After much reading and deliberation I have a question on my ala carte post-bacc schedule.
Spring: Chem1 + College Algebra
Summer A: Bio1
Summer B: Chem2
Summer C: Calculus
Fall: Bio2 + Org1 + Phy1
Spring: Org2 + Phy1 + MCAT
Is there another split I could do? I’m just curious to how those who’ve gone the fulltime route have done it.
The other thing is I’m also thinking that during my “glide” year I will enroll at a special master program. It is 12 months long and I would be taking the following:
BMS 527-528 Biochemistry I, II
BMS 547 Neuroanatomy
BMS 550 Histology
BMS 553a Ethical Foundations
BMS 553b Health Care Delivery
BMS 590-590L Gross Anatomy
BMS 595 Physiology
Any thoughts? My thinking is that it would look will on the application but most importantly it would give me some exposure to these classes in a medical school setting…but those are just my thoughts. What do you OPM’s think?
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Spring: Chem1 + College Algebra
Summer A: Bio1
Summer B: Chem2
Summer C: Calculus
Fall: Bio2 + Org1 + Phy1
Spring: Org2 + Phy1 + MCAT
Seems reasonable. The only concern I would have is burnout, as your proposed summer and fall are pretty intense. I don’t know how summer courses are scheduled at your school, but I’m willing to bet that they cram an awful lot of material in each session. You could possibly push calculus back to Spring.
I can’t say much about the 12 month masters program other than don’t do it unless you really have an interest in it. It’s debatable how much it will increase your status in the adcom’s eyes (especially as you won’t be that far into it if you apply early in the game), unless you need those grades to make up for a poor GPA. Depending on your EC’s (health care experience and/or community service), you may be better off working on that area.
My 2 cents -
Amy
Since you’re applying during that glide year, your participation in the special Master’s program is actually not going to have much of an impact on your application - if you do the usual timetable for your application, you’ll be applying even as you start those classes. So I am not sure it would really be that beneficial to your application.
Of course if you are concerned that you’ve got an application that’s really borderline, doing such a program during the glide year buys you a good bit of insurance toward a second application if you are concerned that you may need to do that.
Your schedule looks a lot like what I did for my a la carte post-bacc (good term!) except I didn’t do Calculus. I think the progression of classes is just fine. I did physics, o-chem and MCAT all in my last spring semester, too - just remember, put your classwork first! You can always decide to postpone the MCAT (or if absolutely necessary, take it again) but those grades last forever. The way I approached it was, I put my best effort into classwork figuring that if I did really well in the subjects, surely that counted as MCAT prep to some degree. It worked for me.
Sorry for the stream-of-consciousness advice, hope it makes sense!
Mary
Amy brings up a good point. I was a corpsman in the Navy for 10 years…the last 4 working on rejection in renal transplantation. However, by the time I apply to school I will be 7 years removed from that research as well as health care experience. So in my views to prove to the adcoms my desire to be a doctor I would need some current medical experience…is this correct?
I’m looking at regular volunteer oppurtunities such as Habitat for Humanity and perhaps even a auxiliary/reserve police officer…not sure about that last one as far as time involved. Anyhow what are the thoughts on how current one’s health care experience must be?
No apologies necessary. I’m glad I’m on the right track…basically just looked up as many formal post-bacc programs and noticed the typical schedule. The school I was applying to wanted something like this:
Summer A: Bio1 + Chem1 + College Algebra
Summer B: Bio2 + Chem2 + Calculus
Fall: Orgo1 + Phy1
Spring: Orgo2 + Phy2
How crucial is taking the calculus for the MCAT? I’m thinking that perhaps I’ll wait and take the math after the MCAT…not sure…
I’m thinking about the SMP after the Fall term. This will give me a gauge of whether or not I might need it. What would you recommend for the glide year?
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How crucial is taking the calculus for the MCAT? I’m thinking that perhaps I’ll wait and take the math after the MCAT…not sure…
I’ll let someone more knowledgable than I answer your questions about how recent your healthcare experience should be. However, you absolutely do NOT need calculus for the MCAT. You are not even allowed to use a calculator for it. A good foundation in Algebra and some basic trig should get you all the math you need. I only took calculus because some schools require it as a pre-req.
I think some of the current MS-I’s have mentioned classes that they have found very helpful in medical school or wish they had taken. I can’t think of specific posts, but I know Biochemistry, genetics, and embryology have all been mentioned as classes they were glad they took or wished they had.
Amy
I don’t think the health care experience has to be recent. The point of the experience is that “you know what you’re getting into.” Schools don’t want people who just have a starry-eyed idealistic view of medicine developed from watching a lot of doctor shows on TV… or who are being pushed into medicine by Doctor Mom or Doctor Dad.
My own direct patient-care experience was really decrepit by the time I applied. I don’t think it made a difference.
Mary
So I could spend my time doing other volunteer stuff or perhaps even working somewhere part-time? I’ve been exposed to the basics of medicine with emergency medicine, primary care, immunology, surgery, transplant, research, field medicine and medical politics. I just didn’t want to have to take the class load and then on top of that have to worry about recent medical experience. I would like to shadow a couple of docs before applying, mostly to get a better idea of certain fields. For me emergency medicine is where it’s at…I just hope the clinical rotation is at a place where EM is what I’ve experienced and not just the gatekeeper for the hospital.
Any other thoughts on the calculus for the MCAT?
There is NO calculus in the MCAT period. Some schools “may” require Calculus but not MOST of them…just fyi. The physics on the MCAT is trig based NOT calc based…