Credits from over 10 years ago

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi,


I took my pre-med classes over ten years ago. Will they still count?


I can’t find anything on the web on this except for from posts here.

2

FYI,


I called GWU and the admissions office at the school of medicine said the credits don’t expire.

3

I think the consensus is that it depends on school so you should ask interested schools but the majority of the schools do not accept prereq credits that old. Plus you would be better off retaking them for the MCAT.


I’m retaking Physics, which I took about 10 years ago. I’m glad I’m retaking them because it feels like I’m taking the class for the first time.

4

Physics, Gen-Chem and O-Chem aren’t much different, but biology is extraordinarily different from ten years ago, and so I would not rely on old bio credits to help you lay the foundation of knowledge you need to do well in med school. And yes, you’ll need to check with individual schools. You also need to consider your competition: recognize that most of them will have recent good grades to hold up against your old grades.


You definitely have to take SOME new classes, whether they’re prereqs or other coursework. AdComs want to make sure that you can still hack it in an academic environment. Good luck!


Mary

5

My prereqs were from over 10 years ago. I decided to retake all of them (except for English) for two reasons.

  1. I needed to be fresh for the MCAT anyway

  2. I wanted to show the adcom how I was academically just before applying and not from 10 years ago.


    Also, I didn’t want to take any chance that they may not like classes from such a long time ago even if they are accepted as credits.
6

Unfortunately, most schools I have talked to are very clear that they do not accept anything taken over 10 years ago. Even though you have talked to one school that may take them, remember that when it is time to apply you will probably be applying to multiple schools. That may be something to consider.

7

Once again I’m in total agreement with Mary. Additionally, some schools have a seven year limit (or even less), and most med schools make comments along the lines of “recent coursework preferred.” Rumor is that the number of applicants is continuing to go up, some of this based on the number of people signing up for the MCAT exam.


Don’t forget…this is a negative process more than a positive process. In other words, “how can we winnow down this applicant pool,” not “how many people can we find to interview.”


Be as well-qualified as you can possibly be.


Cheers,


Judy

8

The question is NOT IF they take the, the question is HOW will YOU make yourself appealing to the adcoms receiving thousands of applications. I know what I would do, and that is retake some of the pre-reqs if not all, and add some other classes on top of that.