How many classes is enough?

[jimkat]

I'm doing an informal post-bacc because I've been out of school 10 years. I had to finish a few pre-reqs and also take some additional classes to get back in the game. So far I have taken: OChem (2 quarters), Gen Bio (1 quarter), Genetics (1 quarter), Biochem (1 quarter) and Physics 2 (1 semester). Once I take a physics lab and an ochem lab I will be done with all pre-reqs (the rest were done as an undergrad). My question is how many more classes should I take to finish this post-bacc? I will probably take a quarter each of Mol Bio and Cell Bio but at $600/class I don't want to take more than I need to.

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[riceman04]

I'm doing an informal post-bacc because I've been out of school 10 years. I had to finish a few pre-reqs and also take some additional classes to get back in the game. So far I have taken: OChem (2 quarters), Gen Bio (1 quarter), Genetics (1 quarter), Biochem (1 quarter) and Physics 2 (1 semester). Once I take a physics lab and an ochem lab I will be done with all pre-reqs (the rest were done as an undergrad). My question is how many more classes should I take to finish this post-bacc? I will probably take a quarter each of Mol Bio and Cell Bio but at $600/class I don't want to take more than I need to.

I think it depends on how well you have done in your classes! If you have done well dont worry so much about taking all the extra upper level bio courses. Just take a few like cell bio, genetics, and biochem. If you had to choose between upper level courses to take I would first take biochem b/c more and more schools are beginning to make it a requirement instead of just a recommendation.
Good luck!

 

[kimmi]

I have been out of my undergrad for several years and had to come back to finish out pre-req's for med school. I will have 49 hours finished in December and over a 3.7 GPA. How do the med schools view these hours? Do they look more seriously at what I have done over that last two and half years or do they look at the student I was over 10 years ago?

 

[N1DERL&]

What a coincidence! I just asked an advisor that same question! He told me that schools will like to see a collective upward trend, look closely at your recent coursework, but will not ignore your past completely. I think if your recent coursework has been strong you are in a better position.

No straightforward answer... darn it!

 

[Law2Doc]

I have been out of my undergrad for several years and had to come back to finish out pre-req's for med school. I will have 49 hours finished in December and over a 3.7 GPA. How do the med schools view these hours? Do they look more seriously at what I have done over that last two and half years or do they look at the student I was over 10 years ago?

I agree with the prior poster - schools look at all undergrad schooling, like to see upward trends, and consider it important that you have had recent success in the sciences. If you have a 3.7 cum, and did well in the prereqs recently, you are fine -- a good MCAT score and some decent ECs and LORs will put you in contention for some decent schools.