Hello,
My name is Sonny Solis. I have been a pharmacist for 16 years and am working on my MS in Health Informatics, expected graduation date of Spring 2017. I am looking to take some classes to help me prepare for the MCAT. I am undecided on how to attack this situation. Can anyone help with some recommendations? There are no Post Bac Pre Med programs near me and I cannot locate a good alternative online. I am considering taking classes at the local community college as a refresher, it’s been almost 20 years since I took any science classes. I am looking also at possibly trying to get re-admitted to the local University to obtain another BS,possibly in Chemistry or Biology. I do not know if this is an option? Has anyone else attempted this?
Any help or recommendations would be great. I live just outside of Austin Texas.
Sincerely,
Sonny
Hello! I am curious as to why you would want to take all the classes involved in getting a new bachelors. They aren’t really needed in order to study for the MCAT and honestly seem like a time sink, unless you really want that chemistry degree. Any class you take, that grade is going to get rolled into your GPA, so unless you need to boost it I wouldn’t recommend taking classes that aren’t prerequisites. You can always do a DIY postbac, I did one and it was the best option for my goals and situation. It also has the added benefit of being flexible. You have experience as a pharmacist, which is great. Are you in retail pharmacy? If so it’s a good idea to get medical clinical exposure i.e. shadowing/volunteering in a hospital. If you’re in clinical pharmacy you already have that covered by working in the hospital. Good luck to you in your journey!
Hi
Minus the professional degree you have and subtract 13 years from your career take my advice. After graduating I worked as an intraoperative neurophysiology tech full time for three years. During this time I retook some courses, finished my prerequisites at community college, and took the MCAT twice. Like yourself, Working a full time job, turned MCAT prep into a monster. I enrolled in the Princeton review live online course. It allowed me to take then entire prep course on the weekends over a 3 month period. Sure it cost a bunch but it allowed for a manageable work study schedule. I did fairly well on the mcat, but I still had a terrible GPA. Burrell College of Medicine is a brand new osteopathic school in las cruces New Mexico, just 20 minutes north of El Paso. I will be in the inaugural post bacc class of 30 students. This program is designed for well rounded applicants, that have ample experience working in healthcare, living in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. It is selective for applicants like us. If you have a poor/no mcat they have a full MCAT prep course. If you have a bad GPA as in my case they will test your ability to handle medical school curriculum. 85% of the courses are taken with MS1 students in order to do so. The program gives guarantees of acceptance depending on your grades and mcat score. If you do not have an mcat it must be taken by April of the spring semester to get the guarantee. Basically you would be taking a lightened medical school curriculum with a side of mcat for 7 months. If you are worried about prep this may be your answer. All students interview in January at the beginning of the spring semester, this would allow an applicant like yourself to forgo a gap year and give you more time to prep. Applications are still being reviewed, the program begins in August. If I didn’t have anything that tied me down in Austin, I would apply ASAP. Nearly every post bacc I’ve inquired requires an MCAT score if your are on an allopathic/osteopathic track no Pcats. Assuming you aren’t confident taking the MCAT now I doubt you would be ready to sit before the next application cycle ends. If you did and Got a decent score your chances would be really good, you would matriculate the same year as one in this program would. If you didn’t you are talking about two more years. I’m sure you can’t just get up and leave dodge like a 27 year old guy who lives on his own, I have no clue. If so I would visit bcomnm.org and apply. If this isn’t an option, I would recommend the Princeton review online live prep. I think retaking courses is a huge waste of time. I hadn’t even finished physics and ochem until after my mcat. I literally used the Princeton review and taught myself.
Good luck
This is a super late response… but I am also a pharmacist and am in my second year of med school. I graduated pharm school in 2008 and go to school at LSU Shreveport SOM currently. Both New Orleans and Shreveport campuses mentioned refreshers classes but it seemed it was only to show that I could handle classroom learning again. I took a Kaplan course for MCAT and did ok. I was enrolled at a local college to take immunology, something I never took as a undergrad Biology major, when I was accepted into med school. My plan was to take things like immunology, Anatomy & Phys, Biochem gradually (one course a semester, had to work full time) to demonstrate my effort and ability. Luckily I got in before starting classes but yeah, that was my plan. Anyway, your road is tricky – you’re in an excellent field, make good money and going to undergrad again seems annoying. Tough go through all this just to get in, but so far, I am soooo happy and so happy I made the change. Good luck, not sure if these is even relevant to you anymore…but all the best