Course workload for non-trad student

[MedSchool Ed]

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I graduated with an accounting degree some years ago and even have a masters in taxation. I do not like this field and would like to work in science areas of my interest. Therefore, I am considering a medical degree.

My questions are as follows, I need to take the pre-med courses. I remember from college that med-school will look at how many courses you are taking to determine how difficult your course load was.

Since I decided only a week ago to get my pre-med classes it looks like I will only be able to take Chemistry with lab at my local college this semester. I wanted to take chemistry and biology but biology is closed and there seems to be no way that I can get myself into this course.

Will taking only 1 course a semester look weak on my med-school application? Is this OK, since I am almost 30 and have a full time job?

Should I try to take more courses per semester in the future?

 

[njbmd]

First of all, if you already have a bachelors degree and you obtained said degree as a full-time student, you don't need to "prove" that you can handle a full-time load. Second, if you are working full-time, you should not be taking a full-time load of college-level coursework. To load up on courses because you believe you need to "prove" something most often leads to either poor quality in the performance of your work responsibilities or poor quality in the performance of you academics.

Your success in entering medical school will depend on your overall uGPA performance and not on how much coursework you took while you were working full-time. Applicants who apply to medical school while in the workforce and after graduation from their first degree often make the mistake of trying to take a high number of hours in an attempt to impress an admissions committee. A high uGPA and excellent performance in your pre-medical coursework in impressive enough especially if you are working full-time.

If you are not employed full-time or if you are employed part time, you should still take only as many hours of coursework as you can complete with excellent results in terms of grades. Presenting a transcript with grades less than B+ and attempting to say that your performance suffered because you "had to work full-time" is not going to get you into medical school. Take only as many hours as you can comfortably complete with excellent results.

 

[J ROD]

Personally, I took 2 science classes with a lab while working. I think one more class would be doable without a lab.

Most important is grades.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Personally, I took 2 science classes with a lab while working. I think one more class would be doable without a lab.

Most important is grades.

Right now I am taking 3 science courses with labs (genetics, cell bio and physics I) and I am also self-studying to clep Chem 2 at the end of the semester while also working 37 hours / week and shadowing for 3 hours/week. ( I'm taking one day/week as a vacation day)

However, I work from home, so this makes the balance a lot easier. Both schools are close so I spend little time commuting and my wife takes care of all of the home-life stuff like making sure that I eat and have clean clothes to wear.

So far I am not doing badly on grades, although I did get a 89% on one test.

 

[MedSchool Ed]

Thanks everyone for posting. So.... both of you are taking 2 or 3 science classes.

njbmd, so I take from what you said that taking 1 course a semester won't be looked upon negatively since I already have a degree?

 

[njbmd]

Thanks everyone for posting. So.... both of you are taking 2 or 3 science classes.

njbmd, so I take from what you said that taking 1 course a semester won't be looked upon negatively since I already have a degree?

As long as you attended full-time when you received your degree, it won't matter if you take your pre-reqs part time especially if you are working full time. If it took you 10 years to get a bachelors degree, then you may face some questions about your ability to handle a full-time load.

 

[physicsguy]

This is a question I've been thinking about quite a bit, since I'm planning on starting my prereqs this spring. I'm in grad school, so I can take classes for free until I graduate (which won't be for three years). On the other hand, I don't want to take so many classes at a time that I get anything less than an A, and research is basically a full time job.

J Dub: if I may ask, what science classes did you take when you took two courses at a time? I'm wondering if some combinations are worse than others.

 

[J ROD]

This is a question I've been thinking about quite a bit, since I'm planning on starting my prereqs this spring. I'm in grad school, so I can take classes for free until I graduate (which won't be for three years). On the other hand, I don't want to take so many classes at a time that I get anything less than an A, and research is basically a full time job.

J Dub: if I may ask, what science classes did you take when you took two courses at a time? I'm wondering if some combinations are worse than others.

Well, for many, physics and ochem are the hardest prereqs so I would suggest working it out where those arent together. With that said, I did physics II and Ochem II together and still got As. The main thing is taking chem early so you can take ochem on time. I would also suggest taking some upper level bio if you can like biochem, physio. They will help on the MCAT.

Start with chem I and bio I and go from there.