summer orgo

[pebble85]

Hi,

Is it possible to fulfill the organic chemistry requirement for admission to dental school in one summer?

I have all the pre-req's done except for organic chemistry...

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[Regmata]

May want to ask the schools you plan to apply to. Some schools frown on summer science courses.

As far as the material, you could probably do it. If you attempt to actually grasp the material, you will not have much if any of a summer.

If you are only so far as orgo, have you not taken altogether that many other science courses? The prereqs may be enough to get you in, but not having more courses under your belt will likely leave you at a distinct competitive disadvantage in comparison to students with more relative courses.

 

[xdianaax]

I have never really heard schools frowning upon summer science courses...maybe if it's at a CC...

 

[dddsmack]

The only question is if your school offers it, if so go for it!

 

[Meatwad]

I've also considered taking Orgo I and II over the summer (of 2008, though, not this one). I've read of people that were able to pull A's off in it, but it was a function of how hard they worked. Seems to be the norm that you will be studying 5 hours a day/7 days a week in addition to the class. Multiply that by your whole summer.

 

[Cymbidium]

I wanted to do this, but my advisor told me that most dental schools don't like to see pre-reqs taken as a summer course (esp. orgo). She said they assume that all of the material that would be taught over the course of a semester is not included in a six week course. She also said they want to see how well you do in orgo while taking other classes at the same time, hence they prefer to see that you took the classes during the regular school year.

Anyway, that's what she told me. But I doubt it will prevent you from getting in.

 

[reapply2007]

I tried it and ended up dropping both courses followed with the full-year sequence of organic with labs. It is possible to knock out the whole year in a summer but it is a phenomenal amount of work. Then again, I'm the type for which organic is little more than memorization of 700 pages of a book. If you you have the chemistry gene then it might be less work for you than it was for me. The labs take more time than is ideal.

 

[Mila]

I'm going to agree with the others who said that dental schools like to see your science pre-reqs taken during the regular year. If your issue is that you need to take it over the summer in order to finish earlier and be able to apply earlier that's one thing and they'll understand. But if it's about lightening your course load during the school year, they will know and they won't look favorably on it. They want to see that you've had a rigorous load and that you've doubled up on sciences. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[lnsip9reg]

I took Organic Chemistry at Harvard Summer School. Supposedly an 8-week course.. I think they crammed everything in 6wks.

I had a pretty good professor and section leader so I'm pretty glad I took it this way. It was nice to focus solely on this and get it out of the way.

Then again I wasn't your normal applicant; I'm a post-bacc and so took summer General Chemistry the year before. Cranked out my prereqs in a little over a year

 

[scottyhoop]

I'm doing both sections this summer so I can apply this cycle. I'm pretty nervous about it, but I am moving into an apt. and will be all by myself so I have nothing to do but study with no distractions. I've heard mixed reviews about doing it over the summer, but since I really want to apply this cycle, I have no choice.
Scott

 

[isurus22]

I did two 6 week orgo classes last summer. Most people see that as much harder than two over 28 weeks. Don't worry about "how it looks". Mine was tues, thurs, 6-9:30 pm. Plus I had a full time job. It was no picnic...about 30-40 hours of studying/ week. It was definitely worth it though. I got all my pre-reqs done in one year. 2 bios, 2 organic, 1 English.
good luck