I got an acceptance without all of the traditional prerequisites.

[deleted1109225]

That’s right. I did not take physics, half of organic chemistry, and a ton of labs. I applied to 16 MD programs, received 3 interviews, one rejection post-interview, one pending, and one acceptance.

My LM is 60, ORM, graduated undergrad 10 years ago at an institution ranked around #200, no SMP, no post-bacc, applied to schools that didn’t have hard requirements, made sure I mission-fit.

My point is, you’re non-traditional. You don’t have to take the traditional non-traditional route of SMP career changer or DIY post-bacc.

I hope this gives you hope.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[M&L]

Well … usually they expect you to finish all of The prereqs before you matriculate . If you don’t, they will take acceptance back

 

[Dral]

Yep, what M&L said. Let us know if your end game is to not take all of those before you matriculate and they still let you matriculate if it is a school that technically requires them. That would be interesting.

UNC's page for example:

General Requirements | Office of Admissions

Thank you for your interest in our program. The goal of the UNC School of Medicine is to produce outstanding physicians who are well-prepared to meet society’s rapidly evolving health care needs. Our Admissions Committee seeks to find students who will thrive in our rigorous educational setting...

www.med.unc.edu

Transcript Requirements for Accepted Applicants

Please note, all degree granting programs and required coursework must be successfully completed prior to matriculation. If you are accepted, your acceptance is contingent upon successful completion of all required coursework and degree granting programs from a regionally accredited college or university. All final official transcripts from all U.S. and Canadian institutions attended must be submitted to the Office of Admissions by July 1st of the matriculating year for verification that our prerequisites have been met and successfully completed, in addition to the coursework required for your degree granting programs. Please note, we will begin collecting final official transcripts, from accepted applicants, after January 1st of the matriculating year.



For MD schools out there that don't have the requirements for those courses to be completed before matriculation (I know there are a few that don't require physics for example), it might be helpful to share them to help out other non-trads. It's such a confusing landscape these days.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

That’s right. I did not take physics, half of organic chemistry, and a ton of labs. I applied to 16 MD programs, received 3 interviews, one rejection post-interview, one pending, and one acceptance.

My LM is 60, ORM, graduated undergrad 10 years ago at an institution ranked around #200, no SMP, no post-bacc, applied to schools that didn’t have hard requirements, made sure I mission-fit.

My point is, you’re non-traditional. You don’t have to take the traditional non-traditional route of SMP career changer or DIY post-bacc.

I hope this gives you hope.

Can you share more about how you went about doing this?

I applied to schools where they waived certain requirements for me as a nontraditional, but I still had to ask and go through a formal approval process for these exceptions. How did you handle it?

Congratulations on your acceptance.

 

[wysdoc]

"applied to schools that didn’t have hard requirements, made sure I mission-fit."

I'm guessing this quote was key in the application and choices of schools to apply to.
Not all schools have a hard list of courses you must take, but will look at more general competencies.
Congratulations, @airdnaxela

 

[deleted1109225]

Well … usually they expect you to finish all of The prereqs before you matriculate . If you don’t, they will take acceptance back

There are an increasing amount of schools (>20) that no longer have required coursework, but rather "preferred" or "suggested" or "recommended" coursework. So to your point, the expectation is that applicants have completed their undergraduate degrees at accredited universities and have proven competencies in science. It is unlikely my acceptance will be rescinded, at least not because of incompletion of non-required coursework.

For example:
Vanderbilt

Therefore, we have made the decision to move away from “requirements” to “recommendations.”

Duke

While the courses below are not required, the School of Medicine clinical and basic science faculty agree the courses denoted below would be helpful in your preparation for the MCAT and for the first year medical school curriculum.

Tulane

We have no prerequisites that are required, but in general you will need to have a solid background in the sciences, including: biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics.

Mayo

Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine does not require applicants to have taken any specific prerequisite courses. Successful candidates will have a strong background in the life sciences and social sciences as reflected in their MCAT score.

