Toughest Pre-Req? Just wondering...

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LOL....maybe I should have clarified which classes were the "hardest" versus which ones were "most hated!" There definitely is a difference! 😀
 
ORGANIC, by far the hardest class i've ever took...i'm not sure if i hated it because i did so bad or if i did so bad because i hated it...
 
It can definitely be the chicken and the egg thing when it comes to pre-reqs!! LOL.
 
Physics 2 was by far the most frustrating thing for me! I understood the concepts but couldn't do well on a test. It doesn't help though that my prof posted the answers while we were testing so people had their friends take pictures in their phones and send them. So, with cheating going on, I didn't do so hot. But really, how can you tell an adcom, "Oh yah, I sucked at physics because my professor allowed people to cheat so it blew the curve"? 😱

Genetics gave me my first meltdown! I loved that class so much, the information, all of it. It was just SO HARD!!!! I had this premonition in my head that if I couldn't even pass a subject I loved so much, how am I going to make it in vet school? Well, I ended up doing really well, I just psyched myself out!
 
this semester, definatly genetics. Its discouraging when the TA's can't help you and say that these labs are too hard for 2nd year, and its unfortunate that the prof refuses to change them....
 
So what I've been seeing is that even with crappy grades in upper level classes you still got into vet school (several of you who posted below) - guess I don't hate Genetics as much as I thought I did! I love this thread!





The greener grass on the other side of the fence is probably artificial turf!
 
Loved biochem but still got a B... because it was really hard. Had a lot of trouble with orgo and made Cs. Loved the teacher though, and I worked HARD for those Cs. Serously. Hated physics but made Bs. Definitely an uphill battle there. Genetics was fine... still made a flippin B. I hate Bs. Bah.
 
Okay, so I know I'm the only one, but I LOVED organic. It helps that my professors were both awesome (albeit in different ways), and I love being in the lab. I also really liked Calculus and Human Anat/Phys.

Anyway, I know you asked what was the toughest, but I just always have to be a rebel. 🙄 So I guess I'd have to say the toughest was Physics. I hated that class with a passion. and biochem would probably have been pretty unbearable if my prof hadn't been so great.
 
I'm with the group on the prof making the difference. Physics is taught by 2 different profs at our school and their teaching styles are so different I had a friend fail with one prof and do really well with the other and the subject matter was exactly the same. Luckily, we usually have a choice of a couple of instructors so you can choose who might work the best.
 
ohhhh where to begin..my school made **** unnecessarily tough

the following is not an all inclusive list but just the ones i feel like really sucked

genetics
physics
biochem
organic
calculus
etc. etc.
 
zpinkpanther said:
Okay, so I know I'm the only one, but I LOVED organic. It helps that my professors were both awesome (albeit in different ways), and I love being in the lab. I also really liked Calculus and Human Anat/Phys.

Nope, not the only one - I loved organic too! It was one of my toughest courses though. And Biochem, same deal - really tough but well worth the effort!
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Yeah, I took orgo 1 this spring and absolutely loved it. I was so ready to hate the course based on everything I ever heard about it and I was honestly disappointed. Taking the labs and orgo 2 this summer.

Physics 2 was miserable!
 
Ha, worst class? Nutrition! So, so boring. So, so mindless. Let's spend two weeks and two labs figuring out how to create a horse ration from common household objects. Let's spend three days assessing the body condition of the horses in the barn that are all overweight. Let's spend 15 minutes discussing the nutritional needs of dogs and cats. Gah!

I loved o-chem. I loved calculus. (Well, I loved my ridiculously attractive calculus TA and his ridiculously attractive office mate I convinced to take me out to dinner. 😀 I'm bad.)
 
zpinkpanther said:
Okay, so I know I'm the only one, but I LOVED organic. It helps that my professors were both awesome (albeit in different ways), and I love being in the lab.
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I also absolutely loved organic chemistry! I took it first term last year and took physical chemistry second term and the whole time I was studying for physical chemistry I kept whining to everyone how I missed organic chem and hated physical chem! But I also have an amazing organic chem prof. She even baked us all cookies - and by all I mean two sections of 200 people apiece, so 400 cookies in total!! 😱

The class i did the worst in was definitely English (university writing)...blah...but I'm not sure I'd classify it as the "hardest" because I honestly put NO effort into that class.
 
