Scheduling

[cubs11]

I'm having a hard time scheduling orgo 1 & 2 and biochem (and none of these courses are offered during the summer at any of the universities around me).

Did anyone take biochem at the same time as one of the orgo chem courses?

or...

Did anyone take biochem as a distance learning course through another university (that I could take in the summer)?

Any advice on scheduling these courses would be great. I only have 2 semesters (Fall & Spring) and 1 summer to get them in.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[sofficat]

try to take biochem after orgo 1 & 2, or at least after orgo 1. it'll be easier if you've had some orgo intro.

 

[cubs11]

i'm planning on taking orgo 1 before biochem, but i was wondering if anyone took biochem concurrently with orgo 2...

b/c if i have to have my prereqs completed in the spring semester before i plan to start vet school, i will have to take biochem at the same time as orgo 2.

if the schools, i'm planning to apply to, would let me take it in the summer, i could take it after orgo 1 & 2. but i'm pretty sure that most schools require prereqs to be completed in the spring semester (unless given permission to take prereqs in the summer prior to entrance).

 

[Monkey85]

I took biochem concurrently with second semester ochem. I didn't find it difficult and don't think you neccesarily need to take biochem after 2nd semester ochem.

 

[cubs11]

did you have to petition to take them concurrently?

 

[twosoakers]

i think you can easily take biochem without taking orgo first. we basically memorized the structure of the amino acids; protein analysis; cleavage and sequencing; cell cycles. basically an expansion of what you get in introductory bio. i took biochem concurrently with orgo II, and i hadn't had org I in ten years.

 

[Monkey85]

Nope. The prereq for biochem was just 1st semester ochem (I took just a semester course; there was a two semester course sequence requiring 2nd semester ochem but I only needed 3 credits of biochem to apply). Probably varies from school though. I went to UW-Madison.

 

[ri23]

You may have to get special permission from the vet schools though. If you are applying this summer, most schools will only allow you to have one outstanding class for spring semester/quarter. So if you take OChemI in fall and OChemII in spring along with biochem you may have to petition the schools to allow that to be considered (I know thats true with OSU, not sure about all of the others).

 

[AuburnPreVet]

I took Biochem & Orgo 1 the same semester....it is doable. In an ideal world you would have some intro to orgo before taking biochem. It was a little rough - but it was the only way I'd have everything done on time. Sadly, I don't think I remember any of it....

 

[QTkitty]

Hey, I don't mean to sound like Captain Negative, but I think you may have a hard time with your vet school application if you haven't taken the o-chems or biochem. These are requirements at most if not every school and, if I'm not mistaken, a few of the courses they put a lot of weight on . Back on topic, I think it depends on your school... at my school biochem was ultra easy and could have been taken before or concurrently with O-chem without a problem. I really wish you the best and I'm sorry to be the pessimistic one!

 

[wildfocus]

Hey, I don't mean to sound like Captain Negative, but I think you may have a hard time with your vet school application if you haven't taken the o-chems or biochem. These are requirements at most if not every school and, if I'm not mistaken, a few of the courses they put a lot of weight on . Back on topic, I think it depends on your school... at my school biochem was ultra easy and could have been taken before or concurrently with O-chem without a problem. I really wish you the best and I'm sorry to be the pessimistic one!

captain, my captain - where did you go for biochem?? i'm soooo jealous!

 

[blkizs]

i had to take orgo 2 and biochem at the same time. it was harder than if you took them in different semesters but if you study hard you will pass. biochem has orgo in it but to me it seemed like mostly orgo 1 information, which i already had taken.

if you HAVE to do it, i think you will be ok. it might just be harder to get A's in both.

 

[CookieBear]

Be careful about BioChem. Make sure you talk to people to gauge how it's taught at the particular school.

My first attempt at BioChem, on Day 1, the professor announced that he was going to teach the course on a graduate level. For some reason, that didn't scare me away. We were held responsible for mechanisms, and not just structures of amino acids, but later the structures of many enzymes, as well as all the pathways, structures and names in the pathways. The harder I tried in that course, the worse I did.

I re-took it at another college and got an A. It was a completely different ballgame. And I feel I learned so much more.

I busted my rear in Organic. I did well for an English major. But that first BioChem course was taught by someone who flat-out told me that I didn't belong in his class. I needed the course (of course), and it was supposed to be undergrad. 2/3 of my class dropped, and I should've too! When I showed my exams to a Biology major who was taking it elsewhere, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Anyway... BioChem seems to vary widely from school to school! Both BioChem's I took required Organic I & II as pre-req's. (And NOT Calculus, as I was forced to remind the professor in the first BioChem course... who replied that it should be!)

(Ugh, was that ever a dark time in my pre-vet life.)

 

[Nexx]

All reasons why I am a huge fan of ratemyprofessor.com Of course, taking some opinions/ratings with a grain of salt. But it has made academic life much easier not getting the complete a#$hat of a teacher every semester and finding one that can actually teach ;x