Hi I am a 32 year old single mom who is looking to apply to medical school in the next 2 years.
I took my premed science prerequisites more than 10 years ago and I am thinking about taking them over b/c I really do not remember anything from those courses and I have read that some medical schools require (or prefer) applicants to have recently completed these requirements before starting medical school.
I will have to pay out of pocket for these classes so I am considering taking them at a local community college mainly because the tuition there is about 50% of the tuition at my local state university.
Is this a bad idea? Will this hurt my chances of admissions?
Thanks
Anika, Too many med schools will frown on pre-reqs taken at a CC. I recommend that you take all of your relevant coursework “at the most rigorous 4-year institution that time/money will allow.”
All things being equal (which of course they never are), the applicant with the 4-yr. institution coursework will get the nod before someone with cc coursework.
Cheers,
Judy
Thanks Judy, will it matter that I’ve already completed this coursework at a 4-year institution over 10 years ago?
I feel very strange about re-taking all of these courses anyway, but I think that is what I have to do…
Have you thought about taking upper division classes instead? Or have you forgotten so much that you need to repeat the first-year material? (MCAT is based on the material in the introductory classes, not upper division.)
Cheers,
Judy
Thanks for the advice J. Cowell. I was unable to post for awhile.
Yes, I definitely feel like I have forgotten most of the material from my prerequisites so I think retaking them is the best course of action.
Here is my plan so far, I will take the basic prereq’s at my local community college which is a feeder into the University system.
And then I will take some upper division courses (maybe just Biochem) at Georgia Tech as a non-matriculated student to prove that I can do well at a 4-year university.