Anybody know how a MD program would look at a candidate with a online degree, such as univ. of Phoenix? Anybody know of a person who was accepted by a MD school with such a degree?
Thanks!!
Anybody know how a MD program would look at a candidate with a online degree, such as univ. of Phoenix? Anybody know of a person who was accepted by a MD school with such a degree?
Thanks!!
I don’t know but that is not going to stop me from giving an answer anyway. 
I think probably some med schools won’t care, just as they don’t care what your major is. But keep in mind you’ll have to do lab sciences, which obviously can’t be done online, AND you’ll definitely need to have faculty/academic types to write some of your letters of recommendation, because an important part of your application is “testimony” from professors that you are a strong student iwth a good student work ethic.
Thinking about this - I dunno what sorts of majors are available via online coursework. I think you’d be safe if your major is English, for example, or a social science. You’d be asking for raised-eyebrow skepticism if your major is science such as physics or biology, I would think.
I agree with Mary. I’ve taken a lot of my core classes online through regular universities or community colleges, but I’ve taken all my sciences on campus. My school does offer an online version of organic chem (it’s actually a really good website for anybody having troubles), but the lab component still needs to be taken whether at the same time or some other semester. I realize that Univ of Phoenix is the most recognized fully online program, but I still hesitate to take classes from there because it’s not a full university/college. Take a look at Univ of Cali-Berkeley Extension or Harvard Extension and your local universities/community colleges for their online listings. Peterson’s search engines have an entire separate category of distance education resources.
I’d also be careful in double checking with med schools you may be interested in because some only accept a certain number of online/independent study hours. If this is the case you’ll have to make sure your transcripts for the classes you take online don’t say online anywhere. I don’t know of any “online” university offering science degrees online. UC-Berk does offer a few basic science classes, but not many.
Good luck!
–Jessica, UCCS
Just an additional thought - many med schools do not look at cc as the best form of education, so the question is, how would an online degree compare to a degree from a cc? I would guess that the cc may be better, but that may depend on the online institution (Phoenix vs Harvard vs…).
I must say I'm curious…which program offers organic chemistry on-line?? I have one semester left of organic to go… and am simultaneously studying for the MCATs (a bit on overload)… and was considering taking orgo II on a pass/fail basis. Any thoughts as to how med schools view one course taken pass/fail??
Just wanted to thank everyone for the commets-
Good luck to all,
Bill 
Hey psycho - I go to University of Colorado - Colorado Springs. They offer an online section of organic I over the summer, and an online section of organic II in the fall. However, it's not completely online. You still have to go in for exams. Lectures, office hours, tutoring, homework, and quizzes are all done online tho. The website is extremely useful from what I understand tho. I haven't taken it yet, but I have looked at the website and it looks like the prof set it up very, very well. If you're not enrolled in the course it looks like you could access solutions to everything, lectures, and possibly even the tutoring. Who knows you may be able to get proctored exams if you don't live close enough, but you'd have to check with Dr. Schoffstall (the prof of the course) about that.
Definitely don't take a prereq pass/fail tho. Heck our school doesn't even offer it pass/fail, but I've heard adcoms really do not like pass/fail for prereqs. I can understand their reasoning too. If it's pass/fail we don't know if the person was really strong in the class or just barely got a 70 lol.
Good luck!
–Jessica, UCCS
| QUOTE (WilliamBailey11 @ Jun 20 2003, 07:28 AM) |
| Anybody know how a MD program would look at a candidate with a online degree, such as univ. of Phoenix? Anybody know of a person who was accepted by a MD school with such a degree? Thanks!! |
Usually, there is no distinction made on transcripts that your degree was completed by distance learning or independent study versus regular class attendance.
Unless the college or university SPECIFICALLY has the words Online or Distance Learning in it's title, or otherwise (maybe through extensive advertising, etc) is widely known to be a distance learning school, the admissions committees really have no way of knowing if your courses are distance learning or not.
Many "traditional" colleges/universities have extensive distance learning programs, and make no distinction on transcripts or course descriptions between classes taken on campus and classes taken by distance learning/independent study.
The university I'm getting ready to start my M.S. degree at (on campus) offers the lab sciences by distance learning (the texts come with very sophisticated lab CD-ROMs), and makes NO DISTINCTIONS between on-campus lab science courses and distance learning ones on transcripts, etc.
If you go this route, the ONLY way the admissions committees will know is if YOU tell them. If you want the name of the school, PM me and I'll give you the link.
I hope this was helpful.
I want to add an edit to the information I presented about Univ of Colo - Colo spgs online organic chem. I was looking at the site today to determine which book we are using in the fall and noticed that you can actually take this class as a distance student. You'd get the exams proctored, but all the homework and quizzes are submitted online. You'd also have to take the lab at another school as it's considered a separate 2 credit class at our school. BTW, if anyone is interested we use Carey's 5th edition (one of the books recommended by ChemNews.com.
Good luck!
–Jessica, UCCS