Need some advice on Chemistry....

I need to take 2 semesters of General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry in order to apply for medical school.

This is all post-bacc study.

I'm told that getting an A and learning the material is the most important; however, many medical schools would rank a class taken at a 4-year university above that taken at a 2-year college, making me wonder if I should take it at NCSU vs Durham Tech.

With that being said, the small class size at Durham Tech is appealing, and I know the class/lab won't be taught by a grad student.

However, the renown of NCSU for Chemistry is also appealing. I want to be competitive but also learn the material.

Please help! Any advice is appreciated!!

8/4/2008 11:55:38 AM

CH 101 is really easy at NCSU. they offer SI sessions for studying/homework help, too.

and the labs ARE taught by grad students, who usually don't speak english, but the lab manual pretty much talks you through everything and the labs are super easy.

8/4/2008 11:58:48 AM

CH 101 is really hard at NCSU. they offer SI sessions for studying/homework help, though.

and the labs ARE taught by grad students, who usually don't speak english, which I like; the lab manual pretty much talks you through everything and the labs are super easy.

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 12:17 PM. Reason : quite similar to ^, but mine doesnt give me an "elitest"/"i am above you" feel]

8/4/2008 12:15:05 PM

If you're focused on learning the material, NCSU chem shouldn't be any trouble

8/4/2008 12:30:48 PM

Thanks for the fast replies. However, I'm curious about the merit of taking this at NCSU vs Community College. What would look better on a transcript?

8/4/2008 12:35:33 PM

NCSU looks 5 times better than at a community college but if its just one or two classes I don't think it'll make that much a difference. At state the chemistry, math, etc... core classes don't transfer towards a degree because you don't know the quality of the classes at community colleges. You have to take those classes at a 4 year institution for it to count.

8/4/2008 1:03:28 PM

take dr. hendrickson for ch 101 she is probably one of the best prof/teachers i have ever had. Very helpful and her lecture notes are available online so you can catch up in case you miss class. Most if not all ch 101 classes are graded on a bell curve so making a C grade does not necessarily mean that you made a C.

The biggest part in doing well is always doing your homeworks and not waiting until the last minute. I remember there were A LOT of webassigns for CH 101.

8/4/2008 1:24:17 PM

go to community college---->get 4.0 gpa---->transfer into state---->continue getting 4.0gpa


worked for aaprior

8/4/2008 1:25:33 PM

^^^incorrect. calc I and II transferred from wayne community college for me and several people i know. chem. transfers. i also transferred history and psychology. they'll pretty much transfer anything. that's a main point of community colleges, to offer classes that transfer to the state's universities.

i have no clue about the OP's question though.

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 1:29 PM. Reason : carats]

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 1:29 PM. Reason : ^gpa doesn't transfer]

8/4/2008 1:28:53 PM

^ Well I know several people who had to retake calc and ch in college because the credits didn't transfer. That was 5 years ago though they might transfer now. I know for engineering the only thing that transfered for me was humanities and electives if not taken at 4 year college

8/4/2008 1:44:52 PM

https://www.acs.ncsu.edu/scripts/ugadmiss/crsequiv.pl

http://admissions.ncsu.edu/how-apply/admission-profile/course-equiv.php

8/4/2008 1:59:36 PM

^^^well either way...the bitch has had straight 4.0's for like every semester in college as far as i know

8/4/2008 2:03:03 PM

^^thank you

8/4/2008 2:27:29 PM

Quote :

"and the labs ARE taught by grad students, who usually don't speak english,"

i have never had a TA (in a chem lab) who had a problem with the english language



if you pay attention and go to class, there's no reason to take this at a community college instead of ncsu, and a university would obviously hold more weight than a cc

8/4/2008 2:28:50 PM

Quote :

"NCSU looks 5 times better than at a community college"

True, but most of the teachers in the chemistry department do not give a fuck about teaching, and the lab courses are designed so you come out of them with no real knowledge of how to function in a chemistry lab. Cheating on webassigns is rampant.

If you really want to KNOW something regarding chemistry, please take it somewhere else and transfer to state.

8/4/2008 2:31:52 PM

what makes you think they care if you learn anything at community college?

8/4/2008 2:34:56 PM

^no kidding.

they might not care about teaching, but at least the teachers at ncsu know the material well.

in my experience, 75% of the time community college teachers don't have a clue.

8/4/2008 2:43:18 PM

whoever thinks that you will learn more at a community college or ECU than a major university doesn't know what they are talking about.

