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Why is chemistry so undersuscribed?

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Reply 20

sal33m

Does anyone ever get rejected before interview? being so few applicants an all...

Reply 21

Elles

Interviews aren't guaranteed - so candidates who look completely unrealistic (e.g. predicted grades below the standard offer with no exenuating circs) probably still will be. But because the subject doesn't have a written test/submitted work before interviews then I imagine they probably call a higher % than quite a few others do. :smile:

Reply 22

ali123

I would guess that the low application numbers for chemistry are due to most people applying for medicine if they are very good at and/ or like chemistry!

Reply 23

EmChem

ali123

I would guess that the low application numbers for chemistry are due to most people applying for medicine if they are very good at and/ or like chemistry!

I like chemistry but i wouldnt apply for medicine because I hate blood!!!!!

Reply 24

Eau

EmChem

I like chemistry but i wouldnt apply for medicine because I hate blood!!!!!

Lol, almost the same reason!

Reply 25

philan

I hope it's not the same in biochem. (I mean the high drop out rate)

Reply 26

Strayin

Looking at my chemistry class (12 students at an Australian secondary school) quiet a few are failing the subject. Why? They find it rather boring, the concepts are not something interesting to them and somthing that might explain some questions that are out there in our world, it's something they have to learn (and understand which is more often the problem). Although our teacher tries to make it as practical as possible by giving us quiet a few lab sessions each semester, most people dread this class when it comes to exams. To really understand chemistry, you have to wrap your head around quiet a few concepts and know how to apply them.
I guess that scares off a lot of people (even the better students) to apply for straight chemistry. They rather do another science - biology or physics - in which they have to do a bit of chemistry, too. But it will not really go into depth as far as the concepts go.
Personally, I am applying for chemistry because out of all the sciences, it is the one which fascinates me most. It provides explanations to me. The idea that the entire universe is made out of the elements of the periodic system is quiet fascinating to me. Well, that is my opinion today - I'll see how I feel about chemistry in a couple of years. Maybe I am quiet sick of it and want to get out of it, but hopefully I will still enjoy it as I do today.
As to my above mentoined chemistry class, I am the only one applying for chemistry. One girl is applying for medicine, but everyone else does not apply for anything remotely to do with this science.

Reply 27

Hoofbeat

philan

I hope it's not the same in biochem. (I mean the high drop out rate)

I don't think biochem has a very high drop out rate from what I've heard...at least not as high as Chemistry.

Reply 28

thomasjtl

i loved chemistry at a level; looking back i reckon i should have more carefully considered applying for chemistry. But there again, i did have two of the world's greatest chemistry teachers (one for gcse, one for a level), who made it incredably interesting for us. Oddly, i always found the practicals really boring compared with dr cook's theory lessons.

Physics a level on the other hand, was an absolutely horrendous experience, two years of mind numbing badly taught mundaneness; i did one of those nasty modern syllabi, designed to make the subject more interesting by including lots a irrelevant crap about social context etc. Oh, and they took all the maths out, too. Then we tried to differential equations without calculus. Fun.

But yeah, i don't really understand why chemistry isn't more popular, either; it's almost certainly the subject i'd want to switch to if for whatever reason computer science wasn't working out.

Reply 29

sebbie

I've been told that Chemistry has a low applicant rate at Oxford because the Cambridge NatSci course is so much better....

Reply 30

$Avatar for sTe\/o$

sTe\/o

I think people just assume Cambridge will be better because of the old adage that Cambridge is better for sciences - whether it is or not, I don't know. The chemistry course at Oxford is very rigorous and the department is also the biggest in the country.

AIDS > Chemistry.

sTe\/o

Hopefully not... I mean so what if the course is good or not - up to a point, it really depends on yourself. If it's rigourous or good doesn't mean you could absorb it all anyway.

Just enjoy and do your best while you can.

Why is chemistry so undersuscribed?

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