Upper Level Credit

[nikeshp]

I have high school credit for chem and bio. i am a biochem major, i have to take genetics and biochemistry with lab, so i figure that will do for the biology requirement, so im not worried about those grades.

however, with chem, i take p. chem for my major, i figure i just have to take lab with that. how hard is p. chem? will p.chem + high school college credit for gen chem fulfill most requirements? if not, would anyone know of a class called qualitative analysis w/ lab cover that as well? how hard is this? if my bcpm gets lowered by these upper levels, will med schools see this, and be a little bit nicer?

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[Carlin]

P chem (at my school at least) was really very difficult. I'm a chem major and had to take two semesters of it and was just about ready throw a party when I was finally finished. Quite honestly, even if you have AP credit or whatever for chemistry, it's not a bad idea to take gen chem. There's a good chance that your college class will be more in-depth and prepare you better for the MCAT, and even if it is all a review, you'll have one more A to factor into your BCPM GPA.

I did take a Qualitative Analysis class for my chem major too. At my school, it was essentially Gen Chem 2, for majors. It wasn't too bad, but I don't know what it would be like at your school.

 

[nikeshp]

well the thing is, i have to take p chem for my major, biochem, anyways, so although i heard it is very difficult, even if i take gen chem over, i still have to take p chem so i see no point.

if qualitative analysis isn't too bad, i might take that. i guess i will decide between that and inorganic chemistry.

so would med schools see these upper levels and be more forgiving for a b in these courses rather than a B in gen chem? i also heard that med schools would see that i would take gen chem my junior year, after taking biochem and two semesters of organic and stuff like that, so they wouldn't be to happy about that.

 

[Carlin]

so would med schools see these upper levels and be more forgiving for a b in these courses rather than a B in gen chem? i also heard that med schools would see that i would take gen chem my junior year, after taking biochem and two semesters of organic and stuff like that, so they wouldn't be to happy about that.

I don't know about this for sure, but I really hope so. I got Bs in both semesters of Pchem, and I was really pleased about it because it was so hard. I'm not sure how familiar adcoms are with it, but I would imagine that they see that fairly frequently. I'm applying this cycle, so I guess I'll find out!

But yeah, I don't recommend taking gen chem after biochem and orgo. Better to do it first, or not at all if you decide to use your high school credit.