How do adcoms consider MCAT vs. old prerequisites?

[PodPeople]

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Can any of the adcom members here speak to how an applicant's MCAT score would influence your view of old prerequisite courses?

I'm non-trad, and my prerequisites are quite old - took them in undergrad, graduated in 2007. Completed a masters degree in 2015. Took the MCAT this year and got a 523.

I've contacted a lot of schools about the age of my prereq courses, and have received a lot of answers along the lines of "recency of prereqs is highly recommended, but not required." I'm curious if a strong MCAT score would allay most adcoms' concerns about very old prerequisites.

 

[bluepeony]

Can any of the adcom members here speak to how an applicant's MCAT score would influence your view of old prerequisite courses?

I'm non-trad, and my prerequisites are quite old - took them in undergrad, graduated in 2007. Completed a masters degree in 2015. Took the MCAT this year and got a 523.

I've contacted a lot of schools about the age of my prereq courses, and have received a lot of answers along the lines of "recency of prereqs is highly recommended, but not required." I'm curious if a strong MCAT score would allay most adcoms' concerns about very old prerequisites.

Off topic but curious to know why u decided to apply to med school 10+ years after finishing your prereqs?

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Congrats on great MCAT. Is this your first & only MCAT score?

 

[deleted972488]

Can any of the adcom members here speak to how an applicant's MCAT score would influence your view of old prerequisite courses?

I'm non-trad, and my prerequisites are quite old - took them in undergrad, graduated in 2007. Completed a masters degree in 2015. Took the MCAT this year and got a 523.

I've contacted a lot of schools about the age of my prereq courses, and have received a lot of answers along the lines of "recency of prereqs is highly recommended, but not required." I'm curious if a strong MCAT score would allay most adcoms' concerns about very old prerequisites.

I’m in a very similar situation. From what I understand, our old grades still matter.

 

[rune2h]

I am extremely interested in this discussion. At least three schools were taken off my school list for not accepting the age of my pre-reqs, but if there is a silent or soft requirement at more than that, I would be interested to know.

 

[Moko]

School dependent, but most do prefer to see recent coursework, e.g upper division science classes if you have already completed the pre-reqs many years ago. A strong MCAT is helpful, but does not completely address these concerns (much like how a strong MCAT does not fully make up for a consistently mediocre GPA).

 

[bluepeony]

School dependent, but most do prefer to see recent coursework, e.g upper division science classes if you have already completed the pre-reqs many years ago. A strong MCAT is helpful, but does not completely address these concerns (much like how a strong MCAT does not fully make up for a consistently mediocre GPA).

What would you define as a mediocre GPA?

 

[Moko]

What would you define as a mediocre GPA?

Depends on the school. As a general rule, anything less than the bottom 10th-25th percentile GPA for matriculants

 

[PodPeople]

Off topic but curious to know why u decided to apply to med school 10+ years after finishing your prereqs?

@bluepeony it's a pretty long story and involves a lot of personal details that I'd prefer not to post publicly. The short version is that it was always a profession I was considering, at one point very seriously. Life events got me off track, I did some research and industry work between then and now, and now I'm at a point where I can try again.

Congrats on great MCAT. Is this your first & only MCAT score?

@SterlingMaloryArcher thank you. Yes, this is my first and only MCAT score. Even just finally taking the MCAT felt great after all this time.

School dependent, but most do prefer to see recent coursework, e.g upper division science classes if you have already completed the pre-reqs many years ago. A strong MCAT is helpful, but does not completely address these concerns (much like how a strong MCAT does not fully make up for a consistently mediocre GPA).

@Moko thanks, that all makes sense. What I'm wrestling with is what I'd take if I took a couple new courses. I took the bulk of available upper division biology courses during undergrad, and have a related MS that I completed 4 years ago. There's not much I could take that wouldn't just be a retake of a course I already did well in. If that's what I need to do, I'll make it happen - just feels a little backwards, so I wondered what various adcom members might think.

