<p>I’m hoping for a little upperclassmen insight here, for any OSU premeds.
I was wondering in what sequence you took your science classes? People have advised against me taking gen chem + gen bio together, so I was thinking about “unofficially” sitting in on orgo chem the summer after my freshman year and then taking orgo + gen bio, followed by physics + a&p junior year. Which of these are the weed out classes at OSU? I have heard that gen bio is a weed out classes at some schools, but at others all intro classes are weed outs so I’m just wondering what the case is at OSU.</p>
<p>This leads me to ask whether or not taking my pre-med requirement of calc would be a good idea my first year? I was thinking about just doing gen chem, gen chem lab, intro to psych, calc, maybe cultural anthro, and freshman seminar.</p>
<p>I am not an upper classman, but I am academically junior ranked from AP tests and taking OSU during high school. I already had AP Bio under my belt upon enrolling, but I am finishing the honors calculus-based physics series (131-3H), honors general chemistry (201-3H) and honors calc math (161/2, 263H).</p>
<p>The only class I can say is a weed-out is honors general chemistry. The class moved from three lecture sessions to only one in three quarters. Over half of the students dropped out, with others “suffering” low grades".</p>
<p>Now, it all depends on how you see premed… Some people focus on finding the easiest courses to get through to keep their GPA up. If this is the case, avoid honors science. On the other hand, my experience is that earning high grades in such classes, while not necessarily flattering your resume, better prepares you for future science courses and tests.</p>
<p>General Bio (113 + 114) and Microbio (509) are not difficult; I only took regular Bio in high school and I felt pretty well prepared. General Chemistry (121-123) is so much harder. The labs can get a little ridiculous.</p>
<p>Oh, and I had friends that took the Organic Chemistry sequence at Capital University over the summer, instead of at OSU.</p>
<p>General Bio was easy, but Gen Chem beat me up. I left all technical majors promptly. OChem is exponentially harder than that from what I hear. I’ve seen friends (my genius friends) breeze through Gen Chem with B+'s to get destroyed by OChem.</p>
<p>In my opinion, just get the good grade. It WILL challenge you regardless of whether you take honors or not. A whole lot of students come here with a big ol’ chip on their shoulder thinking they’re going to graduate with an honors diploma and are shocked by their sub 3.0 GPA after one quarter. If you think you’re different, go ahead an try. I’d say 8 out of every 10 of my friends thought the same thing and now have lackluster grades.</p>
<p>But hey, what do you call a doctor that finished dead last in his class? A doctor, he’s still a doctor Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Thank you guys for your insight! I feel a lot better taking Gen Chem and Bio together now if Bio is the easier of the two and I’m coming from Bio straight out of high school. I’m the exact opposite though, I’m in terror of my GPA being destroyed, to the point where I’m scared to come to OSU - are there any suggestions you would have to get a B in general chem or do well it generally? Do most people get behind because they get caught up in the party scene or what?</p>
<p>Glad I could help. I’ll answer your questions in reverse order. Psych 100 was very easy. Calc 151 (first Calc class) was not too bad, but people fail it very commonly. This is because for the first time although there are recommended problems, they are not often required for homework…thus most people don’t do them. DO ALL SUGGESTED PROBLEMS, read and practice ahead of the lectures, do all the online work way in advance in case you have problems, and most importantly ask professors for old exams! I did this and got an A.</p>
<p>Calc 152 is a bit tougher, I’m in it now. Use the above advice and it should be managable as well.</p>
<p>As far as Chemistry advice, have you taken AP Chemistry before? If you have time in your schedule, I’d take the introductory Chem class. 121 is where most pre-med types start, but I would take a lower series to have a really solid foundation. Take this with a grain of salt though…I had not done any form of chem in many years when I took 121 and had never before taken AP. I felt like I was being fire hosed with a topic that I didn’t know anything about. If you have done well in AP Chem in the past you will be ok though.</p>
<p>I took one quarter of AP Chem and dropped it because I had a conflict with AP Calculus. I took honors chem for the rest of the year though and learned absolutely nothing, so that’s why I’m really terrified. I don’t know if I can take a lower series though, because I’m Pre-Med…</p>
<p>Don’t waste your time in Chem 101. You won’t learn anything if you took chem in High School. If you’re taking Chem 121 your first quarter, there will be a bunch of people in your dorm taking it with you so studying will be a little bit easier.</p>
<p>The Gen Chem series is just rough no matter what you do. I tested into Chem 123 and floundered through it to get a B. I don’t really think that I would have done much better if I had taken 122 immediately before.</p>
<p>Physics 111 & 112 are fairly easy; I think they give you equation sheets so that you don’t have to memorize everything. Most of the math is linear so it’s not really too difficult; so it’s pretty much balancing equations and reading word problems.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that calculus based Physics 131 (I don’t remember the exact number) is really hard though.</p>
<p>The best tip I can give that has helped me get A’s in classes is this: get your hands on old exams! It’s not tough to do, and many professors list them online for their current students. If not, there are tons of students you’ll meet in classes that have probably taken chem/calc/etc. in past quarters that can help you out and give you their old exams.</p>
<p>For Calculus, I highly recommend Daryl McGinnis. Whether you’re going into Math 151,152, 153 or 254 he puts the lecture notes for the whole quarter online at the beginning AND old quizzes, exams, etc. The guy is also really friendly if you take the time to talk with him. He also has a pony tail, I don’t know why I’m listing that, it just seems like a funny perk. On the other hand, any of the really old professors for Math (at least in my experience) are less than helpful. They seem to be much more into their research than teaching “simple undergraduate mathematics”. I switched out of a lecture that I had with an old foreign professor (can’t recall the name at the moment) in favor of McGinnis.</p>
<p>Summary: McGinnis = Da Man.</p>
<p>For Chem I had Dr. Kroner. He’s a nice young guy, but he was hard to follow in lecture because of the speed at which he taught and he didn’t post notes previous to class, which hurt my learning process in class. Overall, he’s a nice guy, but he was hard to get a hold of sometimes and his TA’s where kind of jerks. They change from quarter to quarter though I think.</p>
<p>I also agree with Thanol. If you’re in pre-med or a science intensive course of study, just be up to speed on high school chem when you enter Chem 121. For someone like me who is good at math but science challenged, taking the more basic non-engineer/med prep chem classes would have been beneficial.</p>
<p>Here’s a quick word to the wise: You mayh likely test out of certain classes. If you can still finish school in the same amount of time (which most people can, minus engineer majors), I suggest taking one class back from what you test into. My roommate tested into Math 415 (yes I know, he’s a smarty pants), but because he was new to college at the time time and study management was new to him. He failed his math course his first quarter. The speed of college classes is much easier to ease into if you spend a little time easing into it with material that is more or less familiar to you.</p>
Good luck to you.</p>