<p>hey! so i'm going to be a freshman at Columbia SEAS next yr and will hopefully be majoring in Earth And Environmental Engineering with a concentration in Environmental Health. As you can imagine, the engineering courseload is pretty rigid so I'm trying to fit in my pre-med courses early on. I got a 5 on my AP Chem exam in 10th grade, so I'll obviously have to go over chem again this summer and Columbia requires everyone to take a placement exam anyway. I've heard that freshman orgo is smaller and a bit more relaxed. If I have to take orgo anyway y not take it in that kind of environment, right? But, if i do, would i still have to take regular chem l8r on? i would also be taking a lab with my orgo course. oh, and other than biochem, what extra courses do med schools often require? would an environmental biochemistry class fulfill the biochem requirement? thx in advance!!!</p>
<p>I believe o-chem has to be of the 2-semester, [general] organic chemistry variety. That is, it needs to be a year-long survey of the subfield of organic chemistry. Generally, o-chem courses have a pre-req of general chemistry 1 & 2 and are at the 200- or 300-level (sophomore or junior level). Specific questions like the biochem course req’t are not that standardized (most med schools don’t even require biochem although many strongly recommend it and some do require it), so you should contact individual schools to get a solid answer there. I know that for my biochemistry coursework, I will be taking a 2-semester general biochem sequence and a biochem/molecular bio lab during the 2nd semester. My school also prohibits pre-med/pre-health students from taking the 1-semester biochem course…</p>
<p>hmmm…but my school allows me to skip to freshman orgo if i get a high enough score on the placement exam…still a bit confused here</p>
<p>Yeah, you should be fine, just study hard. There isnt that much gen chem is orgo so you probably dont have to review that stuff before. But you will have to look at it again when studying for the MCAT. Also you might want to check if the schools you will be applying to in the future, accept AP credit for pre-reqs.</p>
<p>oh i see. so if they don’t, i would have to take chem then?</p>
<p>Organic Chemistry is vastly different than Gen-Chem. Don’t even worry about going over the old stuffs. Do something else.</p>
<p>Organic Chemistry is a portion of MCAT, and application process. You have to take it at some point.</p>
<p>Lastly, I took Organic Chemistry my freshman year. It’s not bad.</p>
<p>r u also doing pre-med? did u end up having to take regular chem l8r on then?</p>
<p>Yes, I’m in pre-med program.</p>
<p>I’ll be taking general (or inorganic as I call it at my institution) chemistry along with physics upcoming fall and spring.</p>
<p>All med schools teach BioChem first year. Having it in college simply makes the first year easier. Waste of your time. Do something like Shakespear or Econ; something that puts you apart from other applicants.</p>
<p>Also many colleges are not “accepting” APs now for skipping courses. Make sure that your college does.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some school require you take biochem before matriculation.</p>
<p>In my son’s first year med school class it is about a 50/50 split of those who had taken BioChem as an undergrad even though it was shown as being “highly recommended” in their admissions info. The reality is that they cover what an undergrad course teaches in about two weeks then it gets far deeper into other areas of BioChem so the undergrad exposure was a non factor. He didn’t feel disadvantaged by not having taken it as an undergrad but there are at least three people with MAs and two others with Ph.Ds in BioChem in his class who really wrecked havoc with the curve. He was very pleased with his B+ as a result.</p>
<p>eadad,
There are two types of med school courses in biochem.
The traditional one is taken in conjunction with the biochem grad students and is in depth.
The “newer” one is more what is needed to understand physiology and medicine and is “biochem light”.
Both are much different that the college courses (probably as compared to college chemistry and AP chemistry).
Taking biochem in college may make your first year easier. However, you loose the ability to be more “well rounded”. As a former AdCom, I would take the kid with Shakespear any day over Biochem.</p>
<p>His wasn’t the BioChem light version…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>He was a non science undergrad applicant; dual majors in Linguistics and Religious Studies (one of the top programs in the school and in the country) with a minor in Chem. He had numerous interviewers tell him how happy they were to see him…loved his well roundedness and the fact that he had also enjoyed college rather than doing nothing but trying to build a CV…they obviously agreed with your assessment of things. :)</p>
<p>I found only one Med. School that requires Biochem - U of Mich. If there are no others that require Biochem, than it makes sense to take Biochem only if you have high enough MCAT & GPA to apply to U of Mich Med. school. Are there others that reguire Biochem?</p>
<p>So…after reading through the posts I get the feeling that the consensus is to NOT take biochem?? D is a rising junior premed PNP/foreign language double major who was planning on taking biochem in the fall since it seemed so many were recommending that you take it.
I am sure she would rather not take it if it is really not necessary. </p>
<p>BDM, bigredmed, norcalguy, and all others with great premed knowledge, what do you think??</p>
<p>P.S. I thought New Mexico also required biochem??</p>
<p>Most med schools recommend that you take upper div classes. If you’re going to take an upper div bio course, why not take one that you’ll use first year (like biochem or genetics or physiology)? I actually got more use out of cell bio than biochem. Biochem lasted around 2 weeks for me. Cell/molecular bio was rather pervasive in a lot of my first year units as well as in PBL.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Schools where its required and schools where its strongly recommended. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.advising.ufl.edu/ohlpa/prehealth/docs/biochemistry.PDF[/url]”>http://www.advising.ufl.edu/ohlpa/prehealth/docs/biochemistry.PDF</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I personally recommend taking it if your schools offers a biochemistry course that is through the medical school or medical related. The one through the chem dept usually focus on stuff that doesnt matter. My ugrad had 3 biochem classes and premeds took the biochem taught by the professor who taught the med school one. It helped me because it covered 80% of what I did in medical biochemistry.</p>
<p>so basically if the college is not accepting AP credits, they’ll be expecting me to take regular chem later on anyway even if i have pass freshman orgo (which i personally think should prove that i obviously understand general chem) ?</p>
<p>Taking freshman orgo doesn’t prove anything. Orgo satisfies your organic chem requirements. Gen chem satisfies your inorganic chem requirements. One is not a substitute for the other.</p>
<p>New Mexico does require Biochem - but also rare for admit just out of college (at least it used to be) and also rare if not NM resident.</p>
<p>You do need to check the school you are interested in. If you are a NM resident, then you probably have to take biochem before. </p>
<p>But as a previous adcom at both big ten and west coast school, people like eadads son are preferred. Doogie Howsers are rare.</p>