What schools require orgo?

[Guest byjude]

Well, I find myself unfortunately having more time this summer than anticipated, and I'm toying with the idea of taking orgo to broaden the number of schools I'm eligible to apply to next year.

 

Problem is, as an Ontario resident, I'm not sure taking orgo would be worth the effort - it won't help me at any school in Ontario (I meet the non-orgo course requirements at them all), and would only help me at a few OOP schools - where my chances of getting an interview are pretty slim anyway. Is it really worth spending the time/money/stress this summer?

 

As far as I can tell, it would only make me eligible at: UBC, Alberta, and McGill (am I missing any?); and only Alberta seems to offer a reasonable shot at getting an OOP interview. Does this sound right?

[Guest Elaine I]

I believe the following five schools require orgo:

 

- UBC

- Alberta

- Saskatchewan (0.5 only)

- Western (1.0 or 0.5 + 0.5 biochem)

- Ottawa (or biochem)

 

Elaine

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there byjude,

 

If you're at all interested in applying to any US medical schools, most of them require organic chemistry, too.

 

Cheers

Kirsteen

[Guest byjude]

Yeah, that's what I'd thought. I have biochem, and I'm not sure if I would apply to Sask (just sort of bad personal memories of the place from my youth..which, I know, is a bad excuse but still one I stand by), so I'm starting to think doing orgo this summer really wouldn't be worthwhile. The only school I might realistically get an interview that I wouldnt' otherwise would be Alberta (not applying to US - not this year anyway) and finding some interesting job or volunteer experience or something will probably increase my chances at the schools where I already am eligible for interviews more than having a shot at one more interview will do.

 

Now it's just a matter of finding something interesting to do!

[Guest qua]

Do you guys mean 2nd year organic chem is required, or just 1st year?

[Guest Ollie]

for UBC it's 2nd year. Don't know about the others

[Guest Steve U of T]

If your school offers a full year orgo course in 1st year, you should be fine. I know U of T only offers a half course in orgo for first year, so you need another half course in 2nd year for the med schools that require a full credit equivalent.

[Guest mitchie41]

UBC only requires a semester course of second year orgo.

But, they require BIOCHEM(which has organic as a pre-req) and physical chem.

 

Probably because our first year chem is a lot like U of T's in that the second semester of first year chem covers some orgo.

[Guest Ollie]

The chem/biochem requirements can get a little confusing what with the prereqs and coreqs, etc. Here are UBC's requirements: www.admissions.med.ubc.ca...ments.html

[Guest byjude]

Wait.. I'm confused about UBC's Orgo requirement.

 

On the website, they list courses with 200-level codes as filling the requirements for the 6 credits. Wouldn't that mean that 2 second year courses are required??

 

I only have one semester of orgo...

[Guest Ollie]

Hi byjude. Let me see if I can sort this out for you. This is what most UBC life science students take:

 

1st year: 6 credits (full year). Usually chem 121 (structural chem) and chem 123 (Physical and organic)

 

2nd year: 6 credits. For non-chem/biochem majors Chem 233 and 235L (organic chem plus the lab course), and Chem 205 (Physical chem).

 

So it is a bit confusing when they say 6 credits of organic because really it's 3 credits organic and 3 credits physical. But either way it's still 6 credits in first year and 6 credits in second year. The prereq requirements did change fairly recently as they changed the course requirements for life science majors. When I was an undergrad, I was required in 2nd year to take 6 credits of organic with a lab in both terms, and no physical chemistry, and this was UBC med's requirement at the time.

 

Anyways, your best bet is to contact admissions and your schools of interest and find out their requirements, and which courses at your school fill those requirements.