Hi everyone,

I'm currently going into second year health sciences and was wondering if any upper year health science students have taken the orgos (2OA3 and 2OB3) as their second year electives. If so, was it manageable or should I postpone taking them until 3rd year when I have more elective space??

Thanks in advance!

yes many take it in 2nd year. yes it is easily manageable with your schedule. your electives will be harder than your mandatory courses anyways in upper years.

Originally Posted by mellowchello

Hi everyone,

I'm currently going into second year health sciences and was wondering if any upper year health science students have taken the orgos (2OA3 and 2OB3) as their second year electives. If so, was it manageable or should I postpone taking them until 3rd year when I have more elective space??

Thanks in advance!

If the decision were in my hands, I would avoid taking organic chem in second year. Second year is a really busy year between anatomy and the large number of group meetings you will have in HABITS, biochem inquiry, anatomy and cell bio. That being said, group meetings in second year tend to be a lot more efficient for many groups. Though...the time spent in group meetings will depend entirely on your group dynamic. I was fortunate enough to have had great groups for cell bio and biochem, so we typically met 2-3 times a week. Combined with anatomy/epi/orgo, you will find yourself with next to no spare time in 2nd year.

However..people do take it and manage fine. It'll certainly make it a harder year than it already is, since orgo is a time-intensive course. I find a lot of people in second year tend to take psych and end up doing really well. It all depends on your interests. If you want, you could test the waters with 2OA3 in first term and then continue/drop 2OB3 depending on how you feel.

Second year is also a time where many people tend to take on more extracurricular responsibilities. It would be up to you to balance how much time you would like to spend on your academics and your ECs.

Originally Posted by mellowchello

Hi everyone,

I'm currently going into second year health sciences and was wondering if any upper year health science students have taken the orgos (2OA3 and 2OB3) as their second year electives. If so, was it manageable or should I postpone taking them until 3rd year when I have more elective space??

Thanks in advance!

Take orgo in the summer, this way it wont count towards med school and then take super easy electives during the year, and boost up your ECs. I think this is what most health scis would do...

Originally Posted by gggggg

Take orgo in the summer, this way it wont count towards med school and then take super easy electives during the year, and boost up your ECs. I think this is what most health scis would do...

it is what most do but when you consider their courseload during the year then you can see why there is no need to do this.

Originally Posted by gggggg

Take orgo in the summer, this way it wont count towards med school and then take super easy electives during the year, and boost up your ECs. I think this is what most health scis would do...

it will count towards med school, only a couple schools in all of canada don't like summer courses

Originally Posted by Danielrus

it will count towards med school, only a couple schools in all of canada don't like summer courses

It wouldn't really matter either way. No one that I knew did badly in orgo either in summer or during the fall. Most people got a 10-11. Orgo requires a lot of time for sure, but its difficulty is hyped up a lot as well.

I remember a very common practice was to take Organic Chemistry at York University over the summer (by health sci and science students alike).

which med schools are the ones that don't like summer courses. does that mean that they won't count them towards your completed prerequisites?

Originally Posted by Danielrus

it will count towards med school, only a couple schools in all of canada don't like summer courses

which med schools are the ones that don't like summer courses. does that mean that they won't count them towards your completed prerequisites?

which med schools are the ones that don't like summer courses. does that mean that they won't count them towards your completed prerequisites?

none in canada. orgo isnt required for most canadian schools anyways. do some googling on your own to find out specifics.