Choosing courses...

[SadieDoc]

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Hello all, I am a post-bacc student trying to figure out my best course of action. I am hoping you all can help me! I'm 30 years old and was hoping to apply for next cycle (for matriculation in August 2014), but as I am trying to reconcile some past not-so-great grades, I am wondering if it is in my best interest to take another year of post-bacc to boost my GPA and my potential MCAT score. My Bachelor's is in Music and I had a 3.5 GPA. Not bad combined with my post-bacc so far, BUT 12 years ago, I dropped out of a community college (a few F's and a few W's). Stupid, I know. I was immature and didn't know what I wanted to do. So although I have shown extreme improvement over the past 5 years, I still have to account for the "cinderblock" dragging down my Cumulative GPA.

Here's the breakdown: By the end of this summer, I will have done A&P (A), Gen Bio I (B+), Gen Chem I and II (B+ and A), Microbiology (A), Statistics (A) and College Algebra (A)

Fast-track plan would be:
Fall: Gen Bio II, Orgo I, Physics I, Pre-Cal
Spring: Orgo II, Physics II, possibly Calc (haven't decided if I want to take Calc or an upper level science instead)
April MCAT
Apply June for matriculation August of 2014.

Option B would be:
Fall and Spring the same
Summer: Genetics
Fall: BioChem, Physiology.
Early Spring MCAT
Apply June for matriculation August of 2015.


I am thrilled to have any and all feedback, if anyone thinks there are courses listed here that are unnecessary or courses that would be more helpful.


Thank you all for any and all advice!!🙂

 

[gcvfish]

When are you planning on taking ORG III?

I guess it kind of depends on what the rest of your application looks like.

Do you have a lot of your volunteer and clinical work under your belt as well as your LOR's and job shadowing taken care of? Depending on how much of the extracurriculars you have to do will depend on if you can apply for sooner or not.

 

[SadieDoc]

When are you planning on taking ORG III?

I guess it kind of depends on what the rest of your application looks like.

Do you have a lot of your volunteer and clinical work under your belt as well as your LOR's and job shadowing taken care of? Depending on how much of the extracurriculars you have to do will depend on if you can apply for sooner or not.

I was going to take Organic III over Christmas break 😉

Seriously though, to answer your question, by next June I should have 100+ volunteering hours and hopefully 50-100 hours shadowing (IM and EM so far, a clinic, and hopefully I can shadow another specialty). I should be able to get some good LOR's.

 

[gcvfish]

I was going to take Organic III over Christmas break 😉

Seriously though, to answer your question, by next June I should have 100+ volunteering hours and hopefully 50-100 hours shadowing (IM and EM so far, a clinic, and hopefully I can shadow another specialty). I should be able to get some good LOR's.

So your dilema... As your title says... 😳 is to take or not to take your genetics, biochemistry, etc....

That's a toughie.... It would look better on your app if you did have those courses, but why wait another year, if your app looks good without it?

Call the admissions offices of some of the schools you are wanting to attend and see what they have to say about it.