This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2022) |
General chemistry (sometimes referred to as "gen chem") is offered by colleges and universities as an introductory level chemistry course usually taken by students during their first year. [1] The course is usually run with a concurrent lab section that gives students an opportunity to experience a laboratory environment and carry out experiments with the material learned in the course. These labs can consist of acid-base titrations, kinetics, equilibrium reactions, and electrochemical reactions. Chemistry majors as well as students across STEM majors such as biology, biochemistry, biomedicine, physics, and engineering are usually required to complete one year of general chemistry as well. [2]
The concepts taught in a typical general chemistry course are as follows:
Students in colleges and universities looking to follow the "pre-medical" track are required to pass general chemistry as the Association of American Medical Colleges requires at least one full year of chemistry. [3] In order for students to apply to medical school, they must pass the medical college admission test, or MCAT, which consists of a section covering the foundations of general chemistry. [4] General chemistry covers many of the principal foundations that apply to medicine and the human body that is essential in our current understanding and practice of medicine. [5]
Students who are enrolled in general chemistry often desire to become doctors, researchers, and educators. Because of the demands of these fields, professors believe that the level of rigor that is associated with general chemistry should be elevated from that of a typical introductory course. This has led to this course to gain the title of a "weed out course" where students drop out from their respected major due to the level of difficulty. [6] Students can have different perceptions of the course based on their experiences, or lack thereof, in high school chemistry courses. Students who enroll in AP chemistry in high school, a course that mirrors what is covered in college, could be perceived as having an advantage over students who do not come to college with a strong chemistry background. Students who wish to be competitive in applying to medical schools try to achieve success in general chemistry as the average GPA for medical school matriculants was 3.71 in 2017. [7] This makes a simply passing grade not acceptable for students with medical school aspirations. General chemistry professors have been known to make tests worth a large portion of the course, and make them more challenging than the material presents itself as. Grade deflation, purposely adjusting the grades of a course to be lower, is also an issue of general chemistry courses at the undergraduate level.
Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, analytical dynamics and chemical equilibria.
In chemistry, the law of mass action is the proposition that the rate of a chemical reaction is directly proportional to the product of the activities or concentrations of the reactants. It explains and predicts behaviors of solutions in dynamic equilibrium. Specifically, it implies that for a chemical reaction mixture that is in equilibrium, the ratio between the concentration of reactants and products is constant.
Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is different from chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in which a reaction occurs but in itself tells nothing about its rate. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how experimental conditions influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition states, as well as the construction of mathematical models that also can describe the characteristics of a chemical reaction.
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Master of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine (MD), or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO). Many medical schools offer additional degrees, such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), master's degree (MSc) or other post-secondary education.
The United States National Chemistry Olympiad is a contest held by the American Chemical Society (ACS) used to select the four-student team that represents the United States at the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO).
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was established in 1876. It represents medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic and scientific societies, while providing services to its member institutions that include data from medical, education, and health studies, as well as consulting. The AAMC administers the Medical College Admission Test and operates the American Medical College Application Service and the Electronic Residency Application Service. Along with the American Medical Association (AMA), the AAMC co-sponsors the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the accrediting body for all U.S. MD-granting medical education programs.
Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry is a course and examination offered by the College Board as a part of the Advanced Placement Program to give American and Canadian high school students the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and earn college-level credits at certain colleges and universities. The AP Chemistry Exam has the lowest test participation rate out of all AP Courses, with around half of AP Chemistry students taking the exam.
The Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTPs) are dual-degree training programs that streamline the education towards both clinical and research doctoral degrees. MSTPs are offered by some United States medical schools, who are awarded financial support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The goal of these training programs is to produce physician scientists who can translate laboratory discoveries into effective treatments for patients.
Pre-medical is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med coursework, volunteer activities, clinical experience, research, and the application process. Some pre-med programs providing broad preparation are referred to as “pre-professional” and may simultaneously prepare students for entry into a variety of first professional degree or graduate school programs that require similar prerequisites.
The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) is a service run by the Association of American Medical Colleges through which prospective medical students can apply to various medical schools in the United States. It thus acts as something of a Common Application among the schools.
Electroanalytical methods are a class of techniques in analytical chemistry which study an analyte by measuring the potential (volts) and/or current (amperes) in an electrochemical cell containing the analyte. These methods can be broken down into several categories depending on which aspects of the cell are controlled and which are measured. The three main categories are potentiometry, amperometry, coulometry.
Medical school in the United States is a graduate program with the purpose of educating physicians in the undifferentiated field of medicine. Such schools provide a major part of the medical education in the United States. Most medical schools in the US confer upon graduates a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree, while some confer a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree. Most schools follow a similar pattern of education, with two years of classroom and laboratory based education, followed by two years of clinical rotations in a teaching hospital where students see patients in a variety of specialties. After completion, graduates must complete a residency before becoming licensed to practice medicine.
Most physicians in the United States hold either the Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) or the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (DO). Institutions awarding the MD are accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). Institutions awarding the DO are accredited by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA). The World Directory of Medical Schools lists both LCME accredited MD programs and COCA accredited DO programs as US medical schools. Foreign-trained osteopaths do not hold DO degrees and are not recognized as physicians in the United States or in other jurisdictions.
The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is an academic college of the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The VP of Health Affairs and dean of the college is Deborah German.
The Medical School Admission Requirements Guide (MSAR) is a suite of guides produced by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), which helps inform prospective medical students about medical school, the application process, and the undergraduate preparation. The MSAR staff works in collaboration with the admissions offices at each medical school and combined B.S./M.D. program to compile information about each school and program. This data originates from a number of sources including the:
The Medical College Admission Test is a computer-based standardized examination for prospective medical students in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands. It is designed to assess problem solving, critical thinking, written analysis and knowledge of scientific concepts and principles. Before 2007, the exam was a paper-and-pencil test; since 2007, all administrations of the exam have been computer-based.
The Medical College of Georgia is the flagship medical school of the University System of Georgia, the state's only public medical school, and one of the top 10 largest medical schools in the United States. Established in 1828 as the Medical Academy of Georgia, MCG is the oldest and founding school of Augusta University and played a role in the establishment of the American Medical Association and the standardization of medical practices. It is the third-oldest medical school in the Southeast and the 13th oldest in the nation. With 22 departments, it offers both a Doctor of Medicine (MD) as well as MD-PhD, MD-MPH, and MD-MBA degrees. Its national ranking in research is 75, and its ranking in primary care is 91, both out of 191 ranked medical schools.
The Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, also known colloquially as Quinnipiac Medical School, or simply "Netter," is a medical school located in North Haven, Connecticut. The medical school was established in 2010 with its first class starting in 2013.
University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, also known as Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, is a public medical school in the city of Buffalo, New York, at the University at Buffalo. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is the only medical school in Buffalo. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
The Carle Illinois College of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Called the "World's First Engineering-Based College of Medicine," the school trains physician-innovators by integrating several engineering and entrepreneurship approaches into its medical training, and awards the degree of M.D. upon graduation.