Hello,

So orgo chem here at mac is pretty much infamous for how difficult it is and I was hoping to take the courses in the summer at a different university. Everyone has recommended york or laurier so far but the thing is UTM is closer to where I live and the commute to york and laurier is going to be quite hectic. So i was wondering if anyone knows anything about those courses like reputation wise? I've read the syllabus - the material taught is quite similar to the material taught here at mac.

Thanks in advance!

Why not just man up and take orgo?

Yeah dude it's only chemistry. You slap molecules together and shit happens. How hard can it be?

Anyway if you're not taking at least one hard course per semester, you're not really in university.

Don't go to York for anything, it's full of suburban trust-fund pseudo-Maoists. Their org chem is probably all about Antonio Gramsci and cisgender privilege.

People also need to remember that post-graduate admittance committees aren't stupid. They see when people go to different places for courses and count that against you.

Organic Chemistry at Mac is hard. I took both, they're not completely impossible, but they are difficult (sometimes unnecessarily). You can still 12 both, it's just a matter of whether you're willing to work hard enough (most people wouldn't). I know people who took orgo at other universities, so it's not hard, just make sure you apply early.

I'm pretty sure it's hard at other universities too, but I heard it's not as hard.

Originally Posted by tigercatfan

People also need to remember that post-graduate admittance committees aren't stupid. They see when people go to different places for courses and count that against you.

You'd be surprised about the amount of people who took orgo outside of Mac and got acceptances to professional schools. It has no bearing on your application, other than the fact you completed it and got credit. People tend to take orgo in the summer at Mac though, that way it doesn't count to your academic year GPA and only your cGPA (which most med/dent schools don't even look at).

Take it in the summer.

1) You have a summer you can dedicate to Organic Chemistry. It is extremely difficult juggling it with 4 other courses in the academic year.

2) It's one of the top 5 difficult courses. Most professional schools will just look at the credit and not look at the mark you got in the course (except very few like McMaster).

3) If you decide to drop it, it doesn't affect anything about a full-course load that is required for some schools.

Originally Posted by bradyr

Take it in the summer.

1) You have a summer you can dedicate to Organic Chemistry. It is extremely difficult juggling it with 4 other courses in the academic year.

oh my god, the travesty of having to take a normal course load. How will engineers survive with 7 courses per term?

Originally Posted by bradyr

2) It's one of the top 5 difficult courses. Most professional schools will just look at the credit and not look at the mark you got in the course (except very few like McMaster).

One of the top 5 difficult courses? well true if you are only taking bird courses. Look at the course catalogue for math or physics and tell me organic chemistry is hard.

Originally Posted by topkek

oh my god, the travesty of having to take a normal course load. How will engineers survive with 7 courses per term?

One of the top 5 difficult courses? well true if you are only taking bird courses. Look at the course catalogue for math or physics and tell me organic chemistry is hard.

I took a full course load at Mac (not every term but some) with some difficult science courses and some bird courses but now, I'm in professional school with 14 courses a term. No one can prepare for that.

And no doubt about that math and physics are much much harder..but from a science students perspective, organic chemistry is hard and you need to weigh your options to put yourself in the best position to get accepted into professional school.

Originally Posted by topkek

oh my god, the travesty of having to take a normal course load. How will engineers survive with 7 courses per term?.

Remember that an engineer doesn't NEED a high GPA, and also that all engineers will be on even playing field if they ALL have to take 7 courses for the term.

On the other hand, a science major does need a high GPA, given that most science majors will not get a job (at least not one that would reward the sacrifice of university) without a good GPA.

It's not smart to push yourself beyond your abilities if you're a science major, no one will reward you for taking hard courses and not doing well, the name of the game is good GPA, approach your courses from a position of advantage rather than disadvantage.

With that being said, some students are better off taking all "hard" courses if it suits their style/abilities or if they are interesting enough for the student to work hard enough to do well in all of them.

How "easy" a course is doesn't just depend on the difficulty of the material, but also your level of interest in it (how much you're willing to learn for it) and your style. Many times I've done worse in "easy" courses than "hard" courses, and actually I didn't find either orgo (2oa3 or 2ob3) to be the hardest courses I've taken at mac.