Well good news and perhaps bad (or at least tepid). I was accepted to a local post-bacc program on the provision that I prove myself in taking General Chemistry and Calculus at a local state college before entering formal post-bacc program; a seat in the Fall 2005 or Winter/Spring 2006 class would be held for me upon satisfactory completion of the above courses. The post-bacc program gave the option of either taking these courses straight away (during the summer) or taking their prerequisite courses (Introduction to Chemistry) and Precalculus. After reviewing my current abilities in the chemistry and math (including self-study), the length of time it has been since my last chemistry and math classes (22 years), and discussing my situation with the Math and Chemistry Departments of the state college, it was recommended that I consider taking the prerequisite classes (Intro to Chem and Precalculus).
Question: Given that I started college taking General Chemistry and Calculus, would now taking their prerequisites (Intro to Chem and Precalculus) make medical school AdComms look askance at my application?
I would still be retaking the General Chemistry and Calculus in the Fall.
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
How do you get into medical school? One step at a time.
They might ASK you about it, but you have a perfectly sensible reason for doing so. Provided you continue to do well and are successful in your post-bacc, I don’t think having re-taken intro chemistry should really hurt you. When you have to make a decision like this, it’s probably wise to weight “what will help me learn this the best and perform the best” more heavily than, “what might the adcoms think?”
Quote:
…it’s probably wise to weight “what will help me learn this the best and perform the best” more heavily than, “what might the adcoms think?”
This is profound and someone should pick it up and put it in their .sig. Lots of us have commented on choices of extracurricular activities and volunteer work in this vein - choose things you want to do, not things you think will look good to the Adcom - but Denise has made the really important point that your academic activities should ALSO be chosen for their ability to accomplish what YOU need, not what looks good to an AdCom.
In your case, with it having been so long since you originally did the coursework, I really doubt that taking the prereqs now is going to raise any eyebrows at all. But as Denise has said, it’s about what you need to do well. DON’T plan your pre-med coursework with “what will the Adcom think?” playing in the back of your head.
Mary