Well I am closing down one of my businesses that has consumed all of my time. I have taken some prereqs in the past and am about to jump in more serious than before. I want to reach my life long goal. I have been trapped in jobs that just came along like most people. I have a couple of questions regarding prereqs and acceptance by commitee.
There is a school near me that accelerates the science prerequisits. The classes are a bit costly and meet 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday with 3 hours per day of homework expected.Each class is completed in about 5 weeks. They are accredited. Would this type of approach have any negative view from the commitee? I like the format because it allows me to make up some time. Also, should I be pursuing a BS or just focusing on prerequisits and MCAT? In advance I would like to thank all who respond as I was overwhelmed by the great help you all gave with my previous post. daniel
Daniel, do you have a bachelor’s degree? Because if not, you definitely need to work toward that goal. Although many medical schools will state that it is possible to apply without the B.A. or B.S., in fact your competition will be people who are poised to earn their degrees. You need to have one.
As for the weekend courses, they sound great. I doubt AdComs care. My only hesitation is that three hours of homework after 8 hours of class is definitely such a minimal expectation - I presume you’ll then have a LOT of stuff to do in the intervening weekdays? I can’t imagine doing that much chemistry, for example, without a pause to consolidate what I learned, but if it works for you, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do it that way. In fact I don’t know that it would even show up as different from any other semester-long course. Your “semester” is just short and intense, like summer school.
Good luck!
Mary
Daniel,
I agree with Mary–if it’s going to work for you then go for it. Having a deep comprehension of the subject is going to be the key. Maybe you can get the names of other folks who have taken the courses this way who have gained admission to medical school to see what they think. I took an intensive Saturday physics class (7 hours) for both physics requirements my experience was very positive.
Good luck!
Larry
Quote:
There is a school near me that accelerates the science prerequisits. The classes are a bit costly and meet 8 hours on Saturday and 8 hours on Sunday with 3 hours per day of homework expected.Each class is completed in about 5 weeks. They are accredited. Would this type of approach have any negative view from the commitee? I like the format because it allows me to make up some time.
I would check into the acceptance of any courses taken at such a school. How well known is this school? Is it rigorous enough for AdComms? I am asking these questions based on an experience of a former co-worker who went to an alternative college with a weekend science “institute” whose curriculum is described as “suitable for those wanting to change careers or for those choosing to go into the sciences.” Unfortuantely, most of the medical schools to which my former coworker applied politely told him that they did not look highly upon the rigorousness of the science courses from that weekend science program. On a positive note, he did get into med school, but received many rejections. He believes that at least some of them were due to the non-acceptance of most of his core science classes from med schools that frowned upon his weekend science studies.
How would I check with schools regarding acceptance of progams? I am not sure who I would talk to or which department.
Daniel
You need to talk to someone in the admissions office of a medical school you’ll consider applying to when the time comes. Lots of folks here have done this sort of early “chat” with AdCom folks to get general guidance and it seems to have helped a lot of people. Maybe another contributor to the thread can think of a good phrase to search our archives for that will help you get an idea of what sorts of things to discuss in a “pre-admission” phone call or visit… I’m not exactly sure but there’s bound to be something.
Mary
Go to each schools website and look around for the “contact us” or “faculty/staff” or something along those lines. You’ll see at some sites where it will tell you “Please contact XXXX with questions”. Just do a bit of searching around and you’ll find the person or will be directed to the right person. It isn’t difficult…just takes a few hundred clicks and a few pushes on the phone. BTW, I have much better luck calling versus sending an email. It’s not an either or choice, you can do both I just prefer to call and speak to someone.
Has anyone experienced “ignorant receptionist” syndrome when calling a medical school? I called a school a few months back and spoke to someone who seemed not to have a clue. They contradicted themselves and seemed to generally lack an understanding of the admissions requirements.
As an example, I mentioned that I was attending summer school and part time night classes, and I was told that these won’t count toward my prerequisites–“we require regular daytime courses at a four year university”. Then I mentioned that I was at Harvard Extension School and Harvard Summer School and they said, “Oh that’s fine.” This person might as well have been working at any state office and seemed to have the same general disinterested and intellectually lazy attitude–I’m not going to help you unless you ask the exact right questions, I’m not volunteering anything, I don’t care whether you apply here or not, and I wish to get you off the phone as fast as I can.
This was my first contact with this school and I’m already a bit turned off. Yet, it’s considered a very good state school with lots of diverse non-trads and excellent facilities.
I plan to call them again with a set of brain teaser type questions lined up that a junior receptionist might not be prepared to answer, e.g. “Would postbacc advanced genetics be better preparation than neurobiology, if I’m interested in Family Practice or Internal Medicine?”–and I’ll see whether they send me to someone more knowledgeable.
Or perhaps I should just ask for the dean of admissions right up front and not waste time? But I would have thought that even the people answering the phones in the admissions office would know their stuff a little better than this.
Go for the dean. Receptionists should know better, but still can be a pain. It’s not worth your time!
Agreed. Ask for the dean. If you have time, make an appointment to come in and talk a bit. Dress for a job interview. Ask your questions, talk about yourself, and ask what you should concentrate on to strengthen your application when the time comes. It pays off.
I don’t bother with the receptionist. That’s why I recommend going to the websites and finding the person you need to talk to. If anything grab onto a name and just ask for that person. It’s worked so far. Once I was told to call back to the main number and they would answer my questions…I told them I had and how frustrating it was because the person I spoke to was clueless. They laughed because their intent is for everyone to visit the website. 