Avoid University of Kentucky for Pre-Med

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Kentucky
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University of Kentucky has an extremely bad Chemistry department. The General Chemistry that is needed for medical school is absolutely terrible. The class average was a D for the second test, and it has triggered a departmental review of the entire chemistry department.

Ideally, a lab should be easier than the class. Especially when so many have dropped the class and the average was a D for those who didn’t. At UK, Most of the labs for Chemistry and other classes are actually separate from your class. When you register, the lab is an independent, separate section, and grade, which makes scheduling and grading much worse. This is not the case with General Chemistry. The lab is actually insanely hard. The assignments are completely unreasonable and have a very arbitrary grading scale, I and many others have gotten low grades or failed assignments even when putting in full effort and going to office hours. The sole general chemistry lab coordinator, who you are stuck with as she is the only one at this school, has the worst reviews I have ever seen for a professor on RateMyProfessor. People say she is “worse than Snape”. All of the reviews are true.

I can tell you that these 100 level chemistry lab and classes are actually harder than 400 level advanced classes or college calculus I have taken elsewhere (I have taken classes at a school where my major had around a 50% drop rate, and this is probably worse). This goes without saying considering the class averages, and the extremely high fail or withdrawal rate for University of Kentucky chemistry.

I can also tell you I have heard horrible things about the calculus and math classes as well, but I don’t have any experience with it personally.

This should serve as a warning. If things don’t change and you are pre med, stay as far away from University of Kentucky as possible. Has anyone had similar experiences at their school?

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General chem, o chem, calc, bio, physics, etc…typically are weed out courses at most schools, for many different majors.

I have a chem e student at another public. We told her not to freak out about her raw score but to wait to hear the mean and standard deviation. Labs have also been separate classes.

Go to all the office hours, review sessions, tutoring, and review old exams. Join study groups and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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I’ve heard the same complaints on the parents FB page of the flagship my DD attended. And yet many still managed to graduate with chemistry degrees with highest honors and many went to top medical schools. So, it’s just weeding out. That’s how it is at many schools.

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Agree with @momofboiler1 and @itsgettingreal21, chem is a weed-out at many schools by nature of the difficulty of the class. It, along with Org Chem and calc for stem are by far the most complained about classes on parent FB pages. This is NOT exclusive to UK. These classes aren’t like most HS AP classes; they’re hard, really hard. These are usually the first “struggle classes” many higher achieving students encounter out of HS. It is typical for labs to be separate 1 credit classes. Go to review sessions, tutoring hours, office hours; find study groups and go to the academic success center for help with study skills and plans. Here is the website for the chem support services at UK:
https://wp.as.uky.edu/genchem/sp20help/
This is the link for study skills coaching at UK:
https://www.uky.edu/acadcoach/
There is also a writing center of you need help with lab papers. Good luck!

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When a new user joins CC simply to rant about a college, it serves no purpose. CC is not Yelp. Someone else may have had a fantastic experience at U Kentucky. Closing.

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