<p>Apparently at my university ochem will be severely impacted next year and there won't be room for about 250 students, so they want students to take ochem during the summer (at the university). I'm not too worried about the pace or difficulty - what I am worried about is how does this impact med school applications. I know my question seems kind of vague, so if you need more information just ask and I'll be happy to clarify.</p>
<p>At the same university you attend?</p>
<p>edit: BTW, that answer will determine how much I don’t like it. I’m not gonna like it, but I just don’t know yet whether I’ll hate it. ;)</p>
<p>Sorry that your school is putting you in this position even though it is “explainable”. Just shouldn’t be put in a position of having to explain through no fault of your own.</p>
<ol>
<li>are you planning on taking more advanced chem classes?</li>
<li>do you need orgo as a pre-req for any other classes you want to take or is this pretty much only for med school/MCAT purposes?</li>
</ol>
<p>If the answer is no to both, then just wait until you can get to it/the university will find a way. If your pre-med advisor is any good, he’ll make sure they find a way.</p>
<p>If the answer is yes to both, then I think you do it and if it ever comes up say you basically were forced into it because you wanted to take more advanced coursework and the school couldn’t fit everyone during the year. I would imagine but don’t know for sure, that if more advanced courses, particularly in chemistry were on the transcript it would make up for the idea that this was a ruse to make the course easier.</p>
<p>If the answer is yes to one, then take a few minutes and map out different scheduling paths and see if you can avoid it but it’s not the end of the world since it is at your school. As curm was alluding to, if you were taking it at a different school the answer would be a resounding “this is a bad idea”</p>
<p>Yes, it’s at the same school. I’m a bio major (and I’m hoping to switch to biochem), so ochem will probably be a prerequisite for some classes.</p>
<p>Is taking a summer class a financial problem? If it’s not, I don’t see any reason not to take it over the summer. If it’s at your university and it means a small class size (more opportunities to get to know your professor, more individualized attention in office hours or with a tutor if there is one) there aren’t any downsides. If you were to take it at a different school, it would impact your application. This isn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>Actually, sparkles, it can be. Med school adcomms hate seeing applicants take OChem during the summer. It gives the appearance of trying to duck the stronger competition of a regular semester class. Also due to time constraints, some school truncate the material covered in summer classes.</p>