Should I retake organic chem?

[IronicOxidant]

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This is a bit of unusual question, so I'd like your input on it. I took 3 quarters of organic chemistry in high school (both lecture and lab) and received A's in all of the classes. This was at Stanford University, and not my local CC. However, now I'm an undergraduate, and I have to choose classes for next semester. My current university accepted the organic chemistry units, and is allowing me to take harder classes, but I'm not sure how it would look to a medical school if I didn't take organic chemistry at my own undergrad. Thanks for any input.

 

[Lucca]

The transcript would read Stanford U so it would be like transfer credits for a transfer student; in other words, as long as you submit the transcript from Stanford for those classes (which you will have to do since I believe you need to send a xcript from anywhere you took college-level classes) they should satisfy the OChem requirement. At least, as much is true for students at my uni who come from certain "high schools" which are actually just sub-programs at Texas unis (e.g. TAMS) and come in with a lot of coursework credit.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

So you took high school level organic at a no-name university?!

You should definitely retake. You need a legitimate brand name on your transcript for your o-chem courses. I mean, what the hell is a stanford?!

 

[GCS-15]

Do you still remember it pretty well? If not - I'd recommend you take it. Also, if you already have ochem experience, re taking it could mean an easier class = easier way to get free As. Also - what's high school ochem? But if your schedule is really packed and you don't have the ability to take it, then I wouldn't. But I'm not sure how it would look not taking any ochem at your undergrad

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

All jokes aside, I see no reason to retake it. That said, you will need to review it at some point for the mcat, so don't lose sight of the basics.

 

[RedStar7]

Just a general question but does "retaking" look bad for med schools? In OP's case, it was Stanford (a 4 year institution at the least lol) so no big deal. But what about if requirements were taken in high school at a CC and then retaken at a top tier school because of it being not good enough prep for higher level classes and stuff like that?

 

[IronicOxidant]

Do you still remember it pretty well? If not - I'd recommend you take it.

Yeah, I hope so. I'm a chemistry major focused on organic, so I'll be taking more advanced courses (mechanisms and synthesis at least).

Also - what's high school ochem?

They were college classes that I took through Stanford's summer college program, lol. I think there are some private high schools that offer basic ochem (mine didn't) as a full year course that covers maybe the basics of organic 1 (Sn1, Sn2, E1, E2, carbonyls, etc.) though.

 

[Lucca]

Just a general question but does "retaking" look bad for med schools? In OP's case, it was Stanford (a 4 year institution at the least lol) so no big deal. But what about if requirements were taken in high school at a CC and then retaken at a top tier school because of it being not good enough prep for higher level classes and stuff like that?

Some medical schools do not accept CC credit so adcoms would understand.