Do I need to take organic chemistry lab again if I have taken it in the past but am retaking the lecture portion (at a different school)?

[peregrino]

I first took organic chemistry (which included the labs) in 2007-2008, and got B grades. I wasn't premed then. Now that I am premed, I decided to take the course again at my new university (where I am doing an informal post-bacc) to refresh the material to prepare for the MCAT. I had forgotten almost everything that last time, but this time I got an A and an A-. However, the lab is a separate course, and is only offered at times that conflict with my work schedule. I could take the lab, but I would miss out or be late for work. While I'd rather not miss work (because my boss has promised me that she would write me an LOR) if it is recommended that I take the lab again, I will.

Any advice or suggestions on this?

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[DocJanItor]

Some schools consider coursework to be expired after 10 years, so I think that would be the only issue. Other than that, I can't think of a good reason to retake OChem labs for B's.

 

[esob]

As noted above, you would want to check with the schools that you intend to apply to regarding their policy on expired coursework. Some schools might have a policy that says you need 8 hrs of organic chemistry with the past 5 years, for example. You could technically fulfill that requirement by taking another ochem based lecture if it is offered instead of the lab. As an MS3, I feel I can safely say that every undergrad lab was low yield for anything med school, so I would avoid taking them if I could.

 

[DocJanItor]

As noted above, you would want to check with the schools that you intend to apply to regarding their policy on expired coursework. Some schools might have a policy that says you need 8 hrs of organic chemistry with the past 5 years, for example. You could technically fulfill that requirement by taking another ochem based lecture if it is offered instead of the lab. As an MS3, I feel I can safely say that every undergrad lab was low yield for anything med school, so I would avoid taking them if I could.

Lies, as an ms4 we use evaporator columns to heal patients on a daily basis. /s

 

[futurestudent2021]

Lies, as an ms4 we use evaporator columns to heal patients on a daily basis. /s

Do you feel that your knowledge of organic chemistry helped you with that or do you think you could have still performed well without having had taken orgo?

 

[DocJanItor]

Do you feel that your knowledge of organic chemistry helped you with that or do you think you could have still performed well without having had taken orgo?

So I might get lambasted here, but this is just my opinion: OChem is only a requirement for med school because it's pretty much the toughest technical course that most premed majors will take. Unless you are doing an MD/PhD, you can learn all you need to know about medical biochemistry without ever having taken OChem, learning reactions, and failing to evaporate some random crystals. The difference is that OChem requires the ability to memorize non-sequential information (reactions) and in most schools is fairly rigorous. That's kinda how med school is for somethings, and I think that's why it's on the MCAT.

My opinion is that you could do med school with only Chem 1, Chem 2, and biochemistry as your chemistry background and you'd never know the difference.

 

[esob]

So I might get lambasted here, but this is just my opinion: OChem is only a requirement for med school because it's pretty much the toughest technical course that most premed majors will take. Unless you are doing an MD/PhD, you can learn all you need to know about medical biochemistry without ever having taken OChem, learning reactions, and failing to evaporate some random crystals. The difference is that OChem requires the ability to memorize non-sequential information (reactions) and in most schools is fairly rigorous. That's kinda how med school is for somethings, and I think that's why it's on the MCAT.

My opinion is that you could do med school with only Chem 1, Chem 2, and biochemistry as your chemistry background and you'd never know the difference.

I feel this is pretty accurate. Ochem, ofc, was helpful for biochem in UG, but I tutored Ochem in UG and I can't think of a single time I've used it (outside of what was redundant to biochem) for med school. I liked Ochem and for some medical specialties, like toxicology, it is very useful. I don't think it has many purposes in preclinical medicine and would agree that it serves as more of a stratification course to separate applicants than anything else.

 

[peregrino]

As noted above, you would want to check with the schools that you intend to apply to regarding their policy on expired coursework. Some schools might have a policy that says you need 8 hrs of organic chemistry with the past 5 years, for example. You could technically fulfill that requirement by taking another ochem based lecture if it is offered instead of the lab. As an MS3, I feel I can safely say that every undergrad lab was low yield for anything med school, so I would avoid taking them if I could.

Yes, my top choice in medical schools states on it's medical school application website that undergraduate premedical coursework must be within 6 years of application date. But if it looks bad to retake courses, then I will stop doing so. I have also taken many upper division coursework.

Also, I decided not to retake the lab again but instead take the aforementioned upper division coursework and study for the MCAT, which I have yet to take,.