This is the problem for old prereqs as well as all other factors. With 5000+ applications per individual school and perhaps 1000 interview slots at max, each school must reject/hold at least 80% of applicants pre-II. As such, a large part of admissions is a negative process. This means, by way of a weak physics analogy, a “positive” vector will have less impact than a “negative” vector.

Indeed, degree coursework, which is demonstrative of study discipline, exam taking, and other needed student skillsets, is a better indicator of longterm success than a single comprehensive exam such as MCAT. Many schools want to see recent academic achievement is degree is 5 years old or more.

Thanks @gonnif - appreciate your insight here. When I apply, my graduate degree will be just about exactly 5 years old, which I've let schools know when contacting them. It seems like a lot of schools, especially top tier ones, are moving toward required competencies and coursework recommendations instead of strict coursework requirements. I'm just trying to figure out where I stand and what my next steps should be.

 

[proudofmykids]

Assuming your undergrad GPA was at least 5

This is the problem for old prereqs as well as all other factors. With 5000+ applications per individual school and perhaps 1000 interview slots at max, each school must reject/hold at least 80% of applicants pre-II. As such, a large part of admissions is a negative process. This means, by way of a weak physics analogy, a “positive” vector will have less impact than a “negative” vector.

Indeed, degree coursework, which is demonstrative of study discipline, exam taking, and other needed student skillsets, is a better indicator of longterm success than a single comprehensive exam such as MCAT. Many schools want to see recent academic achievement is degree is 5 years old or more.

If the original poster’s undergraduate GPA was at least 50th percentile, and the more recent Master’ gpa as well; considering it is a recent MCAT the shows current mastery, why would age of a grade in physics, bio or chemistry prerequisite matter? It isn’t as if the content of those classes have changed, and the original poster has more current academic work via the Masters degree demonstrating the continued academic prowess. Wouldn’t professional experience only make them more well rounded and mature than worrying about the age of previously master prerequisite material, that was recently shown to still be current via MCAT score?

 

[Goro]

Can any of the adcom members here speak to how an applicant's MCAT score would influence your view of old prerequisite courses?

I'm non-trad, and my prerequisites are quite old - took them in undergrad, graduated in 2007. Completed a masters degree in 2015. Took the MCAT this year and got a 523.

I've contacted a lot of schools about the age of my prereq courses, and have received a lot of answers along the lines of "recency of prereqs is highly recommended, but not required." I'm curious if a strong MCAT score would allay most adcoms' concerns about very old prerequisites.

We don't look at single metrics, but the entire app. Some schools have an expiration date on the pre-reqs, and your near perfect MCAT will not waive those.

 

[proudofmykids]

Unlike what most applicants think, the knowledge of the content of coursework or mastery of the material for the MCAT is mostly irrelevant. It is the evidence of the underlying student skillset — study discipline, time management, multitasking, etc— to show that you the ability to be successful in the intense education program that is medical school. This is why major really doesnt matter. The general array of BCPM prereqs, is to both have a broad “standard” of science to see how students handle complex science-base course work as well as preparation for the the standardized MCAT exam. So the issue with old prereqs is you have no way to judge an applicant's current ability, their student skill set, in an academic setting.

Why would academic skill set change if mastery (GPA) was demonstrated 12 years ago? And wouldn’t the more recent Masters redemomstrate it?

 

[PodPeople]

Thank you for the additional explanations, @gonnif and @Goro .

This has been really helpful - I'll keep contacting schools, but start looking for a new upper level course or two to demonstrate current academic skills.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Dont forget shadowing, community service and other ECs necessary

 

[On_The_Way_Up]

I’m in a very similar situation. From what I understand, our old grades still matter.

lol but you have 13 interviews. Apparently they don't matter that much.

 

[deleted972488]

lol but you have 13 interviews. Apparently they don't matter that much.

They weren’t bad.