<p>Why does organic chem get all the bad rap, while we don't hear much about inorganic chem? They seem somewhat similar to me...of course I haven't taken either class yet though.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken either yet, but I hear that Orgo involves a ridiculous amount of memorizing + applying concepts. Inorganic is more of just concepts.</p>
<p>Perhaps the cutthroat pre-meds in organic chemistry, but not in (advanced) inorganic chemistry?</p>
<p>I’d say it’s because most of the people in Inorganic Chem are there because they want to be and most of the ones in Organic Chem are there because they have to be.</p>
<p>A lot of the people that take organic chem are not chem majors. It is required for almost all science related majors even biology I think. It is mostly memorizing reactions. Some problem solving skills are required for the structural solving from MS,IR,NMR problems and synthesis problems. </p>
<p>Inorganic is mostly boron clusters and silicon chemistry. It is more relevant for the chemical industry and materials manufacturing. Pharmaceuticals and life sciences are focused on organic compounds and on bio-polymers such as proteins and nucleotides which are also carbon based organic compounds.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, other than chemistry and chemical engineering majors, the main takers of organic chemistry are the very numerous biology majors (including many pre-meds), with a smaller number of bioengineering majors and pre-meds not majoring in biology or bioengineering. Other science majors like math and physics majors do not need to take organic chemistry.</p>