<p>I've signed up for Chem 141, and I'm thinking now that I should be in Chem 181.
I took AP Chem and did well in the class and I got a 3 on the AP exam (I could have done better on that...), but I want to be pre-med (hopefully with a bio major).</p>
<p>Should I take 181 instead of 141? I know its more rigorous, but I keep thinking that that maybe it will better prepare me for MCATS and will challenge me more in general.</p>
<p>any thoughts?</p>
<p>If you're not going to major in Chemistry, don't bother. </p>
<p>Med school doesn't care what course you take and plenty of people fail/drop 141.</p>
<p>Take the 80's track if you think you might want to major in chemistry.</p>
<p>Take the 40's track if you "think" you want to go to medical school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Take the 40's track if you "think" you want to go to medical school.
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</p>
<p>love the quotations, hah!</p>
<p>haha so far I "think" I'm pretty sure I want to go to med school :)</p>
<p>I spoke with the professor for 181 and he thinks I'm well prepared for 181, but I guess you guys are right in that if I'm not planning on majoring in it
then I might as well take 141... I'm not sure yet...</p>
<p>Cool! 30-40% of incoming first years are sure that they want to be medical doctors, too.</p>
<p><em>Apologies to melli, in advance</em></p>
<p>Yeah, go ask melli.</p>
<p>Nikki,</p>
<p>Unless you can confirm that Mr. Harman will be teaching Chem 182 (which I doubt), I wouldn't rush to switch to 181. If Dean Harman is teaching both sections (Fall and Spring) of 181/182, then that would be an option to consider. However, I've heard the 181/182 labs are pretty challenging. </p>
<p>As your schedule stands now, who do you have for 141?</p>
<p>What if you've been always bored in chemistry classes, ever since you were 12? I didn't get to take AP Chem because of scheduling issues in my senior year of high school, but chemistry classes (along my life so far) always frustrated me because of how they repeated concepts you already knew, and how they always went a mile wide and an inch deep. </p>
<p>But I don't even really know the difference between 141 and 181, especially since this is at the college level, and this is UVA, but I just want to avoid repeating the same stuff again. I like the idea that 181 requires "a strong background in high school chemistry". So even if you're not majoring in chemistry, shouldn't you take it if you have credit for Physics 201 and 202, so you can find use for those e/m equations (at least conceptually, even if you never directly use them) before you forget them, and the idea of "chemical principles" sounds exciting? I mean, electron affinity immediately reminds me of escape energies, continuously changing fields, and all that. Of course, the difference is that you have discrete units, so it's not like (the inverse concept of) plucking matter from a planet and slowly watching the gravitational field continuously decrease in strength, but still.</p>
<ol>
<li>E/M equations are all exactly alike. There should be any "forgetting" because they all pretty much stem from 3-5 basic equations. That, and once you're in the real world you can look them up whenever, so who cares if you forget them.<br></li>
<li>181 is not that advanced.</li>
<li>While chemistry and physics do share ideas of elements and atoms and that type of nature, you're not going to see them put together at radical lengths. Even my modern physics class "touched" on those topics and was pretty much like "this element happens to have this nature as a result of chemistry. Moving on".<br>
You're looking way too much into 181. It's designed to give those who know the basics of basic chemistry a bigger challenge when dealing with the basics again. It is an intro chem class, but it will spend less time explaining things and more time applying them. 141 is for people (like mee! :)) who's grasp of chemistry in high school was limited to an honors class with either a horrible teacher or they walked out knowing not much beyond basic elements/processes. Lots of people chose AP Physics over Chem, or chose no AP science at all. It's not fair to those people to have people who have little background suffer in the same class where people are whizzing through. That's I think the main reason for the two classes: people who are more advanced can prepare better for whatever (major classes, MCATs, whatever) while not running over the others.</li>
</ol>
<p>So then Chem 181 is not just for chem majors then? Actually my primary concern is that I don't want to be bored.</p>
<p>I'm sure that you won't be bored in 181. And, it's designed for chem majors, but lots of pre-meds take it, some bio kids, and people who did well in AP/IB but don't want to rely on the given credit, or just barely missed the cut.</p>
<p>Do I want to take Chem 181 if I haven't taken AP Chem at all? (But I think that I would have done well if I had?)</p>
<p>Am I going to have a tought time in Chem 141 if I got a 4 on HL Chemistry? I was pretty close to a 5...</p>
<p>Haha, I respect the IB curriculum more than I respect the AP curriculum, so actually I predict (though I am as much clued in to the fine details of the course as you are) that you will do fine. ;)</p>
<p>I guess I'm skittish about chemistry because I can pretty much answer chemistry questions but I couldn't explain it to someone else...</p>
<p>Sucks for your classmates. Good for you. Nothing has to be equal, I say go for it.</p>
<p>HopefulHoo's Dad,</p>
<p>As of now I'm signed up for Chem 141 with Prof. Gerrans. I was wondering why it would make a difference if Dean Harman wasn't teaching 182? </p>
<p>I know the course is tough, but I feel like I'm up for the challenge. The reason I remain undecided is because I want to double major in IR and Biology so I know in the future I will be taking tougher courses for those two majors.
I only want to take Chem 181 if it in any way will help me do better on the MCATS, or if I learn more concepts in it than I will in Chem 141, and on some level I'm wondering whether med. schools will care if they see a tougher Chem class on my transcript. what do you guys think?</p>
<p>I know its a little early to think about all of that but I can't see to help it:)</p>
<p>My true interests in science lay within biology (esp.human biology etc.) so will it be pointless to take Chem 181? I'm very confused at this point...</p>
<p>Nikki,</p>
<p>If I was you I'd stick with Chem 141. You'll probably enjoy Mr. Gerrans. Based on what you've said in your posts, I don't see any reason for you to switch to Chem 181.</p>
<p>From what I've been told, Chem 141 isn't a walk in the park. Unless you're interested in doing a Chemistry major, I'd stay in Mr. Gerrans' 141 class.</p>
<p>Overachieving when it comes to pre-med requirements is a very bad idea.</p>