Physics.....OUCH....I'm just not good at it. Now that I look back, it wasn't so bad(felt dreadful at the time), but Physics 1 took a ton of time for me to "get it"(enough to get a B). I can honestly admit that I still don't "get it". I thought Physics II was easier for me. In addition, I had a more difficult time in Chem I and II, then OCHEM I,II and biochem. I think we find our strengths with these prereqs and get a great tutor to help with the weaknesses! 🙂 Good luck! You'll do great. Once you take the first round of prereqs then you can get an idea what is not your strong spot. I felt like once I realized Physics was not easy for me, I took easier classes when I was enrolled in Physics II to give me more time to devote to it. Worked out much better!
Badger Girl said:
I'm just starting my pre-reqs (taking genetics this semester), so I am just curious about which ones were the hardest for everyone. This is just an opinion question since everyone has different experiences and skill levels. Personally, I'm a little nervous about more advanced general chem stuff and biochem. I'm just taking it one step at a time, so no need to freak out at this point. I'm just curious!🙂
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I'm one of the strange people who actually liked physics... But Organic II almost killed me... GLAD THAT'S ALL DONE!
 
I would say physics for me on the basis that it wasn't all about being able to study the material, you could work your ass off and still get stuck on a problem. O-chem was kind of like that too, but the tests just weren't as hard. In physics we would be tested on problems we've never seen before and have to figure out how to solve them ourselves.
 
reefervet said:
In physics we would be tested on problems we've never seen before and have to figure out how to solve them ourselves.
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That was my physics class too. Well he really did that for the first time on the final "to see what would happen." People walked out crying! I think the passing grade for it was about a 35!

Of the main core requirements id have to say my hardest pre-req was Gen chem. I hated it and I'm no good at it, which makes it hard to do well. Even though my orgo professor was horrible the first time i took it (he read his powerpoint presentation in class and you couldnt come to him with questions) - after i dropped it and took it with another professor I LOVED IT (yes im one of those weird ones) and did really well.

However, probably my most challenging class but something i still really understood well was neuroanatomy. The time and effort I had to put into that class to learn and understand it all was astounding - it was taught at a "medical school level"!
 
My toughest pre-reqs were probably Organic II and Calculus. I actually liked Organic, but hated all the mechanisms (which was basically all that Orgo II was!). The lab freaked me out a bit at first, but I had a cool TA. With Calc - I'm just not good at math. 😳

I really enjoy the concepts of Physics, but I don't care for doing all of the calculations! I had an awful professor that would show us demonstration after demonstration of the concepts in class, but wouldn't teach us how to do any calculations! Then he would wonder why we would do terrible on the exams. 🙄 (AND, I thought I failed Physics I b/c he lost all of my lab grades and gave me an F for the course... I went to see him to see where I went wrong and saw that ALL of my lab grades were missing from his computer! Thankfully, I saved all of my lab reports, showed him, and really ended up with a B in the class!)

Physics II was a little tough for me, too (or maybe I was just a little lazy 😛). I have my bf to thank for all of his wonderful tutoring and helping me get an A!

EDIT: One of my most hated classes, although not a pre-req, was Botany. My prof told many funny stories and gave us fresh fruit and honey, but his exams were so difficult! 25 multiple choice q's that were worded like GRE q's - ugh. Plus, while I realize the importance of plants, most of his lectures were just not that exciting at 8am...
 
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I know organic chem has a bad reputation, but for those of you who are biology majors, just be grateful that you didn't have to suffer through physical chemistry. That class is the only one I've ever been really intimidated by, felt I did poorly in, and greatly disliked. Both halves of it. If I never have to study thermodynamics and quantum mechanics again, I'll be just peachy. Luckily, P-Chem isn't a pre-req for vet school, but I needed it for my chemistry degree.