Can you share more about how you went about doing this?

I applied to schools where they waived certain requirements for me as a nontraditional, but I still had to ask and go through a formal approval process for these exceptions. How did you handle it?

Congratulations on your acceptance.

Thank you, thank you. I'm sending good vibes your way, fingers crossed.

Like @wysdoc mentioned, I made sure to take a very targeted approach building my school list which I believe is more important for non-traditional students (and seems to get looked over in general). I completed my application like I was applying to a job, or a very annoyingly agreeable date, I mirrored my application to be the applicant they wanted.

The unconventional approach starts here. My biggest concern was my undergraduate grades and proving I had scientific competencies, so I knew I had to have a decent MCAT score, my recommendation letters had to mention my penchant for science, and I had to lean into anything that could support my academic viability. I hired traditional students in their last semester before matriculating into medical school, spent less time/money than I would've if I had taken the courses, and paid them handsomely instead. My score isn't stellar, ~510, but I took it once. I'm not saying anyone should do this, I'm saying don't let, "If you don't, they will take acceptance back" discourage you from doing it the way they've misconceived is the only way. I appreciate all of the expert advice I've read online, but only you really know what your application needs.

Your unconventional approach is having these schools waive certain requirements, and putting it out there lets others know what's possible and other ways to approach the same goal.

 

[petomed]

There are an increasing amount of schools (>20) that no longer have required coursework, but rather "preferred" or "suggested" or "recommended" coursework. So to your point, the expectation is that applicants have completed their undergraduate degrees at accredited universities and have proven competencies in science. It is unlikely my acceptance with be rescinded, at least not because of incompletion of non-required coursework.

For example:
Vanderbilt

Duke

Tulane

Mayo



Thank you, thank you. I'm sending good vibes your way, fingers crossed.

Like @wysdoc mentioned, I made sure to take a very targeted approach building my school list which I believe is more important for non-traditional students (and seems to get looked over in general). I completed my application like I was applying to a job, or a very annoyingly agreeable date, I mirrored my application to be the applicant they wanted.

The unconventional approach starts here. My biggest concern was my undergraduate grades and proving I had scientific competencies, so I knew I had to have a decent MCAT score, my recommendation letters had to mention my penchant for science, and I had to lean into anything that could support my academic viability. I hired traditional students in their last semester before matriculating into medical school, spent less time/money than I would've if I had taken the courses, and paid them handsomely instead. My score isn't stellar, ~510, but I took it once. I'm not saying anyone should do this, I'm saying don't let, "If you don't, they will take acceptance back" discourage you from doing it the way they've misconceived is the only way. I appreciate all of the expert advice I've read online, but only you really know what your application needs.

Your unconventional approach is having these schools waive certain requirements, and putting it out there lets others know what's possible and other ways to approach the same goal.

It looks like you did the proper digging before applying and subsequently becoming accepted. Even so, I would give a call to the school you plan to attend and explicitly ask if your coursework is enough to fulfill matriculation requirements. A similar situation happened to me and I made that call to be sure. My case was kicked to one of the deans and I was followed up with an email stating that my coursework was evaluated and determined sufficient for matriculation.

I can't imagine anything worse than rescinding multiple A's for your top pick school, and then having that school tell you there was a pre-req evaluation mistake.

Don't let it happen to you.

Make the call and get documentation.

 

[deleted1109225]

It looks like you did the proper digging before applying and subsequently becoming accepted. Even so, I would give a call to the school you plan to attend and explicitly ask if your coursework is enough to fulfill matriculation requirements. A similar situation happened to me and I made that call to be sure. My case was kicked to one of the deans and I was followed up with an email stating that my coursework was evaluated and determined sufficient for matriculation.

I can't imagine anything worse than rescinding multiple A's for your top pick school, and then having that school tell you there was a pre-req evaluation mistake.

