Taking gen. chem. 2 over the internet?

[HenryH]

Hey, guys...

I'm a college freshman currently enrolled in general chemistry 1. Next semester, gen. chem. 2 is only being offered in one session and, obviously, with one professor.

I'm fond of my current chem. teacher's class structure and teaching methods; we go to class, he lectures through his PowerPoint slides, he works a few example problems on the overhead, he gives us a worksheet and, finally, he gives us a test. The tests are written so that, if you're proficient with most of the problems on his worksheets (generally one per chapter, with 10-15 questions on each), you can somewhat easily earn a high B on his always-multiple-choice tests.

Of course, as fate would have it, this guy isn't scheduled to teach gen. chem. 2 next semester. The only class being offered is taught by one of the department heads -- he's notorious for failing 75% of the class and making exams excruciatingly hard. Now, that might be good for pre-DAT preparation, but the DAT is over two-and-a-half years away for me, and, let's face it -- I'll most likely be re-learning most key concepts when studying for it, anyways.

My question is (finally), would you recommend taking the course online (via UGA's "eCore" program) or with the super-hard teacher? I know it's got to be difficult to teach yourself such an intricate subject, but I'm actually mastering most of the gen. chem. 1 concepts by going to the twice-weekly tutoring sessions offered by the university (NOT the prof's lecture!). Regardless of how I take the class, tutoring is a must; whenever I leave the class lecture, I tend to be extremely confused and have no idea how to apply what I just learned (or even what I just learned). So, uh, yeah -- if it wasn't for the tutoring, I wouldn't have lasted this long in the class.

Has anyone taken anyone online courses before? If so, what about gen. chem. 2? I'm sort of leaning towards the 'net, considering that I do most of my bona-fide "learning" at the regular tutoring sessions. Then again, I feel funny about not actually going to a class for this sort of thing...

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[4thQtrDreams]

dont take an online course for a pre-req.!!! most schools will probably not take accept the class as filling the pre-req...

 

[busdent]

bad idea

 

[dddsmack]

It is hard to get those essential lab hours over the world wide web.

 

[HenryH]

The course is being offered through the university -- just over the internet. For example, if you go to my school's "class schedule" page, it will list Principles of Chemistry 2 with Jackson on MWF, and then Principles of Chemistry 2 with "eCore online course" in parentheses.

Also, my university lists labs separately from the lecture (for ALL chemistry courses), so that you would first sign up for the lecture and then choose from four different lab times. I.E., this semester, I signed up for chem. 1 from 10:00-10:50 on MWF, and signed up for the lab on Wednesday from 1:30-4:20.

Would it still be a problem to take chem. 2 over the internet? As far as I know, I would still be registering separately for a lab...

 

[denteng]

Hey, guys...

I'm a college freshman currently enrolled in general chemistry 1. Next semester, gen. chem. 2 is only being offered in one session and, obviously, with one professor.

I'm fond of my current chem. teacher's class structure and teaching methods; we go to class, he lectures through his PowerPoint slides, he works a few example problems on the overhead, he gives us a worksheet and, finally, he gives us a test. The tests are written so that, if you're proficient with most of the problems on his worksheets (generally one per chapter, with 10-15 questions on each), you can somewhat easily earn a high B on his always-multiple-choice tests.

Of course, as fate would have it, this guy isn't scheduled to teach gen. chem. 2 next semester. The only class being offered is taught by one of the department heads -- he's notorious for failing 75% of the class and making exams excruciatingly hard. Now, that might be good for pre-DAT preparation, but the DAT is over two-and-a-half years away for me, and, let's face it -- I'll most likely be re-learning most key concepts when studying for it, anyways.

My question is (finally), would you recommend taking the course online (via UGA's "eCore" program) or with the super-hard teacher? I know it's got to be difficult to teach yourself such an intricate subject, but I'm actually mastering most of the gen. chem. 1 concepts by going to the twice-weekly tutoring sessions offered by the university (NOT the prof's lecture!). Regardless of how I take the class, tutoring is a must; whenever I leave the class lecture, I tend to be extremely confused and have no idea how to apply what I just learned (or even what I just learned). So, uh, yeah -- if it wasn't for the tutoring, I wouldn't have lasted this long in the class.

Has anyone taken anyone online courses before? If so, what about gen. chem. 2? I'm sort of leaning towards the 'net, considering that I do most of my bona-fide "learning" at the regular tutoring sessions. Then again, I feel funny about not actually going to a class for this sort of thing...

That is a very long post to say you're trying to avoid a professor you do not like. I could not even read the whole thing.

If you honestly believe you can hand pick all your professors, and believe taking a course online to avoid a professor you dilike is a reasonable solution, then you have another thing coming.

