Hello OPM’s,
Your wisdom needed:
I have not taken any pre-med courses for 15 years and have not taken the MCAT since 1999. I would appreciate advice on either 1) retaking all the pre-med courses or 2) taking advantage of Princeton/Kaplan Review or 3) something along the lines of Course Savers.
Thank you!
I had prereqs from anywhere between 2000 and 2013, never retook anything, but did take an “upper level science course” to top it all off. I did the Kaplan on demand mcat course and highly recommend it. I got to relearn/study in a semi-controlled and scheduled format and ended up doing decent enough on the test to get 6 interviews and 2 acceptances. I think I crammed hard for about 3 months before I took the test, but it was a hard 3 months of dedicated study for the mcat. It wouldn’t hurt to give yourself more time. I think the on demand gives you 6 months to study without extensions.
Retaking remedial, “easy A” prerequisites won’t prove your academic potential for medical school. You’ll need to excel in recent, first-time taken, advance-level biomedical coursework to prove your academic abilities for medical school. Read the following link:
http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showpost.php?po…
Your school accepted all of your credits from 2000? That’s encouraging.
Yeah. One adcom did point out that it was a necessity that I had recency of science classes and biochem as an “upper level” course to show my ability to learn that type of stuff while working full time. I did have pretty good grades in undergrad and a decent MCAT so that may have helped them look past the length of time.
IMHO, the schools you apply to should give you the best advice. Most schools I’ve spoken to require more recent coursework; nevertheless, it’s all going to depend on your science/academic background and what schools are willing to accept. I would contact the schools first, tell admissions about the situation before applying. But, if it were me, I would retake many of those premed courses because I would definitely be rusty on a lot of the coursework. Again, that’s just my situation.