<p>Any chem/biochem majors out there?</p>
<p>I'll be a new transfer to Penn this fall and it was suggested to me that I take Chem 221 and 251 together. However, I've heard some stories regarding the tough work loads of these courses (especially 251) and was wondering if taking these courses together would be a good idea?</p>
<p>Also, do people generally take 221 and 251 during the same year or do they partition it through two years? </p>
<p>Thank you for your advice!</p>
<p>What year are you entering? What chem credits do you already have? I had friends who took chem, biochem, and pchem all in the same semester last fall. I heard from them that biochem was easier in the spring (though that may have just been a function of the professors who taught it last year). 221 and 251 aren’t easy, but i never took either.</p>
<p>I’ll be part of the 2012 class and have credits up to orgo lecture&lab. </p>
<p>Really three in the same semester? Are any of those friends of yours part of the Vagelos program? </p>
<p>The professor for biochem next fall is fairly new so there are no evaluations set for him yet…
Well I suppose I’ll try it and see how it goes =O)</p>
<p>All my chem major friends are Vagelos, so that’s a really intense dataset.<br>
If you’re entering sophomore year you have plenty of time to fill all of your chem requirements. I’d spread them out. Chem 221 is only taught in the fall if I’m not mistaken while 251 is taught either semester. Personally, I’d start in 221 because if you need to drop it for whatever reason you’ll have two more opportunities to pick it up.</p>
<p>I’m taking Chem 241 & Chem 251 in the same semester so I don’t think it is out of the question to take 221 and 251 together. Oh and by the way, Dr. Cooperman is actually teaching Chem 251 next year. I hear he is a very tough teacher that puts more emphasis on memorization than conceptualization. Also, he’s suppose to be harder than Dr. Petersson.</p>
<p>Any idea how hard Chem251 is or why it is so hard?</p>
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<p>It makes sense now, given they are Vagelos people =O) </p>
<p>I’m planning on finding a chem/biochem oriented lab and feel that 251 would provide a good foundation for research in such labs, which is why I was thinking of taking 251 during the fall. Though I’ll consider taking it during the spring and try to search for some other comparably interesting course instead. </p>
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<p>So Petersson won’t be teaching it? That’s too bad</p>
<p>You’re right it probably isn’t as difficult as it is hyped to be. The main reason I made this thread was because of a 2005 post by phillySASer08’s regarding chemistry at Penn; an excerpt about 251: </p>
<p>“The other upper level classes only get worse. There are two main biochem classes at Penn, Bio 202 and Chem 251. The former is pretty tough and is the one Bio majors and the like take; the latter is what Chem and Biochem majors take and is probably the most difficult set of coursework I have ever seen in my life. My gf took it last semester and it was to the point where she thought orgo was easy by comparison. I’ve heard horror stories about p-chem and p-chem lab as well, though not quite to the extent of biochem, which I feel reasonably confident in saying is the single hardest class at Penn (except maybe for Bio 402, which is the advanced biochem class that at one point in its history had 4-hour long exams).” </p>
<p>Heh his description actually makes me want to take the course. And apparently it’s the problem sets that give the course its grueling reputation?..</p>