<p>Hi, I am a sophomore in high school and this summer I have the chance to go to Georgetown and take one of their college classes. I want to take Gen Chem I and the lab along with it, but since I can only stay for a month, I will only be able to take one semester's worth of college chem. I took AP Bio this year, and junior year I will take AP physics. Is it manageable to take the second semester of general chemistry with a semester's break from the first semester of gen chem? I can not take chemistry during the Fall of 2012, but I can take chemistry at the university in my town in Spring 2013.</p>
<p>You’re talking about mixing and matching two different semesters of general chem from two different universities, with a semester-long break in between. It might be possible, but it’s not advisable. Also, courses with associated labs don’t always transfer cleanly from one school to another because at some schools the lab is a separate course and at others it’s not. My advice would be to find a single-semester standalone course at Georgetown.</p>
<p>I talked to my physics teacher today and he told me that the credit transfer from one university to another would not be a problem. Also he told me that the one semester break should not be a problem either because Gen Chem II does not build up from Gen Chem II but is new and different material. I would not be taking a math class second semester because I will be done with Calc I. I also will not have a history class. Given the fact that I will not have math or history second semester, is it still possible to take Gen Chem II?</p>
<p>If you’re that determined, then do it. You don’t need our permission.</p>
<p>But I just want to point out that despite your physics teacher’s assurances, neither of his statements are necessarily true. There’s a reason why Gen Chem I is a prerequisite for Gen Chem II. If you take Gen Chem I at a school where Thermodynamics is taught in the second semester, then take Gen Chem II at a school where it was taught first semester, you’re pretty much screwed. And transfers of lab courses between colleges do not always go smoothly. I’m not just making this up – I taught general chem labs at UT-Austin for five years. UT has a list of which courses transfer and which ones don’t, and sometimes you still have to take the general chemistry lab at UT even if you’ve already had chem lab somewhere else.</p>
<p>Where I went to school the first and second semester were relatively distinct classes. The first semester was stoichiometry, acids and bases, and chemical equilibria and the second was thermo, kenetics, transition metals, electro, and nuclear chemistry. The second semester wasn’t so much more advanced as the first but rather just different material so a break wouldn’t be detrimental.</p>