Be Gentle DD Dropped Organic Chem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taking Orgo 1st year is asking for trouble. Terrible idea.

Did she take AP Chem in high school and then skip Gen Chem or something? That’s never a good idea.

OP, please explain what this class situation is so that we can be more helpful.,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has had a rough first year of college. Large state University and she got a C in General Chem and recently withdrew from Organic. First semester GPA hovered about a 3.0. This semester without Chem should be better but only because Chem was dropped. Maybe 3.5 ish. Plan is for her to retake over the summer. She’s so frustrated with Chem though and is dropping out of Biology major and is thinking of something else. Her talents have always been in the humanities. SAT score was 780 verbal 620 math.

She’s lost a lot of confidence struggling in math. Please help.

OP I haven’t read responses so pardon if I repeat anyone. I majored in Chemistry and Organic is the filter. Your DD is NOT alone. So many kids change majors when they encounter it. She will find an area of study that suits her better. It will be okay!!!

[Anonymous]

Biology majors often take Chemistry with Engineering Students. The class can move fast. I would suggest she retake Organic Chem in the Fall when she has more time. For summer course, I would take another Biology course. She may be 1 semester extra, but so will many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:she had general chem and o chem both in her first year? ugh. also, these are big weeding out courses in big U's.
signed, chemical engineer who barely passed o chem.

I have a close friend who could have written this. Had to withdraw from o chem and take it in the summer. Has been a successful chemical engineer for 25 years.

[Anonymous]

Another parent of a bio major, not pre-heath/med, hating every breath they take in ochem and periodically announcing they will have to retake it. Got a tutor. Cheaper than retake. No problems with calc, physics, basic writing, etc. No idea what they’ll be doing with a bio major, but the GPA ain’t pretty. Parents not only didn’t push for this major, but made many attempts to change mind. State university requires: two semesters calc, two physics, two chem, two organic chem, biostatistics (found that to be easy), biochem, etc. Plus the labs. It’s lots of independent work. Somethings covered in higher level HS classes made it easier. Keep hearing about kids who change out of bio bc of the chem. Hang in. Get a tutor or see what the college offers. Tutors in university towns cheaper than DC area. Bio major tougher than l’œillère realize, as it’s viewed as the easy science. Argh.

[Anonymous]

This thread was really interesting as DD will be a Biology major, and freshman in the fall. Shared with her some of the insight provided here.
Luckily she had AP Chem and some, guess beginners, Biochem, OrgChem already in her STEM program. Hopefully, that will help her a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD has had a rough first year of college. Large state University and she got a C in General Chem and recently withdrew from Organic. First semester GPA hovered about a 3.0. This semester without Chem should be better but only because Chem was dropped. Maybe 3.5 ish. Plan is for her to retake over the summer. She’s so frustrated with Chem though and is dropping out of Biology major and is thinking of something else. Her talents have always been in the humanities. SAT score was 780 verbal 620 math.

She’s lost a lot of confidence struggling in math. Please help.

Is she frustrated with Smith's Chem101 or with stoichiometry? If it is that pressure-cooker weedout, but she loves and has always been good at Chem, the retake. If she's good at humanities, but hates them and loves experiments, then retake. If she suffered atypical stress/trauma such as roommate, sexual assault, breakup from hs boyfriend, alcohol poisoning, weight gain, etc, then retake. If you encouraged her into Pre-med/Bio/Chem, then let her take the classes she wants for pre-law/tech writing/linguistic anthropology/etc?

[Anonymous]

Great points, 10:23.
9:35 again. Toss in memorizing Latin names of plants and animals. Forgot that part. Kid is a better problem solver than memorizer. Big state U can be lots of that. (My attempt to steer to LAC also failed still has research ops and is building a personal body of knowledge and understanding. Guess that and managing apartment life/ bills/ learning to cook/ juggling part time work and finding things they enjoy is worth something. I hope.
Good luck to OP’s DD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of a bio major, not pre-heath/med, hating every breath they take in ochem and periodically announcing they will have to retake it. Got a tutor. Cheaper than retake. No problems with calc, physics, basic writing, etc. No idea what they’ll be doing with a bio major, but the GPA ain’t pretty. Parents not only didn’t push for this major, but made many attempts to change mind. State university requires: two semesters calc, two physics, two chem, two organic chem, biostatistics (found that to be easy), biochem, etc. Plus the labs. It’s lots of independent work. Somethings covered in higher level HS classes made it easier. Keep hearing about kids who change out of bio bc of the chem. Hang in. Get a tutor or see what the college offers. Tutors in university towns cheaper than DC area. Bio major tougher than l’œillère realize, as it’s viewed as the easy science. Argh.

