Word: chem
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...Chem 20, Harvard's organic chemistry course, nevertheless has serious flaws. The professors have failed to make the course relevant to many of their premedical students. Although the second semester becomes more interesting because organic mechanisms are applied to biochemistry, the first semester neglects the medically relevant side of organic chemistry. It seems that the professors teach organic chemistry for the benefit of the few students scattered through the lecture hall who may pursue a career in pure organic chemistry research, rather than for the benefit of the hundreds of students who hope to go to medical school...
...grading policy in Chem 20 also has serious faults. When the Harvard median is a B minus, half the Harvard premeds are automatically in serious trouble. The professors refuse to realize that any grade below a B minus virtually insures rejection from medical school (everyone is quick to think of the exceptions, but that just shows how rare they are). The professors are neglecting the national aspect of medical school admissions. Although this is Harvard University, most medical schools across the country do not give special consideration to this fact. They do not have the time to investigate the particular...
...danger of Chem 20, with its median that is inevitably set at a B or B minus, despite anything the professors may tell the class, (such as, "We are prepared to give all of you A's if you master the material.") is that it creates an atmosphere where students are reluctant to help each other, afraid that they will give their classmates a crucial margin of understanding. The environment of students fighting each other in subtle and unsubtle ways is detrimental to academia. The biggest danger from excessive competition in Chem 20 is that it may create a student...
...minus. Under this system, competing against course material rather than classmates would no longer be a myth. And medical school admissions computers across the country might spew out less rejections for Harvard premeds. Many courses in this and other colleges are considered honors courses. Chem 20 should be one of them. Samuel Z. Goldhaber '72 [Harvard Medical School...
Last year more than 30,000 American students applied for about 13,500 first-year places in medical schools. The competition for admission exists; in condemning Chem 20 for it, The Crimson was following the ancient if somewhat discredited practice of beheading the bearer of bad news. When I last taught Chem 20, the group as a whole comprised the brightest, most highly motivated and best balanced students I have ever seen. Nevertheless, some of the students were poorly prepared, inadequately motivated or lacked natural ability for science, or for some other reason did not come up to a reasonable...