I’m a 2nd year student in an MD program. It was my top choice school pre-interview and 2nd choice school post-interview, so I’m super excited about it. And yes, I would’ve wanted to go here even if I had all of my courses in a formal setting.
Not all schools accept online prereqs, and many of them are very straight forward about it either in the MSAR or on their websites. Some schools that do accept them say they “prefer” brick and mortar schools, and other schools say it doesn’t matter where you get the credits as long as you get the credits. As you get deeper into med school application stuff, you’ll find that every school wants something a little bit differently, so it’s really hard to be the perfect applicant everywhere.
I chose my schools based on who would take my credits. There was only one school that I was really considering that said absolutely no. If there is any doubt for a specific school, shoot their admissions office an email.
Your background, plus good (recent) grades, and a good MCAT score will make you competitive, just like a solid background, good grades, and good MCAT score would make the next person competitive. How you sell yourself can make a difference, too.