Post-bac online program

[gringolet]

I need to take some pre-med science classes online. I live in a very remote area. There is a community college somewhat nearby but I work 8-5 M-F and CANNOT leave to take the courses, which are held during the day. Plus they only have one section a semester, and it fills up instantly. It'll be years before I can get high enough on the waiting list to get into these courses. It's a very small, podunk community college. I think you need a bachelor's to teach there but that's it.

I can't move, either. My job is where it is and moving closer to a school is not an option. The closest four-year university (doesn't have night classes) is 126 mi away and mostly inaccessible in wintertime (roads are bad/insane snow).

Online courses are pretty much my only option. I have a BA and almost an MBA (I fly to complete this degree 1-2 weekends a month, weather permitting, and complete the rest online). I was thinking of doing it here: http://www.une.edu/com/online/

Thoughts?

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[drdan83]

I would do whatever I could to avoid any type of online course. I took one a few years back. You don't learn as much as in the classroom and I understand online work is looked down upon.

Maybe your situation might change in the near future to where you could attend class.

 

[DrMidlife]

If your undergrad record is squeaky clean, and you have no other choice, then do what you have to do. In this case I would figure out how to take at least a full classroom semester of a lot of hard science before you apply. Generally you have to demonstrate that you are likely to do well under the extremely heavy load of science in the first 2 years of med school, in addition to making the admissions committee want you to be a doctor more than the other 5000 applicants per school.

If your undergrad record is spotty, then online prereqs are a bad plan for two reasons. The first reason is that coming from a low GPA or red flags, you need to build credibility, and online coursework doesn't do that. The second reason is that you're not terribly likely to pull A's if you didn't before - the prereqs are likely the hardest classes you've ever taken (unless you're an engineering major etc).

You have to have 3-4 letters of recommendation from faculty, and some of these have to be from science profs. Online coursework could theoretically be a valid LOR scenario but I personally wouldn't try it. It looks like you're trying to pull something.

Best of luck to you.

 

[gringolet]

Thanks. If it makes any difference, I have a good undergrad and grad GPA, and I'm a medical writer (I write/develop CME for physicians).

I really don't have the option of attending classes in person anytime in the foreseeable future.

 

[music2doc]

Most medical schools simply will not accept online credits. Looking at the MSAR spreadsheet I have, only 13 will accept online credits without question, while 31 prefer traditional coursework but may accept some courses online on a case-by-case basis. The other 86 simply do not accept online coursework no matter the reason. You really would be best off finding some way to at least get into a hybrid course. Medical school is ridiculously competitive and taking courses online puts you at a major disadvantage. Keep in mind you've got to not only ace the classes but also ace the MCAT and that final hurdle before applying makes the toughest science courses seem like nothing. I'd recommend finding some way to get to a regular institution. Maybe one of the schools in your state offers weekend classes. You said you're a medical writer. Could you do this from somewhere else? Could you arrange to do some writing while away at the university?

 

[TriagePreMed]

I would venture to say 90% of schools will not accept your online credits. You'll pretty much be limited to a handful of MD schools and a few Osteopathic that accept UNE coursework. In addition, my understanding is UNE does NOT offer physics, so you will be stuck having to find that class. I recommend you look around for other community colleges offering classes. I know in my neck of the woods almost every school does NOT offer them at night, but there is one that offers O.Chem and one that's an hour drive that offers Physics.

 

[gringolet]

I live far away from any of those options. I can't find any school in my state that offers weekend classes (I live in Northern Lower Michigan). Can someone with experience with online classes please comment on this situation? I really don't see a practical way around it, outside of taking most of them online. I cannot quit my job or move until I get into med school - it's just not an option.

 

[DrMidlife]

Can someone with experience with online classes please comment on this situation?

I think what you want is commentary from somebody who got into med school doing it the way you want to do it. I haven't seen any such person in the 5 years I've been watching, but maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe you can get a med school to talk to you about it.

I cannot quit my job or move until I get into med school - it's just not an option.

I don't get what med school is going to give you that will allow you to move/quit, if moving/quitting are off the table now. If you spend a bunch of time foraging for info in the nontrad & postbac forums, you'll find case studies where people got the prereqs done in the midst of divorce, hostile wives/husbands, child custody agreements, mental health issues, bankruptcy, chronic illness, sick kids, homelessness, DUIs, you name it. Even if there's a police anklet on you, it won't be on you forever.

As I said before, you gotta do what you gotta do. So own it. Find out what med schools will or won't take online prereqs - buy an MSAR and visit med school web pages and make some phone calls. Do your homework. Don't let a bunch of anonymous & provincial premeds figure it out for you.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Law2Doc]

I live far away from any of those options... I cannot quit my job or move until I get into med school - it's just not an option.

you can't always find a convenient approach to med school. Sometimes you have to take big risks. A lot of us dumped lucrative jobs to knock off the prereqs faster. Sucks, but if you want something bad enough you can't always just take the "not an option" approach. See what places take online coursework. Many won't, and for sure won't for the required labs. Online may have more acceptance than it did a decade ago, but unless you are a soldier stationed overseas, adcoms will have big reservations about online coursework.

You may need to think this through for another year or two -- you aren't ready to pull the rip cord from your prior career

 

[TriagePreMed]

OP - If you come to the conclusion of being able to move, consider going here: http://www.integratedscienceprogram.com/ you can knock off your pre-reqs in less than 1 year. It's super intense, but it is doable.

If you are only willing to do online, contact as many schools as you can before you start this.

 

[wavewheel]

There are a whole bunch of organized postbac programs -- many of them quite reputable, with stellar admittance records -- that let you go from nothing to finishing all the prereqs in a year. They often start in the summer with general chemistry and continue with bio, ochem, and physics during the school year. If taking in-person classes is absolutely incompatible with your current job/living situation, I'd say the best thing to do is to spend the next year or so shadowing docs, doing medical volunteering, maybe getting an EMT -- basically anything you can do to a) beef up your resume and b) get more exposure to the day-to-day life of a doctor to decide whether it's right for you. Start saving money, too. Hopefully in a year you can move somewhere else and start taking prereqs in a condensed way.

 

[Law2Doc]

There are a whole bunch of organized postbac programs -- many of them quite reputable, with stellar admittance records -- that let you go from nothing to finishing all the prereqs in a year. They often start in the summer with general chemistry and continue with bio, ochem, and physics during the school year. If taking in-person classes is absolutely incompatible with your current job/living situation, I'd say the best thing to do is to spend the next year or so shadowing docs, doing medical volunteering, maybe getting an EMT -- basically anything you can do to a) beef up your resume and b) get more exposure to the day-to-day life of a doctor to decide whether it's right for you. Start saving money, too. Hopefully in a year you can move somewhere else and start taking prereqs in a condensed way.

Agree.

 

[gringolet]

I have considered a formal post-bac, and based on the comments here that's probably what I'll do. I have my NREMT-B cert and have worked in clinical settings, so I know this is for me. And I currently write CME. It's just a question of finding the best way to do it. Thanks for your input.