5 years or older pre-reqs not accepted

[jayashae]

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So I'll have my bachelors this spring and will work for 2 years as a research tech while finishing my pre-reqs to apply for pharm school. So dilemma is, a lot of my pre-req courses will be over 5 years old by that time (i.e., intro to bio and chem and their labs). Why do schools even do this? If I can nail the PCATs it obviously means I understand introductory bio and chem..

What are some schools that don't have the 5 year limit?

 

[AlPacino]

So I'll have my bachelors this spring and will work for 2 years as a research tech while finishing my pre-reqs to apply for pharm school. So dilemma is, a lot of my pre-req courses will be over 5 years old by that time (i.e., intro to bio and chem and their labs). Why do schools even do this? If I can nail the PCATs it obviously means I understand introductory bio and chem..

What are some schools that don't have the 5 year limit?

Only some schools enforce this stupid policy. Contact the schools you are planning to apply to individually and ask them. The ones I am applying to dont do this. I also dont understand the reasoning behind it if you get a good score on the PCAT.

 

[jayashae]

Only some schools enforce this stupid policy. Contact the schools you are planning to apply to individually and ask them. The ones I am applying to dont do this. I also dont understand the reasoning behind it if you get a good score on the PCAT.

thanks for the quick reply. I noticed after extensively studying the requirements of some schools to realize they will not accept courses taken 5 years or older. This is a pain because most of us took intro to bio and chem freshman year.. if I had to retake these at a 4 year institution it'll run me like another 4k+ and possibly another year... it's more understandable for upper division courses, but isn't the point of the PCAT to show that we have mastered the elementary concepts? T__T

oh well, gonna look elsewhere. Also Felix, could you pm me which schools you're applying to? I won't be applying for another 2 years haha

 

[y0ssarian87]

thanks for the quick reply. I noticed after extensively studying the requirements of some schools to realize they will not accept courses taken 5 years or older. This is a pain because most of us took intro to bio and chem freshman year.. if I had to retake these at a 4 year institution it'll run me like another 4k+ and possibly another year... it's more understandable for upper division courses, but isn't the point of the PCAT to show that we have mastered the elementary concepts? T__T

oh well, gonna look elsewhere. Also Felix, could you pm me which schools you're applying to? I won't be applying for another 2 years haha

Also, some schools will allow you to petition to waive those prereqs that you've already taken before but out of that timeframe. I did that this year, and everything I petitioned was accepted. The reason I petitioned is because I essentially took everything twice, once in high school for AP credit and again in college because my school didn't allow us to use AP credit for classes toward your major.

After college graduation I was working as a lab tech, so I wrote my petition by saying how I was using my knowledge from each of the classes in the lab. I said for Gen Chem, I frequently made EDTA solutions of various molarity and how solubility and pH played a role. I talked about electrolysis during gel electrophoresis. I talked about different statistical tests needed in calculating sample size which is critical to do for in vivo experiments since you have to minimize the sample size.

Anyway my point is that you can try to get out of that requirement. It's not like you don't know the material. Right? Find a way to show them! If they let you petition, that is.

Best of luck!

 

[jayashae]

Also, some schools will allow you to petition to waive those prereqs that you've already taken before but out of that timeframe. I did that this year, and everything I petitioned was accepted. The reason I petitioned is because I essentially took everything twice, once in high school for AP credit and again in college because my school didn't allow us to use AP credit for classes toward your major.

After college graduation I was working as a lab tech, so I wrote my petition by saying how I was using my knowledge from each of the classes in the lab. I said for Gen Chem, I frequently made EDTA solutions of various molarity and how solubility and pH played a role. I talked about electrolysis during gel electrophoresis. I talked about different statistical tests needed in calculating sample size which is critical to do for in vivo experiments since you have to minimize the sample size.

Anyway my point is that you can try to get out of that requirement. It's not like you don't know the material. Right? Find a way to show them! If they let you petition, that is.

Best of luck!

Oh that is so nice that they let you do that! I'll be working as a lab tech for 2 years as well, we'll see 😀

 

[Billy Madison]

My pre-reqs are over 10 years old. Just call if they don't specify on their admissions page. I did not apply to one school because they were up front about me not having a chance. Other schools did not mind, especially with a PCAT of 87. Just do your research on the schools you are considering, and get a good PCAT score.

 

[The Recoverer]

Pre reqs for uga do not expire