<p>Here’s NYU’s chemistry and biochemistry degree requirements: [NYU</a> > Chemistry > Chemistry Major Requirements](<a href=“NYU”>NYU). I imagine that NYU is quite typical among universities offering majors in biochemistry and chemistry.</p>
<p>You’ll see that the course sequence for a BA in chemistry is basically gen chem + lab, orgo + lab, p-chem + lab, and two one-semester electives. The course sequence for a BA in biochemistry is basically gen chem + lab, orgo + lab, p-chem + lab, and two semesters of biochemistry.</p>
<p>My school had 1 semester of p-chem and 2 of biochem for my majors. I also got cell bio thrown in there as well. I found both semesters of biochem useful for the BS section, and P chem was a nice review of the concepts in gen chem. However, the calculus level of it made it a little less useful, in my opinion, simply because the formulas didn´t always match.</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you chem majors to answer my questions. I was just curious.</p>
<p>One of my child’s close friends is a biochem major. So I learned a little bit about it indirectly from my child when he talked about it. It seems a biochem major has to take two-term version of biochem. A bio major (for the standard track) usually needs to take the one-term version, unless the bio major did not take the intro bio in freshman year (a very strange policy to me). So some poor bio majors who somehow skip the intro bio need to take the two-term version of biochem.</p>
<p>The two-term version of biochemistry seems to be more reserach oriented. It appears that the second term of the two-term version of biochemistry drives many students nuts, and the second-term topic is almost exclusively about DNA and RNA. It is said that the tests for the second term biochem are more like a puzzle game, nothing like the tests in a traditional organic chemistry, general chemistry or biology tests.</p>
<p>Many biochem majors tend to be afraid of (or are not fond of) p-chem. If they are premed and apply without a gap year, they do not care so much about what grade they get on p-chem any more as they take p-chem in senior year. Actually, most take the softer biological application version of p-chem rather than the one for the chemistry (or physics or BME?) majors.</p>
<p>It still confuses me that a biochem course is a chemistry course or a biology course though. I start to suspect that there are different kinds of biochem course, depending on the schools.</p>
<p>That is the way the two-sem biochem sequence is structured at Cornell. The first term focuses on more traditional biochem subjects (most similar to what you will see in med school) while the second term focused on nucleic acids and research methods. The tests involved interpretation of graphs, gels, and other experimental output.</p>
<p>Thanks, NCG. Your description is the same as what I have learned. Some kids jokingly said after some intensive session of study (or after tests), their brains become gels. They also mention that the class is all about intrepretation of experimental data, and more study does not necessarily lead to a better test score. (Isn’t MCAT somewhat like that? :-)) Most premeds seem to be more fond of the first semester of the two-term biochemistry for some reason.</p>
<p>So, I was perusing this thread and saw that it’s okay if you skip your premed reqs with AP as long as you take higher level courses that are part of your major. Well, I’ll [most likely] be doing BME, so courses like Biochemistry are not required of me, but they still sound interesting enough that I want to take them. Would that be okay if I, say, skipped my Chemistry requirements? What if I skipped Bio and took Genetics (even though that is also not part of my major)? </p>
<p>I mean, I understand it would probably be better (higher GPA, actually fulfilling the requirements…) but Biochem. and Genetics sound more interesting…</p>
<p>Do you plan to take two semesters of Biochemistry or just one semester of Biochemistry? Although I do not know the answer to your question, I suggest that you provide this information before people here can answer your question.</p>
<p>I believe norcalguy once told me that Biochemistry may not be considered as inorganic/general chemistry. Some medical schools, especially those which specifically ask for Biochemistry in addition to two semesters of inorganic/general chemistry, will likely not accept Biochemistry as one of the chemistry courses outside of organic chemistry.</p>
<p>I would guess that most people believe there is some risk if you take one semester version of Biochemistry and two semesters of organic chemistry. This is because you have only 3 semesters of chemistry. However, there are some medical schools (Is JHU one of these?) which seem to accept this.</p>
<p>This question (i.e., whether we can use Biochemistry to meet the general chemistry requirement) puzzled me a lot. DS joking said I could never have 100 percent confidence in the answer to this very question that is provided by his premed advisor. Actually, in DS’s case, he had one semester of general chemistry with lab, one semester of Biochemistry with lab, and two semesters of organic chemistry with labs. And I still feel that he may not meet the chemistry requirements at schools like UTSA, UTSW and BCM, because Biochemistry is either required or highly recommended by these schools.</p>
<p>If you are in BME, you will probably have to take some form of physical chemistry. If you take the lab, that counts as one. Most schools would probably be ok with the other being biochem (unless it IS a req, as it is at some schools) with a lab being the other. Otherwise, there’s always biophysical chemistry :D</p>