I'm in the "loved organic, loved biochem" camp. I really enjoyed genetics and right now I'm taking microbiology and am fascinated by the whole topic. I don't regret getting my BA in chemistry on the one hand, but now taking more biology classes I feel I've come home to the discipline I should have been in all along. Better late than never, I guess!
 
Whirr said:
I know organic chem has a bad reputation, but for those of you who are biology majors, just be grateful that you didn't have to suffer through physical chemistry.
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Anytime I would come across a chem major in undergrad, they would always be like "Organic is a joke compared to P-Chem." Kinda makes me glad I didn't have to take it (although, I do enjoy chemistry).
 
CALCULUS!! My school required I and II for my degree. It was horrible. I got C+'s in both.

As for sciences - I really didn't care for Genetics. The Mendelian part was ok but when we got into the molecular part it was incredibly dry and hard to get motivated to study. I ended up with a B+.
 
I absolutely hated Biochem. The final was on twenty chapters and the professor put 30 multiple choice, very specific questions on the actual test. I got a Hard earned B out the class
 
O Chem lab, physics, maths...

you can see where my weaknesses are...

But I found them interesting... just tedious to no end!
 
i liked organic also. much more than gen. chem.
but physics...oooooo physics....
i had temper tantrums while doing physics...literally...laying on the floor face down crying and banging my fists...lol:laugh:
 
I have an addendum to the original question:

What pre-req did you find to be least useful? Of course the answers will vary since different schools require different pre-reqs!! 😀
 
Organic Chem. was definitely my most hated course. As for most difficult, I'd say it was a tie b/t that and Calculus. I had no Calc. preparation in high school and had to take Calc. 1 twice. (I realize Calc is not an actual pre-req for some--or maybe all-- of the vet schools but it was required for both of my majors.)

But Orgo was horrible. Granted, it was practically all memorization, but it was a lot to memorize and very easily confused. I had no trouble with memorizing things for my bio classes.

I also hated the teaching style of my Orgo professor. I also hated the fact that her mood depended on whether the Red Sox won or lost their games. My biochem professor and I also didn't get along very well, so that made biochem a very frustrating class.

I have yet to take Microbiology and Genetics, but I don't suspect I'll have any trouble with them beyond making time to study.
 
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Badger Girl said:
I have an addendum to the original question:

What pre-req did you find to be least useful? Of course the answers will vary since different schools require different pre-reqs!! 😀
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My guess would be one of the non-science/non-math courses...
 
I'm in the "hated o-chem" but loved physics, calc, and p-chem group. I ended up loving physics so much my sophomore year that I decided to double major in chemistry and physics and now have a master's in physical chemistry! Love the quantum!😍

But now I am kicking myself for not taking more bio in college. I am working on vet school prereqs now (taking statistics this semester and just need genetics to be done for the school I want to go to), but want to take more bio classes to try and get more prepared. I just started A&P and am already terrified! My brain was just never very into memorizing and right now it feels like lots of memorizing!

So my "tagged on" question is:

Other than the usual prereqs, what classes did you find were the most helpful in preparing you for your first year of vet school? I figure I have another year at least to just take some classes to get more knowledge while I apply, and reapply, and apply again.

I am thinking about microbiology, A&P II, more biochem (I just took the 1 semester survey class... but wish now I had taken the 2 semester sequence)... Any thoughts?
 
I HATED zoology. it was a stupid stupid class where all you could do to study was memorize EVERYTHING!!

i honestly couldn't get myself interested in extinct fish and i dont care how many semi-circular canals a hagfish or a lamprey have. and to know the difference between ammocetes and amphioxus....doesn't really help me.

i loved o-chem...it was challenging, i studied hard and got B, A-, and A. the ochem labs...take them while youre taking the lecture.
 
Kat0303 said:
i liked organic also. much more than gen. chem.
but physics...oooooo physics....
i had temper tantrums while doing physics...literally...laying on the floor face down crying and banging my fists...lol:laugh:
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I feel better now that I know I wasn't the only one!
Physics was the hardest, most useless class I have ever taken.
 
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