I am in the process of signing up for fall classes. U of MN offers orgo 1&2 lab combined in one semester rather than two. Does anyone have experience or thought with this? I would also be taking Physics 2 and orgo 2 and studying for the mcat this semester.
Do you need to have completed the labs before the MCAT? 
I plan to take MCAT April 2005
Shirl
While there is some lab type questions on the MCAT, don’t worry about completing labs before the MCAT.
If they offer it combined does that mean you meet twice as much per week. I mean you are still taking both labs right? Because both are required to apply to med school. Anyway you can get them in and in the best timing for you.
Dang, how many credits is it? Because each semester of my orgo lab was already 2 credits (the lecture was 3). Just be sure to check the prereqs of places you’re applying to - you don’t want to inadvertently step on your own progress.
Orgo lab really was like a different class - the labs didn’t have a lot to do with lecture (if anything). And it was labor-intensive! Labs were four hours (had been 3 for gen-chem) and went to the bitter end; outside of lab time was many more hours each week. I really liked orgo lab but if I had been doing twice as much of it I think I would’ve gone nuts 
I’m in a combined lab, too, at UWM. It meets twice a week for three hours each time. We do sometimes get out a little early. I don’t find it that time-consuming the way it’s graded here (or I don’t think I do; I haven’t seen a graded lab report come back to me in a long time and am in the process of asking the instructor to give the TA a little boot up the bum about this). I think you ought to try to find someone on your campus who’s taken the course there; it sounds like there’s a lot of variety.
What I do is read and outline the whole experiment before lab, putting it in tabular form with prompts to myself to tell me when to write observations (things like: appearance of solution; mass of crude product; mass of refined product, etc.) It’s a little time up front that saves time on the lab report later.
If you’re not working at all your schedule could well be doable.
It’s orgo lecture that’s taking the time for me, though. For some reason I’m finding it more time-consuming than first semester o-chem. Or more stressful, at least. It feels as if my brain is having to stretch and form multiple cross-connections to absorb the material, and they’re not forming fast enough.
I hope that makes sense.
At the University of Minnesota, the O-chem lab is a 4 credit class that you take either concurrently or after O-chem II. All of the labs are complex and demand detailed lab reports, so they want you to have some background in organic before you begin. There are two (four hour) lab periods a week that are taught by a TA and a once a week lab lecture that is taught by the lab professor. The lab class is a huge time sucker, but I ended up learning a lot and the lab helped me understand a lot of the O-chem II lecture material. My TA was an O-chem grad student and he was excellent at teaching us the material. I think the department structures the class extremely well; but be prepared to invest A LOT of time into this class.
Orb
Mary,
The lab is 4 hours each, twice a week. You have to have all ready completed Orgo 1 lecture and have completed or be concurrently enrolled in Orgo 2 lecture.
Shirl
I think that taking orgo II, physics II, orgo lab I and II, and MCAT is a lot…am I reading this wrong?
Did I see in another thread that you’re also working? I think that pretty much overflows your plate.
Yes, I am working too. I would prefer to take Orgo 1 Physics 1 with labs Fall and Orgo2 Physics 2 with labs in spring with MCAT prep. That is why I asked about taking Orgo 1&2 labs combined seemed like a lot.Although for the short term I could do it. If I take orgo at U of MN I could always delay orgo labs combined until summer.
That might be better. My husband took the orgo labs combined in the summer (though at UWM, where the lab reports are apparently less time-consuming). It was four afternoons a week and just about knocked him flat, but at least you wouldn’t be trying to do that while prepping for the MCAT.
I took the “double orgo lab” at a Penn State campus while also teaching part-time, taking orgo II and advanced genetics. It was nuts, but doable. Only you can gauge how much is really on your plate already. Mary R is right: orgo lab is time-consuming… you just can’t rush it! (And many profs want you to calc percent yields and purity of your product, so taking your time is essential). Do you need lab for the MCAT? Probably not. You do need it for your applications though, so figure out which timing will work best for you. Good luck!