Aloha All,
I am a 35 year old Occupational Therapist (Master of Occupational Therapy degree in 2006), mother of two young girls, who wants nothing more than to go to med school. I quit my management job in November 2016 to work PRN in order to allow myself the flexibility to start taking prerequisites at the local community college. Last semester, Spring 2017, I was able to complete Bio I and Chem I, but I have not been able to find courses to fit my work schedule since then. There are no night classes offered and the majority of the classes I need are days that I work or they are offered MWF, which isn’t an option. I am in Hawaii and the only option is either the university or the community colleges, which are part of the university system. Actually, there is a private university that does have a post bacc program, but it’s full time and over $20,000 a year, so also not an option. In any case, my husband is in the Army and is usually gone 5 am to 6 pm three nights a week and gone until 10 pm two nights a week, as he is currently getting his MBA. My salary pays for our girls to go to daycare, which they have to do in order for me to take classes. I get the girls up for school every day, walk the dog, go to work, pick them up, dinner, bed time, and school when I can find classes to fit my schedule. In addition, the local community hospital I work PRN has a full time opening coming up in September when one of the full-time OTs moves back to the mainland and I am their first choice. I definitely want to take it because for the first time in my career I am actually enjoying being at work and I really love the team I work with.
SO… I started looking at other options and came across UNE that has all of the pre-med prerequisites available online. It’s unbelievable, but OT didn’t require bio, chem, etc. I only had to take anatomy and physiology I and II and physics. I see that I have three options: I can keep taking one class a semester from here on out as my schedule allows and hope that I get all of my prerequisites in before I’m forty, not take any until we move out of here in May of 2019 and try to find a post bacc program, or take online prerequites and get everything done in the next year and a half. I also have to take math classes because my highest math class was College Algebra fifteen years ago.
I would really like to start med school before I’m forty, ideally. I feel like I have wasted so much time in the wrong profession and though I have a master’s degree, feel like I haven’t accomplished anything. I missed my calling earlier in life because I was too scared to fail and didn’t think I was smart enough.
P.S.- Specialty Stories is my favorite podcast and I listen to it all the time. I have listened to many of them more than once.
Any advice?
2 main things:
- Just because it isn’t listed as “online” doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t know. If they were really savvy they could figure it out by what school it is or even by what the section number is. That’s probably asking too much of someone who is spending 30 seconds on you app. Bottom line though is don’t say something isn’t online when it is, but if it doesn’t come up, you don’t necessarily have to volunteer that info.
- Many schools do accept online prereqs or will provide waivers for people in certain situations. I had 4 online prereqs (brick and mortar degree though) and am in med school.
in my research, and after talking to a few different admissions people the official answer is: we don’t take online classes for pre reqs. The reality is that on the transcript they are not labeled as online classes so if it doesn’t come up in conversation then… I guess it works out for you.
in my research, and after talking to a few different admissions people the official answer is: we don’t take online classes for pre reqs. The reality is that on the transcript they are not labeled as online classes so if it doesn’t come up in conversation then… I guess it works out for you.
You can check the Medical School Admission Requirements to see which MD schools accept online courses:
https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/applying-medical-school-process/deciding-where-apply/medical-school-admission-requirements/
Cheers,
Liza Thompson
Thanks guys! I just applied to a full-time position so it will have to be online courses for now, which I find harder to keep up with than in person courses. Does anyone have any experience with UNE? Do you think a med school would prefer online courses from an accredited university than a community college?
I did UNE a few years back. It was adequate for my needs (goal was to complete the courses and relearn in the future as necessary), but you really have to be a self-motivated person. I would imagine that university credits are viewed more favorably than CC credits, but it really depends on the school you attend and the schools you apply to. UNE is done through an osteopathic school, so you could argue that it’s “better”, but who really knows?
Major downside of UNE is the cost.