulfill requirements (because if you just look at course names, it's obvious that I complete requirements)

However:

1)would it be possible to explain somehow, somewhere, that the 1st year course is half organic, half inorganic/physical, and then take another chem course in lieu of orgo (i.e. analytical chemistry)?
2)If so, how would I go about proving and explaining my situation?
3) In addition, is there any way to do this without the adcoms just looking only at the transcript and saying, "oh it seems like this person didnt' complete the prerequisites (i.e. they'll see one full year course that seems like a gen chem course, one half year orgo, and one half year something else)" and discounting my application right off the bat?

thanks

If my understanding of what you said is correct, you are actually missing half a year of gen chem (your one year long course was half a year of gen chem, half of orgo). In which case, if you tried to not take another orgo course, you would not only have to go through the trouble of explaining the whole thing (which would be more of a pain than it's worth, IMO), but you would also have to take another gen chem course. If I were you, I would just take the orgo class. It seems to me that way would be a lot less headache, since you would have to take another chem class either way.

 

[JaceTMS]

yeah that's exactly what I meant

however, the orgo course i'd have to take would be a third year course, and it would also be quite intense....

 

[blub1212]

This is how I see it:

1. It might be difficult to explain in your app. I am not sure, but I would think that it could be something easily misunderstood, which could lead to a school thinking you have not yet met their academic requirements. The good news is that you don't have to have all pre-reqs done for an interview invite, so you could explain it to them then. However, even if you do explain it, they may not like your explanation and still require you to take another half year of orgo. There is no way to know except to personally talk to every med school you intend on applying to.
2. If you take this route, you will have to take another half year of gen chem, which may or may not meet the requirements for med schools. My school also got into orgo during gen chem II, but there is no way that I could have said that was a "semester of orgo" on my app.
3. Taking a harder orgo class will only teach you more and prepare you better for the MCAT.

My overall recommendation is that you should just take the orgo class.

Hopefully this all makes sense.

 

[BHaus9]

This is how I see it:

1. It might be difficult to explain in your app. I am not sure, but I would think that it could be something easily misunderstood, which could lead to a school thinking you have not yet met their academic requirements. The good news is that you don't have to have all pre-reqs done for an interview invite, so you could explain it to them then. However, even if you do explain it, they may not like your explanation and still require you to take another half year of orgo. There is no way to know except to personally talk to every med school you intend on applying to.
2. If you take this route, you will have to take another half year of gen chem, which may or may not meet the requirements for med schools. My school also got into orgo during gen chem II, but there is no way that I could have said that was a "semester of orgo" on my app.
3. Taking a harder orgo class will only teach you more and prepare you better for the MCAT.

My overall recommendation is that you should just take the orgo class.

Hopefully this all makes sense.

This is solid advice.

In my own (admittedly limited) experience, certain schools are pretty flexible with their course requirements, and they MIGHT be willing to count your intro course as a semester of organic and substitute an upper-level inorganic course for your second semester of gen chem. This would assume that your sophomore year organic course - the one you seek to count as your second semester - is not explicitly entitled "Organic Chemistry I," and that you are able to furnish an official course description from the registrar's office demonstrating the organic component of your first-year class.

Also, do NOT make assumptions. Definitely DO contact each admissions office directly. The good news is that their decision should not affect your chances of being invited to interview at most schools. Worst case scenario is that you have to take a required course the spring or summer before matriculating.

If you remain convinced that you have to decide right this instant, taking another organic chemistry class is your safest and simplest option, but if you're super concerned about your ability to handle another organic course, you might as well take the time to check.

 

[JaceTMS]

the reason i'm asking is because there are essentially two "streams" of first year chemistry at my school, one full year course and two half courses, where the two half courses are explicitly stated as organic and inorganic/physical, whereas the full year course has some generic name. however, the material taught is essentially the same, only the labs are significantly different. oh and both streams are satisfactory prereqs for applying to more specific biology programs in upper years.

the 2nd semester of orgo i did is one course, with an obvious orgo name. do I have to declare which courses i'm going to be taking on my application? also if I have to explain in my application about what's going on with the course situation, would they just take one look at the transcript and say, "it seems like this person hasn't done his requirements, we'll discount him right away"?

 

[BHaus9]

the 2nd semester of orgo i did is one course, with an obvious orgo name. do I have to declare which courses i'm going to be taking on my application? also if I have to explain in my application about what's going on with the course situation, would they just take one look at the transcript and say, "it seems like this person hasn't done his requirements, we'll discount him right away"?

Once again, I think the actual name of that 2nd organic course matters. If it's called "Organic I" or "Intro. to Organic Principles," or anything else along those lines, schools may have a hard time accepting it as a second class.

I had completed all my undergraduate coursework by the time I applied, so I have no idea whether there's a place for you to list "intended future courses" anywhere on your primary application (though I suspect there isn't). Just know that many, many applicants have not completed their prerequisites by the time they submit their primaries, and their applications are not automatically screened out on that basis. Typically, you'll not be asked whether you've satisfied a school's requirements until they have sent you a secondary application. On the secondary, you will state which courses of yours - either ones you've taken or ones you intend to take - satisfy which of their requirements. If the school takes issue with any of your designations, you will be notified and given a chance to justify them. If an agreement can't be reached, they may request that you take a certain course prior to matriculation. There are rumors on these forums of institutions withholding an interview invitation until all pre-reqs have been completed, but those schools are few and far between and will probably put your application on hold rather than reject you outright if you have classes yet to take.

 

[JaceTMS]

the one I did is just called "organic chemistry", as it's intended for chem majors. the one for students going into biology is called "introductory organic chemsitry", for comparison's sake.

as for justification, what kind of justification would they want? pdf's of course syllabus?

btw thanks a lot for your time, appreciate it 🙂