Announcement: Chemistry Sequence at Barnard for pre-health students

Due to a high volume of questions regarding this topic, we have decided to post this as a reminder and will update our website, too!

The chemistry sequence at Barnard College differs from that of most other schools. At many institutions, students typically complete one full year of general chemistry followed by one full year of organic chemistry. However, at Barnard College, our pre-health students are required to take chemistry in the following

sequence:

General Chemistry I (includes lab – 2 points)

Organic Chemistry I (with accompanying lab – 2.5 points)

Organic Chemistry II (optional lab)*

General Chemistry IV (for pre-health students not majoring or minoring in chemistry or biochemistry) 

- OR- 

 Quantitative Analysis (for chemistry majors and minors) 

*Important Note: the labs for Organic Chemistry II and Quantitative Analysis are intended specifically for students majoring or minoring in Chemistry or Biochemistry. 

Thus, the majority of our pre-health students do NOT take the labs associated with Organic Chemistry II and General Chemistry IV. This has been acceptable for the vast majority of medical and dental schools. In fact, we describe the nature of our chemistry curriculum in our Committee Letter of Evaluation cover page which gets distributed to all medical and dental schools.  

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any further questions.

Best,

Dean Cohen