newbie--I have a BS and an MS but it's been over 10 years

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi, newbie here. All comments and advice would be greatly appreciated.


I have a BS in biochem and an MS in Bio but it’s been over 10 years. Long story short, decided to go a different route but I’m now thinking of going to med school.


Given my educational past, would i still need to take the pre-req classes to apply? I’m planning on taking some refresher courses but I’m wondering if I need to re-take the full coursework (bio, chem, phys, ochem)?


Thanks.

2

Many (most?) med schools want to see “recent” academic work. Think how much biology has changed in ten years. Will you plan to take some (not just one) upper div. bio courses? Do you have enough background in chem and physics to do very well on the MCAT?


Cheers,


Judy

3

Thanks Judy. I’m not as worried for the MCATs vs. what the schools are looking for. I’m familiar w/ the MCATs so I feel pretty confident that I can do decently well in them but if the schools will either reject me or negatively assess me due to the long hiatus, then it’s a different story.


If I have to show the schools ‘recent’ classes, are the post-bacc courses the only option? They require a two year commitment and I was hoping to take the plunge sooner.


Thanks again.

4

When you say post-bacc classes require a two year commitment are you referring to a year of courses and then the application year? One possibility (assuming you don’t need the courses to do well on the MCAT) is to be enrolled in courses while applying. You can then put on your application that you are taking whatever “refresher” courses you were taking and update them with grades when they become available.


I highly recommend that you call at least a couple of the schools that you are very interested in attending and as for their opinion. People tend to get different answers to this question from the schools depending on their previous GPA, work experience, MCAT scores, etc. For example, someone calling a school and saying “Hey, I got a 40 MCAT. Do I need to retake any of the prereqs?” will likely get a different answer than someone who either has no MCAT or says they have a lower than average (for that school) MCAT.

5

Thanks. Really great advice. I’ll definitely call a couple of the schools and get their take.


Thanks again. Great bunch of people here.