<p>D has taken AP Chem in her senior year in HS and want to start pre-med track with Chemistry during her first year. She was told that Chemistry track is different between colleges and she should take all Chem pre-med classes in one college. </p>
<p>Can someone speak to the pros/cons between taking Chem pre-med track in Barnard vs. Columbia. Specifically interested in knowing class sizes, grades, level of difficulty, whether professors or grad students teach classes, how many Barnard students take Chem track in Columbia etc.</p>
<p>I took the Barnard track and loved it. Here’s the most I can say about the comparison:</p>
<p>Barnard:
Order is gen chem I (+lab), orgo I (+lab), orgo II, intermediate gen chem. Lab not required for 2nd year if premed and majoring in something non-chem.
Class size starts at 100-150 in first semester, down to 40-70 by fourth semester.
Organic chem was one of the BEST classes I took at Barnard, and I was not a chem major. Professor was incredible and made everything extremely well-organized.
Labs taught by instructors, helped marginally by undergrad TAs.
All lecture classes have associated problem workshops/office hours run by undergrad TAs that were very helpful.
Grading is done on a curve, which is a little harsher than most curved classes at Barnard (average set at a B- rather than B or B+).</p>
<p>Columbia:
Order is gen chem I, gen chem II, orgo I, orgo II. i don’t know which classes require labs.
I assume classes are much bigger, and contain many engineers.
I know some labs are taught entirely by undergrad or grad TAs.</p>
<p>Sometimes, what determines the track a student follows is the initial ability to schedule in that first semester. While in theory one should be able to switch tracks only after the first semester (since both start with gen chem I), they generally don’t allow you to do this because they say they teach different things.</p>
<p>I loved chemistry at Barnard and would do it again and again if given the choice.</p>
<p>Also, for what it’s worth, the knowledge from the Barnard chem classes helped me immensely on the MCAT. It was extremely good prep, emphasized concepts (which is mostly what the MCAT tests), and set me up to do very well on the chem sections.</p>
<p>Would agree with mysteryflavored except for Organic lab. If you check with culpa.info you’ll see that the organic chem lecturer gets roughly an 80% approval rating which is phenomenally good in any institution. Many students feel that the grading in the lab class, on the other hand, is somewhat arbitrary and not reflective of the work done. That was my daughter’s experience as well. That should not keep you from doing your chem at Barnard. The remaining classes really supercharged her chem knowledge. Also, every college has one professor who thinks it’s his/her duty to keep the unworthy out of medicine and that he/she is the best judge of who is worthy. I could almost guarantee that there is one on the Columbia side of the street.</p>