<p>I took chemistry at a community college this summer so that I could take orgo this year. The reason for this was so I could take the MCATS next summer after my sophomore year. Do you guys think it would be a good idea to retake general chemistry in the form of an honors chemistry course? I have heard that adcoms frown upon taking prereqs at a junior college while you are already at a 4-year school, so is this be a good move or would they think that I'm wasting my time by repeating chemistry?</p>
<p>Both semesters or just one? Just gen chem or also o-chem?</p>
<p>If you just did a semester of gen chem, don’t bother. If you did both semesters of gen chem, you might consider retaking them at a University if you didn’t do well in O-chem. However, if you are taking biochem or physical chem, I wouldn’t bother either way.</p>
<p>I took Gen Chem 1 and 2 with their respective labs this past summer at a community college. With this in mind, what would look better to adcoms?</p>
<p>A:
Take Orgo 1 and 2 this year.
Take Honors Chem 1 and 2 next year.</p>
<p>B:
Take Orgo 1 and 2 this year.
Take Biochem and Molecular Biology next year.</p>
<p>C:
Take Orgo 1 and 2 this year.
Take Phys Chem 1 and Biochem next year.</p>
<p>D:
Take Orgo 1 and 2 this year.
Take Phys Chem 1 and 2 next year.</p>
<p>Let’s assume I get A’s in the above scenarios.</p>
<p>Very little to no difference, assuming that you get A’s in orgo. You might find it rough to bounce into that class, and that would be the only reason why I might consider doing some form of gen chem to get adjusted to university level classes and life. I would personally recommend either option B or C, but not for impressing adcoms. Probably B, now that I think about it, with one semester of P-chem if you can fit it in. Biochem and Mol Bio will help you most on the MCAT (assuming you take it after your sophomore year, otherwise you’ll probably not get that much use out of it after a year), and they are also the cornerstones of your first month or so of medical school (not counting anatomy).</p>
<p>Thanks, I’ll probably go with C or D in that case. I’ve been at a 4-year university, I just elected to take gen chem at a community college closer to home. If that wasn’t clear, does that change your assessment?</p>
<p>No it doesn’t.</p>
<p>just my two cents; i think it might actually be bad for you; i wouldn’t imagine adcoms like to see any student retake a course (unless, of course, you did really bad the first place).
that said, how different are these course going to be? i mean, if you don’t think the course you took over the summer covered in good depth the materials to be tested on the mcat, then that might be a legit reason to retake…</p>
<p>I would only suggest retaking courses (or taking higher division ones) if you had taken most of your pre-reqs at a CC. Then it might look like you are trying to dodge the bullet in order to get a higher GPA. I do agree that retaking classes that you did well in in CC is going to be easier than starting from scratch, but often it isn’t the material as much as the curve/exams/professor that make gen chem classes hard.</p>