Hey guys, I am a second year kinesiology student, and I plan to apply for dentistry after completing my undergrad. According to the prerequisite requirements from dental schools, they need one organic chemistry course and a biochem course. So the courses I should be taking for second year include the 6 compulsory kinesiology courses, along with 2 biology (2A03, 2B03) courses, biochem 2EE3, and organic chem 2A03. So, apart from the bio courses, do you think it is advisable to take the org chem and biochem this year, while potentially putting my gpa at risk, due to all of my courses' level of difficulty? Or is it better to take alternative electives lower in intensity just to keep my gpa high? The alternative courses i was thinking of include the 2 biology courses, and instead anthro 1Z03 , and another one I'm still thinking about. I was thinking of the taking the organic chem and biochemistry courses next summer, BUT, do professional schools even count summer courses as a means to fulfill their prerequisite requirements? I will be very grateful for your advice.

Biochemistry is really easy if you memorize everything he wants you to memorize. "Know this chart, know all the enzymes and reactions".

Biology 2B03 is also very easy. Biology 2A03 is more difficult, but it's interesting.

How difficulty are the kin courses? Perhaps you can defer orgo to 3rd year if there's less work, but I think the bios and biochem + orgo are doable.

With respect to summer courses, definitely check out the prerequisite requirements from their websites. Some don't count summer school marks but they take the credit.

Hey sunny...glad to see you made your decision about Kin.

I wouldn't recommend overloading yourself in your 2nd year. Not just because of your GPA, but because of your mental health!

You wouldn't want to burn yourself out so early and say 'screw it' and stop trying...I've seen this happen to 2 or even 3 people. They wanted to go to med school, and they said "I'm going to get all my required courses out of the way" and tried...and got burned out, got bad marks, and didn't want to do medicine anymore because it was too much work.

I also know of people who tried to 'fast track' (myself included) and got horribly stressed out and it affected their health. (Myself, I had a hallucination episode)

Pace yourself...those required courses aren't going anywhere (: Take something you like, and not just something you feel you have to. University is an experience, a chance for you to soak up the environment, let loose and strengthen your mind altogether. If you ignore 2/3 of those things, you won't be quite so happy...so please consider taking it easy. It's nothing to do with 'can you or can you not handle' and is instead about your enjoyment.


And yes, grad / professional schools count summer courses. But as mentioned above, the 'grades' may not be considered, depending on the specific school you're applying to. But once you pay and get the credit, it is legally yours and nobody can say 'No, you didn't take organic chemistry' because you did...it's right there on your transcript.