Hi everyone! I graduated from college in 2006 and, between 2002 and 2006, completed most of my premed requirements (many semester of of bio, including 2 with lab; inorganic chemistry with lab; calculus I and II). I earned solid scores in all of them from a high ranked school. I am now completing organic chemistry I and II (with lab), physics I and II and biochem at a different high ranked school.
I’m operating under the assumption that my bio courses, inorganic chem, and calculus from 2002-2006 are still valid and that schools won’t require that I retake them. Is this a safe assumption? I anticipate applying to med schools in about 2 years.
Thanks for your help!!
Some schools dictate time frames that you will have had to have taken your courses in. Mine were about the same age as yours when I applied and were not an issue at any of the schools I applied to. I repeated some classes to prep for the MCAT and for o-chem (repeated gen chem 1&2) but chose not to repeat other courses that I was very comfortable with (physics 1&2) and just reviewed the material for the MCAT.
Hope this helps!
+1, my oldest class was gen chem and was 11 years old when I was applying but I had taken ochem just a year ago. All others were 4-9 years old and not one school said anything. But I have a graduate degree in an allied health field so this may have made up for some of the dated under grad clases.
THis is off topic but I cant figure out how to edit posts. I was trying to edit the above but Ill just have to add on. Correction: rest of my classes were 7-9 years old. I think the one school that I found that was fairly strict about age of classes was Duke. I called the ones that were really important to me to double check. The responses were fairly vague “we prefer, but…etc etc” and when it came down to it, no one talked about it at interviews and I had a great deal of success this season. Who knows. Good Luck
- en0920 Said:
THis is off topic but I cant figure out how to edit posts. I was trying to edit the above but Ill just have to add on. Correction:
You can't after a couple minutes, I have no idea why?
- mdk2121 Said:
Hi everyone! I graduated from college in 2006 and, between 2002 and 2006, completed most of my premed requirements (many semester of of bio, including 2 with lab; inorganic chemistry with lab; calculus I and II). I earned solid scores in all of them from a high ranked school. I am now completing organic chemistry I and II (with lab), physics I and II and biochem at a different high ranked school.
I'm operating under the assumption that my bio courses, inorganic chem, and calculus from 2002-2006 are still valid and that schools won't require that I retake them. Is this a safe assumption? I anticipate applying to med schools in about 2 years.
Thanks for your help!!
I'm operating under the assumption that my bio courses, inorganic chem, and calculus from 2002-2006 are still valid and that schools won't require that I retake them. Is this a safe assumption? I anticipate applying to med schools in about 2 years.
Thanks for your help!!
Unless there has been a change, there are a group of schools who like your courses to be no older then 10 years.
That said I advise people that you want your courses to be no older then 10 years in general.
I imagine that since not all schools post this and that the applicant pool is so large and they can pick and choose students, that the 10 year rule may play a factor in most schools.
That said your courses are not older then 10 years
I caution on the "Call the school" all the time answer, sometimes you get a stock answer and other times, the ADCOM is made up of a group of people you will not be talking to. What one person says may not be the group decision. Be very careful of what you believe to be true.
Besides how old your courses are there is so much more to how the ADCOM decides who to accept.
GPA ( what you did over time)
MCAT ( how well you tested in one day)
Volunteering ( your willingness to give your time freely)
Patient experience ( your experience with real life patients)
Shadowing ( your understanding of what a physician does, this should be over a week and following most of the day)
Your personal statement ( a snapshot of who you are)
How was Organic Chemistry after having such a long break since Gen Chem? I’m in a similar situation and plan on just reviewing Gen Chem rather than retaking it before I start Org Chem I.
Hi, MD! I was just asking a similar question on this topic a while back. It was regarding my bio classes which I took 5+ years ago. I got much feedback and mostly of the opinion that I should retake bio because a) some schools have expiration dates on pre-reqs and b) the field has changed a lot (and IT HAS!) and it’s good to have more recent knowledge for medical school.
I have yet to make a decision on what I will do–if I will retake my bio or not; however, another aspect to add to the mix is if you will be prepped enough for the MCAT given that your basic sciences were so long ago. I’m not sure if you have done any practice tests or glancing over of MCAT materials but I can tell you from someone who’s doing exactly that right now that I am struggling–hard! I made all As in both bio sections but it seems that I have forgotten so much and even just forgetting a little can hurt your score greatly!
So, my advice to you (as I’ve also told myself) would be to a) first check at the schools you are looking to get into and see if their pre-reqs expire and b) make sure you are honed-in on the ins and outs of bio (and its advancements) so that you are best-prepared for the MCAT.
As for me, I think I will try and refresh my bio knowledge through MCAT prep books and some online materials–bio class lectures from various academic websites, etc (I was home schooled so I know how to discipline myself like that). My main reasoning behind this is that as much as I would love to re-learn everything about bio, there is much which is unnecessary for both the MCAT and medical school and for me I’d rather spend that time helping to get myself into medical school. Best of luck!
Hello Dr. Cook,
on an unrelated topic, did you go to med school through the Air Force’s health professions program where they pay for school in exchange for service? I was just curious b/c I looked into both the Air Force’s and Navy’s health professions programs. Thanks!