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Organic Chemistry Pre-Requirement


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I've been strongly considering applying for PA programs, and have been taking prerequisites and doing very well (3.9 prerequisite GPA). I live in Seattle, and haven't had any problem getting into Biology, A&P I and II, General Chemistry, and Microbiology at the Community College. The problem is, I would like to take Organic Chemistry, but there are 4 General Chemistry Classes, followed by 3 Organic Chemistry classes, and as far as I can tell they all go in order, and you can't skip any in the series because they appear to be only offered once per year (it's a quarter system). While I work a day job, this just isn't going to be possible.

 

My good friend, who is an MD in Texas, said that at the community college level in Houston, they only have 2 General Chemistry classes followed by 2 Organic Chemistry classes, and that the 2 Organic classes you can take back to back during the summer. Are there any other states that have community college programs like this? I was thinking maybe I should go take these classes in another state, because in Washington, I'm unlikely going to have time to take 7 Chemistry classes. Anybody have any ideas on how I can go about taking Organic Chemistry without spending 2 years doing so? My backup plan is applying to NP schools, but honestly, I'd prefer to attend a PA program.  

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

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I took a year of OChem with its lab as my first prereq, about 30 years after a year of gen chem as an undergrad. And, in the end, I didn't need any of it to get into PA school. I

 

It is up to your prereq school whether or not they will let you take a given class there. As it turned out, I had to take one quarter of gen chem over again to get in PA school (it had been too many years for that first class to count), but I did it near the end of my prereqs.

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Out here in Arizona Gen Chem 1 and 2 are pre-reqs for Ochem and Ochem is the pre-req for Biochem. I ran into this problem but just emailed the professor teaching the Biochem class I wanted to take without having the Ochem pre-req and explained the situation, ended up letting me in. Couldn't hurt to ask.

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It's a lie that you have to take Gen Chem before taking Orgo Chem. Two very different classes.

 

Two different classes, but you may have to have Gen Chem before advancing to OChem since Organic Chemistry is pretty tough, especially without taking gen chem first. I know my university, I had to do gen chem 1 & 2 before I could even enroll in OChem. 

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Out here in Arizona Gen Chem 1 and 2 are pre-reqs for Ochem and Ochem is the pre-req for Biochem.

 

That's the norm here in Utah as well. Cell Bio was also a pre-req for Biochem. Without the O-Chem and Cell Bio foundation I don't think I would have done well in Biochem.

 

I didn't take any chemistry in high school. So in college I took Intro Chem, followed by Gen Chem I and II, O-Chem I and II, and then Biochem. That's 6 semesters of chemistry! But it served me well and by the time I took Biochem it was very doable.

 

Additionally, PA schools liked it. And since so many of them have differing chemistry requirements, by taking the full gamut I was covered in any case. It gave me a wider option of schools to apply to - and ultimately get accepted to.

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OP-

Schools in Texas use a semester system, and schools in WA and OR use a quarter system. One quarter credit = .67 semester credits, and your quarter system gen chem I - III are equivalent to semester system gen chem I & II. In other words, your quarter 1&2 classes only amount to 1.34 of the 2 semester sequence and won't meet the prerequisite for enrolling in the OChem sequence. 

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