I am so glad to find this forum. Reading the forums, I have become more excited about the whole process.
I will need to take all of the required courses and I believe medical schools start accepting applications on September until I guess January. Therefore, in best case I might be able to complete taking required courses before January 2011 and be able to apply to start in fall 2011.
Do you have any advise about in which order I should take the courses? The semester is just starting should I hurry up and start taking courses this fall in order to be able to complete the required coursework before January 2011?
Also if I take Chemistry I and Organic Chemistry I and not take their labs in the same semester would that create a problem?
I believe I was wrong about Medical Schools’ application timelines in my previous post. Just learned that even September would be a little bit late to submit an application. In this case I think to be able to complete all of the pre-requisite courses I should start taking courses this fall.
I would recommend taking all the corresponding labs in the appropriate semester. It wont create a “problem” if you dont, but I dont see why you’d want to split them up. It’ll be easier to take them together anyways.
The application process is a lengthy one - you start applying a year before you would actually start medical school. If you were wanting to start in fall 2011, for example, you would want to apply next summer (2010). That means you would need to have most, if not all, of your pre-reqs done and MCAT taken by then. If you haven’t started any of them yet, it’s going to be very, very difficult to get them all completed in order to apply next summer. You would have to take organic chemistry and labs in a summer session, which is absolutely brutal. It also assumes that you could start biology, physics and gen chem without needing to take any courses first.
If you haven’t started pre-reqs yet, you’re more likely looking at a med school start date of fall 2012.
I agree that you should ideally take the labs the same term as the course if at all possible. The concepts often tie together. At some schools, the labs are not even offered separately.
Welcome, and good luck!
With most chemistry lectures with lab, you are unable to separate the two. It is best to take them both together since lab reinforces what you learn in lecture. I wouldn’t advise on separating it. But, if this is your choice and your school offers it, separate the easier science courses like general biology I, general physics I or general chemistry I from their labs. I took general chemistry I lab during a summer semester and didn’t have a problem. Once your in the second half of the two courses, as well as organic chemistry, take the lab with the courses. If you know the medical schools you are applying to, see if they accept biochemistry instead of organic chemistry II with lab. Although biochemistry is a tougher course, its only lecture with no lab required. Forget about putting a time table on completing your prereq’s and applying to medical school. There are too many ups and downs in life and most of the time something will arise in which you will have to alter your plan. (Like hurricane katrina for me) Take a few courses at a time and get the best grade possible. Its better to take 2 courses and get A’s, than taking 5 courses and get B’s and C’s. Hope my advice helps.