<p>I'm an incoming second year transfer from NVCC, and I'm a bit worried that I'm putting too much on my plate for my first semester at UVA. I'm a Biology major taking the pre-med path, and I'm transferring in with ~54 credits. </p>
<p>I've already done intro Bio and Chem, so I only need O-Chem and Physics w/ labs for my pre-med classes.</p>
<p>My schedule so far:</p>
<p>BIOL 3000 Cell Bio
ENWR 1510 Accelerated FWR
CPLT 2010 History of European Lit.
CHEM 2410 O-Chem Lecture
CHEM 2411 O-Chem Lab</p>
<p>16 Credits total</p>
<p>Is this doable? I've heard that O-Chem is hell, especially the lab, and that many people take the labs separately in the summer. I'd like to avoid doing that, since it will end up taking half of my summer for two years in a row.</p>
<p>If anyone has any advice about the O-Chem lab, or my schedule in general, that would be great.</p>
<p>It doable. S2 last year took org-chem lecture & lab; bio lecture & lab; and foreign language and did fine, but did say it was hard. Two of his friends dropped out of pre-med after org-chem.</p>
<p>It all depends on your background. S1 in said some of the transfers he knew did not have a good background and did not do as well in engineering classes. Lighten the load for your 1st semester at UVA may not be a bad idea for pre-med.</p>
<p>Why do you say that, 110percent? I’ve heard others talk about how med schools look down on pre-req work taken in the summer (not sure if that’s true, but that’s what I’ve heard). Why do you say take it in the summer?</p>
<p>Thanks for the comment, davh. I’m anticipating O-Chem being a tough course, but hopefully I’ll do well in it. I’m thinking that my course load is looking ok, especially since I only have one other science course besides O-Chem. It’s 16 credits, which is about what was suggest at the summer orientation. Hopefully it won’t be too overwhelming for my first semester.</p>
<p>No, you don’t understand. Stop acting like you know something about something you clearly don’t. </p>
<p>3% of the 2411 orgo lab students get an A, if you are lucky, you fall in the next 12% and get a B. 75% of 2411 gets a B- or lower. Considering you don’t even know the difficulty of a UVA class load you are will likely get a C or lower, guarantee it. If you want to mess up your med school chances with a C or lower go for it. </p>
<p>The smart pre-meds at UVA take orgo lab over the summer.</p>
<p>I never had the option of taking orgo lab separately from lecture so took it at the same time for both orgo 1and 2. Ended up doing fine. But I personally wouldnt want to take a lab over the summer.</p>
<p>That’s not the way that the grade distribution for organic lab works. It’s something like 16% A’s, 34% B’s, 40% C’s, and 10% D/F. I might have the A/B ratio off, but I know that I have the C/D percentages right. Although I took CHEM 1821 (the essentially honors version) last semester it is the exact same class as 2411, with the same grade distribution.</p>
<p>Considering I’m Pre-Med and took the class with some of the better chemistry students at the University, it is not impossible to do. I also did organic lecture, linear algebra, a 3000-level physics class, and a 3000-level ethics class. You’re going to have to work for your grade, but as long as you’re willing to put the effort in it should be fine. Just make sure that if you don’t understand something that you get to the point that you understand it. Orgo/orgo lab is a complete time suck, but it’s just something that you’re going to have to deal with.</p>
<p>Also, he is correct that med schools look down upon summer classes. No offense, but by taking most of your pre-requisites at community college the rigor of your schedule might already be in question. There’s no need to place it even more in question for the admissions committee.</p>
<p>1821 and 2811 do not have the same distribution as 2411 and 2421. The Honors O-Chem lab has a much more favorable distribution than the non-honors variant. McDonald does not equate to Hunt by any means.</p>
<p>Thecourseforum don’t lie about distributions.</p>
<p>The data for thecourseforum is not necessarily up to date. I’m sorry if I trust my lab manual, which describes the grade distribution for both CHEM 2411 and CHEM 1821. I know this because at multiple points in the manual it still says CHEM 2411 so it’s apparent that they simply edited it.</p>
<p>Also, the grade distribution is off for CHEM 1821 on thecourseforum for what it is worth.</p>
<p>I’m not going to argue with you. I’m just telling you my personal experience with the classes and the lab manual/professor who both explicitly stated the classes were the same. Even one of the reviewers for CHEM 2411 says that “50% of students will get A’s/B’s.”</p>
<p>Evitaperon, I thought the 1800 series was an accelerated version of general chem and o-chem combined into one year of classes. Would taking them count toward the pre-med prerequisites even though technically there is only one semester of o-chem? Isn’t 1810 + 1811 lab the gen chem portion, and 1820 + 1821 lab the o-chem portion? Most med schools want two full semesters of o-chem and labs.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if the 80’s series would work in this situation since he’s coming in with transfer credit. The 80’s series is a 4 semester sequence that requires you to take all of it. It goes: gen chem 1/orgo 1/orgo 2/gen chem 2. The general chemistry portions aren’t really like general chemistry though.</p>
<p>You can transfer into the 80s series from the 40s series at any time, though I think it’s upon talking to the professor. (And vice versa.)</p>
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<p>Two years, actually. The 80s series looks really really good for medical school. You get a very nice recommendation letter from the department at the end describing the work that you did. :)</p>