Hey DBC03!
I'm hijacking a little here, but your post caught my attention and concern. I've been following your story some on here and am in a roughly similar situation to yours (though my initial GPA damage was done by apathy, not Princeton, admittedly). All of my prereqs were completed over 10 years ago now, and a considerable number of them are 12+ year old AP credit. My post bacc is all upper div bio, but I'm not very far in making my school list as I'm still getting a sense of where my post bacc grades are going to end up. Would you mind sharing which schools wouldn't let you apply? How would you recommend avoiding being surprised by something like this? Was the information about this available in the MSAR or on the schools' websites, or would this have had to have been ascertained through a phone call to the admissions department?
No problem! I feel your pain - Mine was at least partially due to apathy only because, from one non-trad to another, I wasn't really gunning for med school. I just wasn't expecting to have THAT low of a GPA, right? So the two schools that immediately come to mind are UNC and Cornell. UNC requires that you have completed something like 30 credit hours in the prerequisite science classes they require within the past five years. And they have to be completed
PRIOR TO APPLICATION. Admittedly, THAT Was the killer. It was that I couldn't send my application in while completing some classes. And they required everything from physics on. Other schools, such as Johns Hopkins, request one recent upper level class to be required recently, but only require it in some subjects and don't require X number of credit hours. UNC also wouldn't accept the fact that I'm an engineer and have been actively using physics for eleven years in place of the physics requirement. Cornell is a little more lax in that they require certain classes within the past ten years, and you can finish those classes by January 30 of the year you are applying. But Cornell adds two writing intensive classes to their requirements, so that was what kept me from applying. I had just taken one writing intensive class over the summer and an additional class seemed like an incredible waste of $700 and my time this semester. If the time frame extended over the year, I might have been able to make it work. So those are the two most stringent requirements I have run into. Nearly every other school I have researched either has moved to competencies, or they don't have an expiration on prerequisite classes.
The only schools i'm intimately familiar with are the schools where I could apply - public schools in Florida, Virginia, California, and Colorado, and many many private schools. I'm unfamiliar with most others. When I first went back for my post-bac, my advisor recommended that I contact a few of the most stringent schools I could find and ask them about what I would need to take. Many top 20 schools are moving to competencies, so it's actually more difficult to find a stringent school than you'd think. I looked up Johns Hopkins and contacted their admissions department (Which still has requirements), and I looked up a few other places - Duke, Emory, Mayo, University of Florida. As I continued my research, I became comfortable with the idea that having at least two upper level Biology classes, four upper level chemistry (school are remarkably relaxed on chemistry requirements - every school I have contacted is willing to take AP Chemistry as long as I took four upper level chemistry classes and they don't seem to get too picky about them), two physics classes, two math classes, and two english or intensive writing classes, I would successfully fulfill most requirements. And then I knew that most schools allowed students to fulfill classes before matriculation, so I figured I could get any extra classes in after application. I Think that's why UNC and Cornell threw me off. One additional requirement that is difficult for some engineers and scientists to fulfill is the humanities requirements at some schools. I minored in architecture and took a TON of humanities classes, so that was very easy for me to fulfill. But I know some students had to take Emory and a few other schools off their lists.
As far as figuring what you have to take, here's what I did (take this with a grain of salt, but I do think it's the best way to apply): I used a throw-away school for my initial application, and sent my primary in within the first week of June. I ended up moving that month, so I didn't work on any applications. But once I started adding schools, I very carefully reviewed each school's website and the MSAR for their requirements before adding them and paying my $39. I highly recommend this because I have heard of too many students who added a ton of schools to their lists and then decided not to complete the secondary applications. That's a waste of money and time. So if you are unsure, I recommend getting a list of schools you may be interested in, and visit every single school's website. You'll find a lot have moved to competencies, and you won't have to worry about fulfilling specific classes. But take note of what each school requires and see if you match up.
If you are unsure, and you are a post-bac student who has been out of school for four or more years, here are the classes you should probably take if you want to fulfill EVERY school's requirements:
2 semester of Biology - General Bio if you don't have AP credit (I have found that most schools will take Cell Bio and Genetics as well as Physiology, Immunology, Microbiology, Developmental Bio, etc. I'd put Cell Bio first on the list and supplement. I took AP Bio, so I skipped General Biology.)
4 semesters of Chemistry + AP Chem - 2 of Organic and 2 of Biochem + AP chemistry will
suffice for every school I have contacted. No AP Chem? Take 5 Semesters total - 2 semesters of Gen Chem, 2 Semesters of Organic, and 1 Semester of Biochem
2 semesters of General Physics - I took mine with calculus, but I highly recommend against this. Take just regular pre-med physics. I am NOW taking Application of Physics to Medicine and Biology because my physics credits are too old for the two schools mentioned above.
Here are classes that are required at some schools as well, but they don't seem to expire:
2 semester of college level Math - Take a Stats class and something else - maybe Calc 1. I have yet to see a school that wants these to be recent, so don't retake unless you have no college math
2 semesters of English or intensive writing classes (varies by school - your best bet is to take two classes in your english or literature department to be safe)
18+ Credits Humanities - these don't expire, so just make sure you've taken a total of 18 credits
Here are the classes that are being added to some schools' lists:
1 semester Psychology - I've only seen that Rosy Franklin will be requiring this for next year's applicants.
1 semester Sociology - See above on Psych
I hope that helps! I was geographically limited in the application process by places where my husband could easily transfer, so I don't know about many schools up north. I do know about Chicago and NYC schools, but not, say, Michigan or Ohio, etc.