Welcome to college. Things will not always go 100% your way, but this is the time you learn how to do your best, even with the situation presented is not the best for you.





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[HenryH]

I'm just trying to do what will be best for my GPA...

Doesn't AADSAS only consider BCP courses when calculating your science GPA? That means that, unless I happen to have been a biologist in a past life (haven't taken it yet), my sci. GPA won't be so hot (I've got on the lower end of a B, so far, in gen. chem. 1). Psychology, environmental science, etc. courses won't count for my sci. GPA (that is, the one AADSAS considers), correct?

 

[RoxyG1624]

I wouldn't take it online. I am taking Gen chem 1 online and have a D. I am thinking about dropping it and taking the in lecture one.

Try to imagine not going to your lectures and only doing problems yourself and going to tutoring, do you really think you would still have a B average? If so, then do it. If not, then don't.

 

[litldime]

I wouldn't take any sciences online if I were you. I think your best bet if you don't want to take that hard teacher is to defer taking chem II if you can. Or, you could suck it up, and work you a$$ off taking the class with the hard teacher. Online however= bad idea!

Personally, your sucess in college can depend on the professor you take. If I knew two teacher we're teaching the same class but one was harder than the other I obviously wouldn't take the harder teacher. Yea, welcome to college but to succeed in college you also need to be 'smart.' I'm not talking about book smart but smart in the sense of taking the teacher that will help your gpa.

At the end of the day, dental schools don't look to see oh you took chem II with professor X, the hard one or you took chem II with professor Y, the easy one, they just look at the grade. So yea, try to get a leg up and take the professor that will give you the easier A as long as you learn you concepts.

Personally for every college class I select, I look at 2 websites: (1) www.pickaprof.com (this is available for almost every school and it tells you what percent of the class gets A, B, etc- they get their information from university records and it costs $5) (2) www.ratemyprofessor.com (it's free, its useful because students give feedback- whatever they want to say- about the professor/ class

Yea college is about being book smart, but you also need to be street smart.
ld

 

[reapply2007]

If your transcript doesn't indicate that it is an internet course then it is likely it will never come up as an issue. AADSAS does have a field in the coursework section where you indicate it was an internet class. But then again, if you say it was internet and the transcript doesn't show it was an internet class then AADSAS could just as well change it back to non-internet and assume you made a mistake. Take the lab, obviously. The question is how well can you do on an internet class? They usually rely on self-motivation. If you can't do well in the class then take it in a format where you can get a good grade. You'll also need to know chem for the DAT, so you'll actually need to learn something as well as get the grade.

 

[LNinlove]

To the OP:

For me, gchem II was a bit harder than gchem I. I had a difficult teacher for gchem I and I got a B+ (half a point from a frikkin A- but that is another argument). In gchem II I had an "easier" teacher with all multiple choice tests and scraped by with a B. These were both "in class".

I am a big proponent of online courses...as I work atleast 40 hours a week and it is hard to get classes to fit around my work schedule. I have never taken a math or science course online. I have taken "pseudo-science" courses online and it has never been a problem. All I had to do was memorize info and regurgitate it.

In a round-about way, I am trying to say that taking chemistry online might not be the best thing to do. I know waiting a semester to see if your favorite prof MIGHT be teaching it is a gamble...so be careful. Is there another college nearby? That might be an option. But you will probably have to explain why you took it elsewhere to the adcoms.

Everyone here understands your predicament. We have all been there...and made it through. You too will make it...you will just have to dedicate a little more time to the class. It only gets harder...

 

[HenryH]

To those who say to be smart when choosing a professor, I definitely understand what you all mean.

I might see if the prof. I have now will be teaching chem. 2 in May, or something...

The contrasts in teaching style and difficulty between my prof. and the one teaching chem. 2 next semester are unbelievable. At the tutoring the other day, a student from the other guy's class showed me the worksheet they had just been given. Talk about difficult! "Write out and balance the following chemical equation under acidic conditions, and estimate oxidation numbers if the compound were to be.......then, find the this and this of this, and, if given this, hypothesize the number of..."

Our worksheets: "4 moles of blahblahblah are burned with this to produce 6 moles of this and 7 moles of this, how many moles of this2 are produced?"

My teacher is so much straight forward -- he actually WANTS people to pass. Two or three days before a test, he passes out copies of the version of the same test that he gave back during the spring semester, and he goes over all the problems and tells us "there will be one like this and this" or whatever.

Did I mention his tests are ALL multiple choice?

The other guy might be more passionate about q= m X s X deltaT, but I don't think dental school adcoms are going to care...

By the way -- I found out that, for the online course, lab materials (including chemicals, equipment) are sent to you and you're responsible for doing the experiments yourself. You know, my little sister has been bugging me to do her crystal-growing kit.....😀