Question

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

I’m 32 and took all my premed prereqs about 10 years ago or more.


I’m planning to retake them (at a community college b/c of finances) in addition to some upper level classes at a more prestigious state school (GA Tech).


But my question is, do I have to (should I) retake the labs along with the basic premed prereq’s???


Taking the labs will make it much more difficult for me to juggle my work schedule with the coursework, etc.


Thanks


**copied from another thread so it would have a better chance of being answered.

2

Anika -


A good place to start would be by calling a few med school admissions offices (preferably ones you would be interested in attending). You may find that their answer will vary and you may have to make a decision about whether or not to retake the labs based on what the schools say and how important it is to you that you are a strong candidate for that school.


My sense is that as long as you had good grades in the labs the first time around, do well in the retakes and do well on the MCATS, you might be okay without retaking the labs. Maybe someone who has been in a similar situation can answer.



3

I’m in the same boat as you and I just retook the labs along with the classes. I have talked to some med school advisors and they want to see that you can still succeed in these science courses so my guess would be that you should. If the labs are seperate courses (they are at the college I attend), can you take them at a different time?

4
  • Anika Said:
I'm 32 and took all my premed prereqs about 10 years ago or more.

I'm planning to retake them (at a community college b/c of finances) in addition to some upper level classes at a more prestigious state school (GA Tech).

But my question is, do I have to (should I) retake the labs along with the basic premed prereq's???

Taking the labs will make it much more difficult for me to juggle my work schedule with the coursework, etc.

Thanks

**copied from another thread so it would have a better chance of being answered.



Anika;

That's a very good question & unfortunately, I don't have a good answer for you. I hate to be cliche, but I think calling a few med schools, esp if you have a couple in mind for the future, & asking. I suspect that you will find that different programs will give you different answers.

Another issue that you may confront - I certainly did - is the age of your coursework. Some programs place an explicit age limit on courses & others have implicit limits. Of course, no matter how old, or crappy, your grades are, they count 100% for your AMCAS & AACOMAS GPA calculations.


5

Thanks for the reply Yolanda, Emergency and Dave.


I am definitely going to call some Medical Schools this week and pose this question.


Yes, Yolanda, these labs are offered as separate courses so I will try to work them into my schedule at different times from the main courses if necessary…if I am told that I should retake them as well.


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Yes, I’ve decided to retake the prereq’s for that reason and also because I simply do not remember anything from them the first time around.


Dave and Emergency, you both have such encouraging personal stories. I’m so glad I found this site.