Success in Organic, & it's correlation to Medicine

[skiddoc]

Imagine all of the professors that would lose their jobs, if all of the students that identify themselves as pre-med were no longer required to take orgo!

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[austinap]

imagine all of the professors that would breathe a big sigh of relief, if all of the students that identify themselves as pre-med were no longer required to take orgo!

ftfy.

 

[surftheiop]

ftfy.

They wouldn't have jobs unless they are at a pinnacle research institution, alot of chem departments would have no way of justifying the amount of professors they have if it weren't for having to support the premeds.

 

[Drexon]

" you're never going to be asked to synthesize 2,3-dimethylcyclohexane in medical school, but what organic teaches you is how to problem solve!Sometimes, the problems are solved forwards; sometimes they are solved backwards. After doing these problems you develop a problem solving strategy that will prove handy in medicine and heres why:

In organic, you are given a series of rules that you have to learn, or I should say master. Once you've learned these basic rules (the reactions), you use them as a guide to arrive at the final problem. However, the problem is not always arrived at simply. Sometimes,you have to go back and re-trace your steps and figure out where you went wrong. Use the rules, and clues, to devise another method of arriving at the solution (the product)

Essentially, this is the same thought process that goes into medicine.
Alot of times you use your knowledge and basic rules (about signs, symptoms, vitals, a type of infection) to arrive at a solution ( a diagnosis and treatment option). A lot of times, this might not work and so you have to go back, re-trace your steps, and see where you might have made a mistake. revaluate the patient, and devise a new way of arriving at the product (helping the patient recover w an alternative treatment plan)

Makes sense, doesn't it?

This is true that the adcoms want you to be able to problem solve.. but that alone doesn't grant merit for acceptance to medical school. Too many other factors come into play... just because you're able to solve problems doesn't mean that you're the only one. There's countless individuals that have the same A's in Ochem as you. Which goes to show that you aren't the only one able to problem solve. It's the differences between you and the other individuals that will help you get in. Thus i believe your claims are moot. Keep that in mind.
Best of luck

 

[MilkmanAl]

Honestly, I'm not certain there would be a catastrophic drop in people taking organic if it wasn't part of the pre-reqs. I dunno about you guys, but organic 1 and 2 were requirements for my bio major. In other words, the only people who would drop would be the people not majoring in bio, chem, or biochem. That'd leave...70% of the people?

 

[FlowRate]

Man, ya'll make orgo sound hard.

If you want to learn how to problem solve, take some engineering courses.

/thread's token "lol this hard course xxxxx" engineer response.

 

[surftheiop]

Man, ya'll make orgo sound hard.

If you want to learn how to problem solve, take some engineering courses.

/thread's token "lol this hard course xxxxx" engineer response.

I didn't want to go there, but its so true lol

The 8 hours of Organic are doing wonders to help my GPA

If you want to learn how to solve abstract problems, take a ChemE fluid mechanics class that has a focus on tensor calculus

 

[MilkmanAl]

If you want to learn how to problem solve, take some engineering courses.

/thread's token "lol this hard course xxxxx" engineer response.

That's a gigantic part of why I find most of the arguments in favor of keeping organic so terribly absurd.

 

[basupran]

I just finished med school and can confidently say that organic chemistry had nothing to do with medical school- not even pharmacology/biochemistry.

Oftentimes, you will have admissions officers/nonclinicians tell you that ochem is important because it tests your ability to solve problems, etc.. I personally feel that engineering/mathematics/logic courses would be a better judge.

Admission to medical school- much like medical school itself- is all about jumping through hoops. By doing well in ochem, you are showing your mettle and willingness to work through a crappy class, a desirable trait for medical students.



*On a side-note, you cannot compare organic chemistry to engineering (I studied Biomedical). I took honors o-chem and didn't find it to be a very difficult course. My engineering classes were the ones that made life rather difficult- getting a (B-)in biomechanics sucked the wind out of me. You just can't compare the level of difficulty of premed vs. engineering.

 

[Cleavername]

I just finished med school and can confidently say that organic chemistry had nothing to do with medical school- not even pharmacology/biochemistry.

Oftentimes, you will have admissions officers/nonclinicians tell you that ochem is important because it tests your ability to solve problems, etc.. I personally feel that engineering/mathematics/logic courses would be a better judge.

Admission to medical school- much like medical school itself- is all about jumping through hoops. By doing well in ochem, you are showing your mettle and willingness to work through a crappy class, a desirable trait for medical students.



*On a side-note, you cannot compare organic chemistry to engineering (I studied Biomedical). I took honors o-chem and didn't find it to be a very difficult course. My engineering classes were the ones that made life rather difficult- getting a (B-)in biomechanics sucked the wind out of me. You just can't compare the level of difficulty of premed vs. engineering.

hence some chemical engineer people come out of college and land a 6 figured salary job.

 

[FlowRate]

hence some chemical engineer people come out of college and land a 6 figured salary job.

Man, I wish that was common coming from my school!

If you want to learn how to solve abstract problems, take a ChemE fluid mechanics class that has a focus on tensor calculus

Fluid mechanics/transport phenomena we touched on that stuff a little at the end of the semester. SO glad we didn't actually get into the thick of it.