Are Basic Classes Good Enough?

[Iain]

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I have a Bsc (Hons) in Business, and am planning on enrolling in the non-degree program at Oregon State to fulfil my medical school requirements. I will only be able to take 8 credits at a time, which is fine for me as I am planning on taking 3 years to do this, mainly as I have to pay my own way.

This afternoon I sat down to make a plan of action on how I was planning on doing this and some questions have been raised which I feel you guys would probably be the best bet to get a straight answer.

I currently have none of the requirements so I will be starting from square 1! The Biology class, and Chemistry class I was looking into were the bog-standard basic class. Do these meet the pre-requisites for admission into medical school? It seems that people here are taking much more advanced classes. I just want to understand if my application will be laughed at when it has Biology 101 on there.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[Asclepius]

It depends on what you mean by basic...most universities have atleast two levels of 1st year science classes: those for majors and pre-med/engineer types and a lower level course required for education majors, nursing students. Sometimes there is an even lower level course for linebackers, etc.

The best thing to do is call the pre-med advisorat the school where you're taking these classes and ask him/her what you should take. Generally speaking, however, you should attend the courses that are required for majors.

 

[Brewster]

Here are the science/premed classes I took:
Biology - Intro Bio (101/102), Genetics, Physiology
Chemistry - General Chem (two semesters), Orgo (two semesters), several upper level chem classes for my chem major
Math - Multivariable calc, statistics, two upper level math classes
Physics - Intro physics (two semesters)
English - American Lit, Arthurian Lit

No one laughed at them and I was accepted.

I think as long as you fulfill the requirements (2 bio, 4 chem, etc), it is ok to take the basics. No one can reasonably expect you to jump into upper level classes without the background. That being said, it might not be a bad idea to take some upper level classes eventually.

 

[Iain]

Thanks for your help, I will speak to the pre-med advisor. I might have a year off for MCAT scheduling, which could allow me to take something slightly more advance.

 

[LoneCoyote]

Iain,

I definitely second the advice of speaking to an advisor. I am also doing post-bac at a big state school and I have seen a bunch of people get messed up and take the wrong classes when they just tried to register for stuff on their own. Also don't worry about just having the minimum. A friend of mine took the bare minimum, rocked the MCAT, and is having no troubles academically at one of the top med schools in the country. You may want to look at some of the schools you are interested in to see if they have extra requirements, like biochemistry, or molecular biology at USC. Good luck 🙂

 

[Wednesday]

Hey Iain,

You should be fine the basics. Remember, a lot of the people on this board have been tried and true premeds throughout their undergraduate career. When you major in something like biochem or bio or chemistry, you have to take some upper division classes. But to fulfill the basic requirements for most med schools, you just have to have the year of Bio, chem, ochem, English and physics (remember to take the labs). As someone else said, make sure you take the right intro class--the one for majors--but having bio 101/102 on your transcript should be okay.

Upper division classes can help with the MCAT and with med school once you get there. I think the two that have been the most helpful to me are biochem and physiology. As a post-bacc, you will have a lag year while you apply, and this is a good time to take some of these extra classes if you want. Any extra requirements for a specific school (USC's silly extra requirements were mentioned above) can also be completed then because they just want you to finish them before you start not necessarily before you apply.

Good luck, it's a long road you are starting out on.

 

[Iain]

Thank you for your help. I have almost completed jumping through the hoops to start this September (exciting stuff!), so as soon as I get the official acceptance, I will request the contact info for the pre-medical advisor, and proceed as advised from there.

Thank you again. Without SDN I would be not be as confident or as comfortable with my future plans.

 

[coredump]

See how your confidence holds up after you read some of the posts with the stats of people that were accepted/rejected. 🙂

I also know what you're going through - being a non-science major in undergrad, I was a bit lost on which classes to take in prep for the MCAT. I would highly recommend, in addition to the basics that the posters above have mentioned, Genetics and Physiology.

Good luck. And congrats on the decision to start the process - I think it's the hardest part. You'll be more confident in your decision as time goes on.