Hello Everyone,
I’m new here and looking forward to meeting some great people on oldpremeds.
Ever since I was young I have aspired to be an MD. My parents never pushed me or even mentioned it to me. It is just something that I was always interested in. I went to college, majored in biology, and fell in love with a girl (one of the major factors why I didn’t pursue medicine) that I’m now married to. After college I decided against pursuing my dream of becoming a physician and went to work in a different field (financial) in which I had some success in.
For the past year or so my dominating thought has been about going to med school and achieving my dream. It is a calling that is so strong I’m willing to give up just about everything for it. I’m not quite sure where to start. I graduated from college in 98’ with a degree in bio and most of the information is forgotten. Time is very precious and I can’t really afford to get another degree and then apply to med school. Somehow when I was in college I never took the 2 required semesters of organic chem (i took an elementary oro and biochem class instead) so I know i have to take those at a minimum.
Here is my profile (University of Delaware 1994-1998)Degree: Biology (Gpa=3.47)
peter white research fellowship (1 summer and fall research with the physical therapy department (back in 1998)
volunteer work at a hospital for inpatient/outpatient physical therapy (1997-1998)
worked full time as a physical therapy aide for about 8 months. (1998)
Currently
regional vice president for a financial company
Volunteer work: President of the Jaycees (a local group of young professionals age 21-40 specializing in leadership development and community service.
-Just got certified as an EMT-B at and am volunteering whenever I can at my local fire company.
My question is what next? Does my volunteer experience from my college days mean anything? How about the research fellowship I had? How does my current volunteer work look? Should I retake any classes?
In Calculus I got a C
In Genetics I got a C-
I got 'B’s in my basic biology courses but 'A’s in my more advanced bio courses.
I talked with an advisor at the school I graduated from and they said all I needed to apply to med school was to take the two required orgo classes and they strongly suggested I take calculus again as well.
When I called Thomas Jefferson medical school they said my science courses had to be recent. Temple Medical School stated that I needed to ‘prove’ that I could still excel at taking college level courses and recommended getting 'A’s in Organic and calculus but didn’t say I needed to retake anything else. I’ve been playing the EK MCAT audio osmosis Cd’s to and from work every day and the bio basics are starting to come back to me although the inorganic chem and physics are like greek. I really don’t want to take physics over again (since you don’t encounter a lot of it in med school) and was just going to take an mcat prep course to help me out there. Instead of taking inorganic chem over I’m thinking of brushing up on it my by viewing free video lectures online.
Any ideas?
Thanks so much for any and all replies!
Ken
Yes, it means something. You can probably list those on your application. It shows a spirit of altruism going back aways.
If you have room for it on your AMCAS (when you get to that point) I think you would be fine in mentioning it.
Looks fine to me. Additionally, the EMT work will provide you with some clinical exposure, which will be helpful.
In Calculus I got a C
In Genetics I got a C-
I got 'B's in my basic biology courses but 'A's in my more advanced bio courses.
Calculus - skip. You might want to consider retaking the genetics. You will want some recent Bio coursework, I think. Whether or not you retake intro bio or just take some upper level courses is often a point of discussion.
Yes and no. As you mentioned, some schools have limits on the age of your pre-reqs. I don't think applying with only taking orgo is going to give you the best possible application. I'm not sure what their rationale is about retaking the calculus. I would retake the genetics before the calculus. Most med schools don't even have calculus as a pre-requisite.
And here is the dilemma. Medical schools vary widely in their policies regarding pre-reqs. Most will state that they PREFER that your pre-reqs not be any older than 5 - 7 years old. Some of them have actually policies. For many schools, you may be fine applying after taking orgo and a couple recent bio classes as long as you knock the socks of the MCAT.
It is great that you have taken the initiative to talk to 2 medical schools. What you really need to decide is what your limitations are on applying to medical school. Are you limited to applying to certain schools? If so, then you want to contact all of those schools and do what you can to give yourself the best possible shot at being a competitive applicant (even if that means retaking more courses than you want).
Honestly, to make yourself the best possible candidate and make sure you do well on the MCAT and organic, you probably ought to consider retaking inorganic and physics, unless you got A's in them. If you got A's in them, you might have a little more wiggle room. If you don't retake them, you may eliminate yourself from contention at some medical schools - especially if your MCAT in those areas is mediocre.
There are many different approaches (as evidenced by the different advice you've already received). I certainly don't think you need another degree. It's a matter of whether or not you retake all of the pre-reqs and what approach will allow you to do the best you can on the MCAT.
Alternatively, you could consider a formal post-bac program. I would think there are a couple in the Philadelphia are. These are often expensive, though.
Good luck.
Thanks Emergency for your advice!
Ken
Welcome, Ken 
Looks like Emergency overburdened the /quotes again 
- pi1304 Said:
Looks like Emergency overburdened the /quotes again
I wasn't sure if that was the problem or if there was a problem with the permissions again!! Guess I did get carried away with the quotes.
The permissions seem to be OK. Make sure you have “Use Markup” selected in the Options menu right below the reply area. If you edit your previous post and save, probably it will work.
Terry -
I think the problem was that I tried to use too many quotes. I remember Denise saying something about there being a limit of 3 quotes per reply.
As far as editing, do you know how long we have to edit a post? I often notice typos in my posts that I would like to fix, but it seems like after a couple of hours, the link to edit has disappeared.
Thanks.
I have a similar question. I’m 32 and took all my premed prereqs about 10 years ago or more.
I’m planning to retake them (at a community college b/c of finances) in addition to some upper level classes at a more prestigious state school (GA Tech).
But my question is, do I have to (should I) retake the labs along with the basic premed prereq’s???
Taking the labs will make it much more difficult for me to juggle my work schedule with the coursework, etc.
Thanks
It’s currently set to 30 minutes. I’d prefer if it were more like 24 hours, but on the other hand it might get confusing if people keep changing what they said after they’ve gotten lots of replies. I think we’re hijacking this thread by the way; we should continue discussing this kind of thing over in the web admin forum
- Anika Said:
I'm planning to retake them (at a community college b/c of finances) in addition to some upper level classes at a more prestigious state school (GA Tech).
But my question is, do I have to (should I) retake the labs along with the basic premed prereq's???
Taking the labs will make it much more difficult for me to juggle my work schedule with the coursework, etc.
Thanks
Anika;
That's a very good question & unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for you. I hate to be cliche, but I think calling a few med schools, esp if you have a couple in mind for the future, & asking. I suspect that you will find that different programs will give you different answers.
Another issue that you may confront - I certainly did - is the age of your coursework. Some programs place an explicit age limit on courses & others have implicit limits. Of course, no matter how old, or crappy, your grades are, they count 100% for your AMCAS & AACOMAS GPA calculations.
My advice is to take the remaining prereq classes needed to apply, The Organic Chem I and II with the lab associated with it. Hold off on taking Calculus unless one the schools you are seriously deciding on applying to requires it. Also, Consider taking biochemistry instead of Organic Chemistry II. A lot of medical schools allow you switch the two courses. Biochemistry is challenging but most of the time is doesn’t require a lab course with it. Everyone wants to get an A out of Organic Chemistry but that is not always the case. Just do the best you can do in the class. In Organic Chemistry I, I got an C in the lecture and an B in the lab, In Organic Chemistry II I am preparing for finals. So now I must eat, sleep, and dream MCAT. The MCAT is where you can correct what your grades have failed to do for you.
Wishing you all the success in your medical school goals.