Hi All,
I am 34, and have wanted to persue medical school for a very long time. Right now, my biggest hurdle is pre. reqs.
I have an undergrad. degree in BioMedical Engineering (1993-2000 took me awhile) with not so great grades in the med pre req’s. I also have an MS. in Industrial Eng. (2003) with a 3.85 gpa.
I have all pre req’s (taken for my undergrad degree awhile ago) with the exception of 3 - BioChem, A&P and MicroBiology. I am taking A&P Fall, and will take the other two next Spring.
So my question is, are my initial science pre req’s too old? And with C grades, am I out of the question as a candidate? The University here makes is all but impossible to come back and just do premed courses. I am managing to sneak in a few classes while saying I am going after another MS in Engineering.
Thanks for the advice!
- jclark2003 Said:
I am 34, and have wanted to persue medical school for a very long time. Right now, my biggest hurdle is pre. reqs.
I have an undergrad. degree in BioMedical Engineering (1993-2000 took me awhile) with not so great grades in the med pre req's. I also have an MS. in Industrial Eng. (2003) with a 3.85 gpa.
I have all pre req's (taken for my undergrad degree awhile ago) with the exception of 3 - BioChem, A&P and MicroBiology. I am taking A&P Fall, and will take the other two next Spring.
So my question is, are my initial science pre req's too old? And with C grades, am I out of the question as a candidate? The University here makes is all but impossible to come back and just do premed courses. I am managing to sneak in a few classes while saying I am going after another MS in Engineering.
Thanks for the advice!
Technically they don't expire. But acceptance is also dependent on which school you are applying to and what you made in the class. It might be wise to research which schools you want to apply to and see their individual requirements or even call admissions if age of course is not mentioned on the webpage. Your successful MS does give you a leg-up, demonstrating that you mastered graduate level science courses.
Biochem, A&P, and Micro aren't officially pre-reqs. Well, biochem is at some schools now, but it is true that most competitive applicants do take those courses and they certainly help on the mcat.
Its all so relative though...I don't think they is a straightforward solution and that contacting schools would be your safest bet!
As was previously mentioned, generally they do not technically expire. However, I have seen some schools make comments for students with pre-reqs over 5 years old BTW these are schools that seem more acknowledging of non-trads. Example below is from Einstein SOM
“Applicants who have completed all of their pre-medical requirements prior to five years at the time of application must show evidence of participation in either academic or work experience in the biological sciences. Academic experience should include at least one course in a discipline such as cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, immunology or neuroscience. Work experience may include research in the biological sciences.”
As a side comment, spending time really reading and exploring med schools websites is a very very useful exercise
Einstein SOM
NYU SOM FAQ
Please take a look at the last two FAQs
"There are some on this site who advocate retaking premedical coursework after a certain time period has elapsed. Medical schools I’ve spoken with discouraged this because in addition to the unnecessary costs and loss in time, it’s kind of assumed that you’ll get an easy “A†retaking remedial coursework. Regardless of whichever route you take, you definitely need to take recent upper-level premedical coursework (like biochemistry, neuroanatomy, molecular biology, etc.) that build upon lower-division premedical coursework. Achieving in these courses not only proves that you’ve mastered the lower-level premedical coursework, but also helps to prove that you can handle similar, graduate-level medical school coursework.
“Now, if you’re retaking classes to up your GPA that can be done by retaking classes: Osteopathic medical schools will replace your older grade in a class with the most recent grade, but allopathic medical schools will only average the recent grade in a class with your previous grade. Obviously, though, both types of medical schools will see you have retaken classes to up your GPA, so you will need supplement your retakes with some advanced-level premedical coursework to show your current academic prowess in handling new, biomedical courses. . . You might be able to take some medical school courses at a nearby medical school as non-degree seeking student (really ideal to prove your medical school ability) or your might want to consider enrolling in an advanced-level, premedical post-baccalaureate program that is designed to rehabilitate premedical GPAs through taking unique, but advanced-level premedical courses like neuroanatomy, gross anatomy, second semester biochemistry, et cetera or even consider enrolling in a Georgetown SMP-type of program.”
I’ve been concerned about the same issue. My newest prereq was taken in the Spring of 1996 which was Organic I. Everything else, chem, bio and physics would be older. I plan to retake all of the Science prereqs in addition to Anatomy and Physiology. Not sure if jumping straight into an upper level biology course would be a good idea having not taken a science class in almost 15 years. Granted everyone’s situation is unique.
I have seen some medical programs (not specifically medical schools) that require some course work to have been completed within the past 5-7 years.
The advice to explore med school websites will likely provide the best answer.
Most physician assistant (PA) programs do have time limits to their prerequisites (which I think is a big cause of confusing on this site in interpreting what medical schools want for recent, biomedical coursework from nontraditional applicants). This is because the way most state licensing laws for PAs are written. Most of these laws mandate that PAs have so many class hours in certain subjects in a certain window of time (analogous to requirement that medical school must be completed within seven years of starting). In order to keep their programs a brief as possible and within the allotted time window for most of their trainees, PA programs use their programs’ prerequisites’ class hours as meeting part of these mandated subject hour totals.
“Additionally, I know there have been at least three recent posters on this site (dtrainer, colby24TN, and Val Cagle) who received multiple medical schools acceptances without having to repeat prerequisites from long ago (8+ years ago, I believe).”
Perhaps a better way to view this is in your overall strategy in getting into medical school. Many students who have been out of school for a while and/or had a poor GPA use post-bacc and repeat of pre-reqs as a way to show they have academic skills to be successful in medical school.
So the question should be looked at as “what is the best way to show academic achievement?” If you have decent to great grades from previous pre-reqs and have been out of academics for a while, taking some advanced bio courses perhaps or master level “post-bacc” (some of these are more like medical school prep school as opposed repeating pre-reqs)
One tidbit that Mary Renard often says that if you have been out of school for several years, retaking general bio is good idea as a) it reviews much for MCAT and b) so much has changed, especially in genetics and molecular biology, that it would be a good foundation for advanced bio courses.
In sum, It depends. You must see what “your story” is: the strategy and narrative that you want to create and present to the Adcoms on your med school application