<p>Dude, just take the class. It’s as manageable to get an A grade in there just as much as in the other sections of organic chemistry. It’s organic chemistry!
The students who tend to take it don’t necessarily gain advantages from that course itself . They just tend to be the more motivated, and tend to be more involved in the sciences, etc. For example, a reasonable number of the Goldwater Scholars from Emory were in Soria’s class. Both Goldwater scholars from the past academic year were in my class (as in Soria’s 08-09). Fact is, you get to be around the more motivated people in the sciences and this inevitably rubs off on you (and they help you out). Not to mention, Soria is a great person to get a recommendation from. He also tends to “hook people up” or at least work with them to facilitate getting research and stuff. He and the class are very nurturing and thus conducive to getting research, internships, etc. as a freshmen.<br>
The final is harder than the others, there is noway of getting around it, but if you did the work and got enough bonus points, you could do fairly bad on it and get an A- in the class (also, first semester, you can go into the final with bonus points you have left over 
, which means they can bring your grade back up if it’s less than stellar). Also, if you had like a B/B+ and do extremely well on the final, he’s been known to bump people up by weighting it more. As for 221-Z, there will be more than a fair share of A grades in 221-Z because the midterms are easier than the 222-Z midterms and the quizzes for 221 are jokes (these are like: Give me a 100! I studied). Like other courses, you work hard, you get an A, period. It will be the same situation if you take it sophomore year. At least if you take it now, you’ll be with extremely bright and strong students who will support you/make friends and more than likely take other courses with you.<br>
Again, people drop the class because they get an A- or a B+. They are simply acting like spoiled, entitled brats for the most part. A small number drop because they want a different style of teaching, but most appreciate the pedagogy and prefer someone like Weinschenk for second semester. Again, just take the class the first semester, take it seriously, and see what you think by the end, and decide whether you wanna take it next semester. The first semester is not that brutal. As far as I’m concerned, it’s really good to take it now because the quality of students taking it is a bit higher than when I took it. This makes the grades higher for everyone as you have a stronger support group (you don’t have a bunch of students dragging down “the spirit” of the class). His tests are challenging, but because of the mentoring, group mentality, and of course the bonus points, most people do fairly well, especially 1st semester.</p>
<p>Gen. chem success does not dictate success in that class. He reteaches all the gen. chem. material you need to know by the first exam anyway, so you will not start behind the other students. It was a level playing field except for those who took IB orgo. These students had an advantage 1st semester, but that is irrelevant because Soria does not curve (and normally such students do well on exams so do not tend to hog “volunteer” bonus points). You will be fine with your 4. This isn’t an advanced gen. chem. course, this is orgo. The people with 5s will know as little as you do for this courses purpose. Get in there, and kill exam 1 and 2, and study for exam 3 and 4, and take as many bonus point opps. as you can and you will do well. Soria does not mind giving a high amount of good grades if you earn them. It’s you vs. his grading scale, not the rest of the class and the “invisible hand” (which disproportionately benefits students at the bottom. Emory profs. generally don’t curve in a fair manner. They just try to “save” people from failing)</p>