<p>So I will be attending Rutgers University in the Spring. They offer General Chem 1 and 2 (the two gen semesters), hey who doesnt, but what is weird is the fact that they offer one lab course only, called Intro to Experimentation. And it doesnt matter if you complete the chem 1 or 2 or not (like you fail it). its 1 unit btw.</p>
<p>In my native state, California, they do Chem 1 with a lab and Chem 2 with a lab, UCD medical school states that, "General Chemistry (with lab): 1 year" and Mount Sinai states that "Biology and chemistry courses must be accompanied by laboratory experience." </p>
<p>What I'm wondering is do they mean you need a lab with each gen chem you take? or just lab in general because a lot of places seem to be different.</p>
<p>Confusing confusing!</p>
<p>Sorry this is an extremely poorly written post.
Thank you!
(Don't give me beef about not staying instate :P)</p>
<p>They mean you have to take the corresponding lab with the lecture. So when they say you need to take gen chem accompanied with labs they mean you need to take the 3 credit courses of Gen Chem 1 and Gen Chem 2 and you also need to take the 1 credit courses of Gen Chem 1 Lab and Gen Chem 2 Lab. Same goes for biology, physics, and organic chem.</p>
<p>I believe at some colleges (especially private ones), their students may take ONE lab but two lectures in a year.</p>
<p>What gimmedat describes is the norm of most public schools. For some reason that is beyond my understanding, the lab classes offered at some (but not all) private colleges are just different.</p>
<p>One CCers who is a physician now once posted he got “tricked” into taking additional labs when he was a college student at JHU. (this happened a generation ago.)</p>
<p>It is better/safer to check this with your premed advisor or even the medical school about this issue.</p>
<p>I don’t get to see my adviser till the 10th of jan. I’m trying to figure out who I should contact… Chemistry department? Man I’m lost! This is super important. I can’t really see a school making that vital of an error though because that would mean everyone that wants to go to medical school from Rutgers has a very slim chance/limited choice.</p>
<p>OP, I am not a premed adviser, so read what I write below with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Oftentimes, one clue about whether one lab course is enough is the ratio between the number of credits for a lab course and that for a lecture course.</p>
<p>For example, at a typical public school, you may need 3 lecture credit + 1 lab credit per semester. You need 6 lecture credits and 2 lab credits for general chemistry. So the ratio between the lecture credits and the lab credits is 6:2 or 3:1. This is the standard to meet.</p>
<p>At a private school (e.g., DS’s private college), the ratio is 2:0.5 or 4:1 if only taking two lecture courses and only one lab course. (At his school, each lecture course is only 1 credit even though the lecture time in class per week is 3 hours. The lab credit is 0.5 even though it takes almost a whole afternoon per week.) It is apparently not enough lab credits/time. So he needs to take 2 lab courses so that ratio will be 2 : (0.5+0.5), that is, 2:1 – the lab time/credits is then more than that in the case of 3:1. Therefore, he would have enough lab credits only if he takes 2 lab courses.</p>
<p>Davis probably has no clue as to Rutger’s course offerings…</p>
<p>The best advice is to contact the premed office at Rutgers. Only they can tell you what they recommend for their premeds. Perhaps the one Chem lab is a double block. (My D’s school has done that for Bio, and the college certifies that “one” semester bio course as equivalent to a full year course and it fulfills any prehealth professional school requirements. But again, I’m sure Davis wouldn’t know that without further research if one should call.) Alternatively, Rutgers premed office may say, ‘sorry, you need to take another chem course with lab.’ If so, consider Biochem+lab.</p>
<p>Another hint is to look at the Chem requirements for a science (Bio or Chem) majors. If I am reading Rutgers’ website correctly, a Bio major just takes that one semester chem lab course that you have pointed out earlier.)</p>
<p>But the short answer is to check with your undergrad college first. They know the curriculum best.</p>
<p>According to the premed health advisor at Rutgers, that one credit lab chem course for one semester fulfills the “1 year chem lab” prereq. It’s not a double block either. I don’t know how it fulfills this but this is what the premed health advisor has said.</p>