do science classes ( pre-med) "expire" ??

[tater tot]

HI !!
i'm planning to start a post-bacc program to complete the pre-med req'mts and raise my gpa. technically i only need Orgo, but plan to stock up on more upper bio.
?? : some of my original pre-med req'mts will be up to 6 or 7 yrs old by the time i apply to med school. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" />
is there an "expiration" on these classes ? can i just take upper bio's?
ALSO-- will this effect my MCAT ability? or is it easy to re-study my ancient class work w/mcat prep
thanks so much !! :wink:

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[altaskier]

Never heard of grades on a class being too old to be considered. However, MCAT scores are a whole different deal. I think most schools don't take scores older than 2 years.

 

[Doctora Foxy]

I heard a rumor that for some schools, pre-req.s expire after 10 years.

As far as relearning ancient stuff, it all depends on the person.

Good luck, and welcome to SDN!

 

[spacecadet]

Hey Tater,

It all depends on the school. I have heard that some schools have a time limit on the courses, although none of the schools I applied to did. Some of my prereqs are 13 years old!

As far as the MCAT goes... I got everything I needed out of the Kaplan review class. If you're worried about getting it all, you can sign up for Kaplan in the fall (I think) and take it again in the spring for only a little bit more money. Someone in my review class did that. Doing practice stuff is much better review than taking classes - you'll figure out what you need to re-learn while you're studying.

Also, if you're interested, there is a board for non-trads at <a href="http://www.oldpremeds.net" target="_blank">OldPreMeds</a>. Check out the forum.

 

[tater tot]

everyone --- thanks a bunch !!!
That's a relief. I'd rather stick to upper-level and grad science classes... at least I'll feel like I'm moving forward !

Plus, I really didn't want to be the class dinosaur in the intro classes! <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" /> :wink:

 

[sandflea]

my understanding is that it's not so much that the prereq's 'expire'--it's just that if the grades are really old, adcoms want to see some kind of indication of what your current science coursework abilities are.