As a former premed and current bio grad student, I agree with parent. An emphasis on biochemistry rather on organic chemistry is a more useful curriculum for the aspiring doctor. Of course, a background in o-chem is essential to understanding biochem, so a single required semester of o-chem might be better idea rather than two. This also keeps the first o-chem semester as a necessary weed out course.
Basic organic chem at my undergrad (Penn State) was organized with a lot of the fundamental principles (stereochemistry, bonding theory, aromaticity, etc.) in the first semester and a lot of synthesis reactions in the second semester. Looking back, that first semester was extremely useful, but the second one not so much. I had zero interest in organic synthesis and I forgot all those reaction mechanisms almost immediately. Make the second semester an elective to allow with an interest to continue on and funnel most toward biochem where they can learn about proteins and other macromolecules and the major metabolic pathways.
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As a former premed and current bio grad student, I agree with parent. An emphasis on biochemistry rather on organic chemistry is a more useful curriculum for the aspiring doctor. Of course, a background in o-chem is essential to understanding biochem, so a single required semester of o-chem might be better idea rather than two. This also keeps the first o-chem semester as a necessary weed out course. Basic organic chem at my undergrad (Penn State) was organized with a lot of the fundamental principles (stereochemistry, bonding theory, aromaticity, etc.) in the first semester and a lot of synthesis reactions in the second semester. Looking back, that first semester was extremely useful, but the second one not so much. I had zero interest in organic synthesis and I forgot all those reaction mechanisms almost immediately. Make the second semester an elective to allow with an interest to continue on and funnel most toward biochem where they can learn about proteins and other macromolecules and the major metabolic pathways.