Hey Old Pre Meds!!! Please weigh in on a decision for me here…
I am now fully matriculated as a Biology Major, and went over my transcript audit yesterday. They have put me in class standing as a Junior.
However, they fully accepted my Biology I, and Biology II courses - which were taken over 30 years ago.
In terms of the MCAT, and being up to speed to take upper level courses, should I waive their acceptance of those two courses and retake both??
It would broaden the number of schools I could apply to, as many will not take credits that are 10 years old or older.
It would however set me back a little, and maybe make me a second semester Sophmore.
Would it count against me in terms of applications to retake a course? If they are THIS OLD???
Please weigh in before I make a decision on this!!
Thanks to you all!!!
Retake both. Aside from the fact that a lot has changed in 30 years, biology is one of those foundation courses you can’t compromise. Everything you do from here on will require a good understanding of the basic mechanisms of life. If you don’t know why a protein folds or how tRNA works or the function of mitochondria, etc. etc., it’s going to be a struggle to grasp concepts down the line. At our age (ahem!) it’s a lot easier to understand than memorize, so even with a setback you’ll be doing yourself a favor in the long run. Lots of “aha!” moments in Biology too…enjoy!
I retook it and didn’t regret it (my old course was 12 years old). I thankfully didn’t have to take the MCAT (thanks to my postbac’s linkage program), so can’t comment on how helpful it would be for that; but I can say that my postbac had a particularly strong (and tough) premed bio course that really made a difference in my first year of medical school – in addition to having freshly studied many of the topics, the bio course strengthened my ability to quickly learn a massive amount of details and how they fit into a larger system. The way I studied for bio is much more similar to how I study in med school than how I studied for orgo/physics/gen chem/calculus. But then, I didn’t take any upper level courses, which may do the same thing.
Is there an add/drop or “shopping” period at your school? Maybe sign up for the upper levels, go to the first class or two, and if it’s over your head, drop it and take the intro course.
- jmdmd Said:
This is an excellent, excellent point!
You should definitely retake the biology classes for all the reasons others have cited. You need to be up to date on biological topics to be prepared for both the MCAT and medical school. Good luck!
Cheers,
Liza
Plus a lot of schools are now upping their bio courses to fold in some biochem principles targeted to the MCAT. If yours is one of them, it can only help, in addition to the points already made.
Adding also:
if you look at an upper division physiology class, see if the materials are something you can easily grasp (meaning the terms are not entirely new - emphasis NOT entirely new)…
IF that course material does not seem like a stretch, you may be okay but …
I would retake them anyway…
Agree with all the above. However depending on what the lower level bio classes cover, you may get by taking only one or the other. At least for me, bio I was very generic level, macro bio ideas. My bio II course was where I was really introduced to the more intricate details of cell biology that were useful for the MCAT. Simple review of the bio I topics after being 11 years removed was enough (in my case).
Keep in mind the prereqs are typically 2 sem bio. It doesn’t specify bio I followed by bio II, at least not when I was applying. Your upper level bio should cover the prereqs and recency.
Thanks folks!!
Definitely going to retake!!