I have been searching this and reading the related threads and while I am little discouraged, I am not completely because none of this applies to my situation and I am looking for anyone else that is in a similar situation.
I got my AAS degree from a CC and took extra classes online and in the classroom. i also attended a year at a respected private school to take some prereqs. Didn’t do so hot. (Bio 1- C, Bio 2- B, Chem 1- B, Chem 2- C, Physics 1 and 2- C). I am currently retaking Chem 1 at a community college and plan on retaking physics at the original private school. I also will take organic chemistry 1 and 2 and biochemistry at said school. Assuming I get Bs in orgo and biochem (which naturally i want As) i will be at a cGPA of 3.67(ish) and a sGPA of 3.30(ish). I am taking the MCAT in september.
Anyway I work full time nights (60 hour avg) while my wife is home with our 3 kids (she works a little bit). We have a plan for med school, but that plan also includes finishing my 4 year degree from a big ten state school. This is actually an online degree. When this is completed I will have done a total of 52 credits online from the state school completing my Bachelors of Applied Studies. I currently drive a semi over the road while attending class on mondays (my prof was a godsend allowing me to do this) and when i get a scheduled run I plan to get a weekend job as a CNA (nights). I also on shadowing a DO again on a regular basis (would depend on my schedule on the actual dates and times).
I am not asking what my chances are. I am not looking for how i compare. What i am looking for is the answer to my question. Am I screwing myself completely with the online degree? I plan to only apply osteopathic schools(couple of reasons, but mostly due to location). I would like to set my application up fairly well because I really want to attend one school in my area. This is the only reason I am worried. Is this just an incredible waste of my time? I would love to attend the private university again, but i just cannot do it.
Is anyone else in a similar situation? Sorry for the long post.
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The answer to your question lies in the above statement. If you really want to attend this one particular med school then you need to go ask THEM what they think about your situation. Call and ask to make an appointment with an admissions advisor. Take your transcripts and CV. Some schools won't be very helpful, but others will be.
As for the online courses through the state school - do these courses show up on your transcript as being online or does the university consider them equivalent to their on-campus counterparts? If your transcript just indicates that you took the courses and completed your degree from the big ten school, then the fact that it's mostly online may not really matter.
In any case, I would still meet with your school of interest regarding your competitiveness with your current grades.
Generally, online courses are the least accepted of work towards medical pre-reqs. You would be a leading edge of things if you were to do so.
If you have a very specific school you are interested in going to, you should contact their admissions office BEFORE you do all this. Many previous OPM members have done so to get guidance on how to best prepare, what would we be accepted, areas where you weak, etc. This has been suggested to me by a few admissions officers as well. You should write a concise summary of your situation, you specific questions and concerns (with attached CV), find the admissions officers and directors email addresses and send it off. You should follow up via phone, try to get a sit down meeting to discuss
I spoke briefly this morning at the AACOM conference to some faculty/staff at UNECOM which has a fully online postbacc. Since this only full online postbacc run by a medical school that I have come across, I asked for information and/or statistics on if their graduates of their program have been accepted to medical schools. They had none on hand but suggested speaking directly to few faculty they have who are starting to compile such info.
The UW presentation I attended suggested that any accredited class is considered sufficient. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.
Then again, gonnif > spoxjox.
I will write a more formal meeting report from my aacom presentation, but from the 20 or so admissions advisors, recruiters, etc, attending I certainly heard that there is no consensus on things such as online courses, age of courses, etc.
The only way to do approach this is contact the schools, do not hesitate.