Where to get a tutor for college courses? Who will do it? Professors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of a bio major, not pre-heath/med, hating every breath they take in ochem and periodically announcing they will have to retake it. Got a tutor. Cheaper than retake. No problems with calc, physics, basic writing, etc. No idea what they’ll be doing with a bio major, but the GPA ain’t pretty. Parents not only didn’t push for this major, but made many attempts to change mind. State university requires: two semesters calc, two physics, two chem, two organic chem, biostatistics (found that to be easy), biochem, etc. Plus the labs. It’s lots of independent work. Somethings covered in higher level HS classes made it easier. Keep hearing about kids who change out of bio bc of the chem. Hang in. Get a tutor or see what the college offers. Tutors in university towns cheaper than DC area. Bio major tougher than l’œillère realize, as it’s viewed as the easy science. Argh.

Where to get a tutor for college courses? Who will do it? Professors?

Is this a real question? Every university has a tutoring center, which is often underutilized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of a bio major, not pre-heath/med, hating every breath they take in ochem and periodically announcing they will have to retake it. Got a tutor. Cheaper than retake. No problems with calc, physics, basic writing, etc. No idea what they’ll be doing with a bio major, but the GPA ain’t pretty. Parents not only didn’t push for this major, but made many attempts to change mind. State university requires: two semesters calc, two physics, two chem, two organic chem, biostatistics (found that to be easy), biochem, etc. Plus the labs. It’s lots of independent work. Somethings covered in higher level HS classes made it easier. Keep hearing about kids who change out of bio bc of the chem. Hang in. Get a tutor or see what the college offers. Tutors in university towns cheaper than DC area. Bio major tougher than l’œillère realize, as it’s viewed as the easy science. Argh.

Where to get a tutor for college courses? Who will do it? Professors?

Is this a real question? Every university has a tutoring center, which is often underutilized.

My DD worked as an Orgo tutor in college. She also worked as a TA while in undergrad. You can find them. I know schools have writing centers but not sure if they have tutoring centers for STEM classes. many kids use office hours.

[Anonymous]

A lot of times a 2nd shot at orgo goes much better. The material is familiar for the first part and helps to build a better understanding/foundation to grasp the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another parent of a bio major, not pre-heath/med, hating every breath they take in ochem and periodically announcing they will have to retake it. Got a tutor. Cheaper than retake. No problems with calc, physics, basic writing, etc. No idea what they’ll be doing with a bio major, but the GPA ain’t pretty. Parents not only didn’t push for this major, but made many attempts to change mind. State university requires: two semesters calc, two physics, two chem, two organic chem, biostatistics (found that to be easy), biochem, etc. Plus the labs. It’s lots of independent work. Somethings covered in higher level HS classes made it easier. Keep hearing about kids who change out of bio bc of the chem. Hang in. Get a tutor or see what the college offers. Tutors in university towns cheaper than DC area. Bio major tougher than l’œillère realize, as it’s viewed as the easy science. Argh.

Where to get a tutor for college courses? Who will do it? Professors?

The best tutors are students who took the class from the same professor and did well. Look for an upperclassman.

Organic chemistry requires thinking differently than other science classes. You have to problem solve and can't just memorize your way through. The way to improve is to do lots and lots of problems. Go to office hours. Dont ask for the answer, but for how to think about the problem. Work in a study group so you can practice explaining your thinking to others. Then do problems and more problems.

It also really helps to have a good professor. Don't take the class from just anyone. Find out who is good at teaching the course and take it with someone who is good at teaching. Try to find a class that isn't full of pre-meds. If you do have a dud professor, look for online lectures to explain the parts you don't understand.

--Organic chemistry PhD who taught o chem for several years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those that say why Biology it’s because that’s what SHE chose. I was not a STEM major and didn’t realize how weedy Biology was in terms of tough math and sciences.

She’s definitely dropping Bio but has no idea where to go. She works so hard so this is Devastating for her.

Don't kids usually have the mom's brains? Maybe she should be considering something else.

Is this true?? !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope she changes to a major that is a better fit for her talents and interests. Life is too short to spend it trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

And there's no reason for her to spend the summer retaking the class. Instead, she should find an internship or job (or class) related to something she's interested in.

She’s thinking of maybe public health which requires OCHEM 1 but no further CHEM.

Data analytics and econometrics or biostatistics are what’s important for Public Health.

—signed, a PhD in health Econ from Johns Hopkins

There is a social science route into public health, too. Anthro, sociology, human behavior, communications, history, human centered design are all elements of public health. She could major in any one of those and go into public health (MPH).

- signed, a MPH from Johns Hopkins who now works in social and behavior change communication. P.S. - I was an English major and I write all day long.