<p>As a warning, there are a few stuck in the mud schools that will NOT accept substitutes for the pre-reqs.</p>
<p>^ Is Biophysical Chemistry sort of the same as Biophysics? The Biochemistry majors at DS’ school have to take either two semesters of p-chem, or one semester of p-chem plus one semester of so-called Biophysics. Most students seem to dislike the way Biophysics is taught for some unknown reason. (maybe mile wide but inch deep?) I suspect that most premed Biochemistry majors are really not very much into some applied math/physics techniques that are usually emphasized in Engineering/Physics, but some of these techniques (e.g., signal processing, FFT) may not be avoided in a Biophysics class.</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but I have the impression that some upper division chemistry is more like physics with application in Chemistry. (I definitely exaggerate it, and I could be totally incorrect in my wild guess here.)</p>
<p>So should I just stick with Chemical Principles I and II? :/</p>
<p>I’ve heard these are awfully boring (because of the lack of rigor) for someone who performed well on AP Chem. but if there is no alternative, I guess I’d do them…
That’s funny. In fact, that is what I planned on doing…</p>
<p>What if I took Chemical Principles II (and just skip Chem. Principles I?). Would it be okay, then?</p>
<p>Biophysical chemistry does relate to biophysics, as it just focuses on the physics of biological chemical reactions. It probably is more or less the same.</p>
<p>While I agree that doing well in Ap chem makes chem 1 and 2 pretty dull, they are easy As and an easy way to ease into college. I actually did what you are suggesting. I only took the 2nd semester of gen chem and then took physical chemistry to replace the first semester. I planned to take gen chem 1 during the summer before medical school if I had to (fortunately my school was ok with the way I did it).</p>
<p>Sorry to kick a dead horse, but with a kid who just finished 1 yr of OC and 1 yr of Biochem (on the recommendation of her premed advisor), this is keeping me up at night. I’ve been going to websites and looking at requirements for specific Med Schools, there’s lots of variation out there to say the least. With all of the variables involved in deciding which Med schools to apply to, I’d hate to see lots of schools being ruled out already due to lack of the required classes.</p>
<p>Will it help if she contacts various schools now to see what their policy is about chem requirements in regard to her coursework? Will they actually give her a firm answer? She’s a jr and so still has some time left and will likely take a gap year as well. Of course she doesn’t want to take any more chem, but it seems like a waste of time and money to apply for schools without knowing if she meets the basic requirements.</p>
<p>Any help out there with the least painful, and hopefully most constructive, way to proceed would be appreciated!</p>
<p>There is a website out there that lists what schools have what policies on AP. I’m almost certain that it has been posted on CC.</p>
<p>Contacting the schools will help, in the sense that she will have the knowledge first hand. Her pre-med office should be able to offer some assistance too, but if she knows what schools that she is going to apply to…</p>
<p>^Thanks, I’m less concerned about her getting AP credit than the Biochem replacing the gen chem, but I’ll look for that link. </p>
<p>Unfortunately we haven’t done all of the research to figure out which schools would be the best to apply to yet since it’s still a couple of years off. My main worry is that due to her chem sequence, she wouldn’t have the basic requirements for a large number of schools to start with.</p>
<p>I think that its a pretty safe bet that any school that doesn’t require biochem will probably accept biochem for gen chem credit. Don’t know why that poster said otherwise. Despite the fact that gen chem and biochem are definitely different subjects, schools require that you replace chemistry with a higher level chemistry course, not specifically a higher level inorganic one. It doesn’t hurt to check, and one could always cram the two gen chem classes in at a community college right before medical school.</p>
<p>I have a question. I’m a freshman and I took the Gen Chem 101 course. After three weeks, I realize that its for “non-science” majors (apparently) even though its not listed anywhere in the syllabus or class description and that I should’ve taken Chem 111. How much will this hurt me? The class is really easy so far, I think I took most of this stuff in early high school, but I’m worried it might be looked upon badly and I really don’t want to take a year of Gen Chem and then Chem 111 on top of everything else.</p>
<p>Thanks mmmc, that’s comforting. The reason I’m so concerned is that the poster that said that biochem wouldn’t replace gen chem is norcalguy ;). </p>
<p>pac, can you talk to your premed advisor and see if that course will fulfill the gen chem requirements for Med school?</p>
<p>pac, it won’t matter. It’s still general chemistry for pre-meds, even if it isn’t for chemistry majors. I took gen chem and o chem for non-majors.</p>
<p>what do I do if I’m transfering from a community college to a four year and then going to med school. I’ve heard that Med schools look down on prerequists done at a community college. Is this true?</p>