I’m planning on taking Orgo over the summer at another 4-year institution due to being behind on my pre-med requirements at my current institution. However, my institution doesn’t accept summer credits. My major doesn’t require the credits, but will the orgo classes taken over the summer count towards the pre-med reqs even if my current institution doesn’t accept them?
Moreover, I just transferred from a semester-based institution to a quarter system institution, where my gen chem credits count for 8 semester hours but only 2 quarters (out of 3) worth of credits at my current institution. Do medical schools count this work as 8 semester hours, or will they only see it as 2 quarters’ worth of work?
@collegestudent505 are you planning to apply to medical school so that you start the fall after undergrad graduation…or will you be taking a glide year or two to round out your application materials, and study for and take the MCAT?
For your courses…did you take a full year of these courses? If so, I would imagine your new college would count your courses as a full year. You will be submitting two transcripts to medical schools when you apply…one from your first college, and one from your second.
Perhaps inquire at the registrars office at your current college to see what they are doing.
Yes, as long as the college you take it at is accredited. When you apply through AMCAS or ACOMAS, you will need to send a separate transcript from every post high school institution you have taken coursework at.
So you’ll need a transcript from Ochem institution, your quarter institution, and your semester institution. (And any others where you may have earned college-level credits. Such as any dual enrollment classes you took during HS or any CC credits you took at any time during HS or college.)
I see several potential issues with your plan–
Med school adcomms are likely to look askance at Ochem classes taken at a university other than one you attended full time for the rest of your credits. Ochem is a traditional “gatekeeping” class for pre-meds and adcoms will wonder why you took it elsewhere instead of at your home college. They may suspect you are trying to take the class at an easier school. “Game the system.”
A second issue is that taking 2 semesters worth of Ochem in 8 weeks is going to be very challenging. The material will unlike anything you’ve seen before and the pace will be very fast. One poor quiz grade or couple of missed lectures and your grade may be irrecoverable.
One other downside of Ochem over the summer is that due to the compressed time frame, the course content often gets truncated. (Topics that would normally be covered by a regular semester-long class will get glossed over or omitted altogether.)
Lastly, does your new college offer health profession committee letters to those applying to med school? If it does, you’ll need to check with the HP office to see if they will write you a letter if you don’t have Ochem on your transcript. They probably won’t. Not having a committee letter from your college’s HP committee if it offers one is a red flag on your med school application.
Will you also be taking Ochem labs over the summer? The labs are extremely time-consuming.
Since you will sending separate transcripts from every institution you’ve attended, adcomms will be able to see that you’ve completed a full year of gen chem.
The bigger question is: since your new college only gives you 8 credits for the class, not the 9 you’d get with 3 quarters, will it be enough to let you fulfill graduation requirements at your new school?
Will it allow you to satisfy the pre-requisites for any other UL level chem classes you will be taking? (Like biochemistry…)
Which also brings up the question….if your new college doesn’t accept your summer credits for OChem, will you be able to take biochem if the pre-req credits for Ochem don’t appear on your transcript?
I strongly recommend that you speak with someone from the chem or bio department about the pre-req issue. (Chem if biochemistry is offered through Chem Dept; bio if biochemistry is offer through the Bio Dept.) Your college registrar has the final say on whether you will be able to enroll in biochem so make sure you get advice directly from your new college’s advisors.
Actually it won’t. D1 had this same issue when she transferred from a college on a quarter system to a college on a semester system. She had to retake some credits or simply lose course credits since the credit numbers didn’t match up and specifically fulfill the college’s written policies.