8/4/2008 4:48:35 PM

quit laying down blanket statements. you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

it really depends on the teacher.

calculus is calculus and chemistry is chemistry wherever you go, but it's how it's taught that makes the difference.

the OP is just worried about how it'll look when he applies to med school and, obviously, ncsu will look better than any CC. how much better and how important it is to them i'm not sure.

[Edited on August 4, 2008 at 5:07 PM. Reason : stay on topic and quit arguing subjective shit]

8/4/2008 5:05:23 PM

Thanks all for the fantastic replies. I do appreciate the attention you've given the question. I'm always up for hearing advice and fresh perspectives, especially if you have experience going the medical route.

Thanks again!

8/4/2008 5:56:53 PM

Take it at comm college so it will be cheaper and you can be positive about good grades. Learn the material on your own since, like many classes, you get out what you put in. If you're already 100% positive about your ability to make A's in chemistry, then go ahead and take it at State

8/4/2008 7:31:37 PM

lol it gives me pleasure knowing aaprior read this

8/4/2008 7:34:26 PM

^^^ you are way too appreciative for tdub.

8/4/2008 7:46:12 PM

You can get a real quality education at a community college. I attended two different community colleges starting at age 16 for over two years. Some courses were better than others for me but in all honesty, there was no difference in the quality of the instruction (and even the difficulty level) between NC State and my community college courses. I might go out on a limb and admit that some of my best college instructors were from CPCC/CFCC. However, I have had some outstanding professors here at NCSU as well.

I transferred about 75 credit hours in (if I remember correctly). There's an agreement between the UNC school system where you can complete ALL general education requirements at a community college and they are guaranteed to transfer into our state Universities.

This is the best source for such information:
http://admissions.ncsu.edu/images/CCEquiv.pdf

It lists all community college courses and their direct NC State Equivalency. As you can see, CH101, 201, 221, 223 and 315 all transfer directly. You can also move most math courses: MA107, 111, 141, 241, 242, all the way to Diff. Eq.

You can consult the PDF above or the community college catalog and the courses that are guaranteed to transfer across all UNC Universities have a little statement in the description of the course that says "This course meets the general articulation agreement.... etc...etc..."

In terms of the medical school application process: It is always better to have taken your pre-requisites at a University, especially in light of the increasingly competitive application process. Admissions committees typically regard science courses from a community college as an "evasion" of a rigorous curriculum.

Also, for medical school applications your GPA will be compiled by the AMCAS (the central application service) which will include all coursework from every single institution you have attended since high school. Your NC State GPA will be unaffected by transferred courses -- it simply goes down as credit towards your degree.

8/5/2008 12:17:35 AM

Perhaps one might consider which option best prepares one for success in medical/dental school as compared with acceptance. Whilst I understand that getting accepted is a prerequisite for later success, it certainly does not guarantee it. What I hear from former students in medical schools and dental schools is that they appreciate, in retrospect if not at the time, being pushed early because these professional schools will not be easy and do not cater to "catching up." So the question I pose to you is whether core courses such as chemistry taught at a community college will expose one to the level of rigor and subtlety expected from highly competitive professional programs.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, below is a partial quote (email) from a former CH 101/201 student here at NCSU who is now at UNC dental that might be useful to the OP or others in similar situations.

The course load of dental school is nothing compared to undergrad. We say that dental school makes undergrad look like kindergarten! The first year is 22 hours each semester, with the hours climbing up to 30 credit hours at the beginning of the 3rd year. Dental school will make you buckle down and get to work.
I must thank you for how much your CH 201 class has benefited me in dental school. We see a lot of the concepts from your class in our courses, especially in physiology and biochemistry. I imagine it will help a lot in pharmacology when I take it in the fall as well. In case your students want to know the importance of your class in future graduate programs, make sure they understand that they will be encountering the material a lot, even in medicine!!

[Edited on August 5, 2008 at 10:47 AM. Reason : ..]

8/5/2008 10:46:10 AM

Chemistry is important both for medical school and medical school admissions, and some schools don't like to see your prereqs taken at a cc.

Best case they're going to wonder why you didn't take chemistry at state, and if you got A's at a cc they're going to look real hard at your mcat science scores to see if you actually learned the material. Worst case, you won't be considered for admission because of taking prereqs at a cc.

Medical school admissions is a crapshoot and more people get rejected every year than accepted...so why hurt your chances at all? I took all my prereqs at state, did well on the mcat, and am starting med school this month.

Small class size is almost irrelevant. You can have small classes in SI sections, and office hours are one on one with your professor (a PhD in chemistry).

8/5/2008 2:21:28 PM