Don't let it happen to you.

Make the call and get documentation.

Agreed. Very helpful response, appreciate it. I think a good example of this is UNC, they require 30 hours of post-bacc science courses or a science degree. Exact requirements can be ambiguous.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thank you, thank you. I'm sending good vibes your way, fingers crossed.

Like @wysdoc mentioned, I made sure to take a very targeted approach building my school list which I believe is more important for non-traditional students (and seems to get looked over in general). I completed my application like I was applying to a job, or a very annoyingly agreeable date, I mirrored my application to be the applicant they wanted.

The unconventional approach starts here. My biggest concern was my undergraduate grades and proving I had scientific competencies, so I knew I had to have a decent MCAT score, my recommendation letters had to mention my penchant for science, and I had to lean into anything that could support my academic viability. I hired traditional students in their last semester before matriculating into medical school, spent less time/money than I would've if I had taken the courses, and paid them handsomely instead. My score isn't stellar, ~510, but I took it once. I'm not saying anyone should do this, I'm saying don't let, "If you don't, they will take acceptance back" discourage you from doing it the way they've misconceived is the only way. I appreciate all of the expert advice I've read online, but only you really know what your application needs.

Your unconventional approach is having these schools waive certain requirements, and putting it out there lets others know what's possible and other ways to approach the same goal.

No need to wish me luck, I applied 2 cycles ago. I’m halfway done with medical school now.

I asked because I remember the legwork I had to do to get those requirements waived, and I was curious how you personally went about it in your case, since your original post didn’t get into specifics. It sounds like you did a lot of research to know which schools would work with you and which ones wouldn’t.

As a general point for all nontraditionals who are requesting exceptions to a school’s published admissions requirements: I echo what others have said in that it’s critical to get any exceptions/waivers in writing! You never want to rely solely on the word of someone on a phone call.

 

[stinkycheeseperson]

As a general point for all nontraditionals who are requesting exceptions to a school’s published admissions requirements: I echo what others have said in that it’s critical to get any exceptions/waivers in writing! You never want to rely solely on the word of someone on a phone call.

and be polite!!!!! and do as much background/pre-work as you can-- no use asking for an exception at a school that will never ever grant one!

 

[Dral]

I'm saying don't let, "If you don't, they will take acceptance back" discourage you from doing it the way they've misconceived is the only way. I appreciate all of the expert advice I've read online, but only you really know what your application needs.

This is one of the most important concepts of this thread.

We love to hear about 'unconventional' approaches as these are typically very helpful. The intent of my post in this thread earlier on is to stress to others who may be reading that 'Yes, this can be done, but it takes the correct leg work'. I don't want someone to read this thread and develop the misconception that they can just skip 'pre-reqs' for a certain school and never do them. That's obviously not what OP did, but we don't want someone to get the idea that they can just skip pre-reqs in general and not do them for a certain school that requires them.

 

[deleted1109225]

This is one of the most important concepts of this thread.

We love to hear about 'unconventional' approaches as these are typically very helpful. The intent of my post in this thread earlier on is to stress to others who may be reading that 'Yes, this can be done, but it takes the correct leg work'. I don't want someone to read this thread and develop the misconception that they can just skip 'pre-reqs' for a certain school and never do them. That's obviously not what OP did, but we don't want someone to get the idea that they can just skip pre-reqs in general and not do them for a certain school that requires them.

Agreed. Reading back, I realized it might sound like I was taking/advocating for shortcuts, but it was more of a different way of addressing a weakness in my application that is common with many non-traditional students.

I still had thousands of hours of volunteering, research, and work with an additional 6 letters of recommendation.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I always push networking. This is one situation I'm glad it paid off.

 

[sundr]

Well … usually they expect you to finish all of The prereqs before you matriculate . If you don’t, they will take acceptance back

Hello, I was wondering in the case of someone completing their masters, can the offer of acceptance be rescinded if one receives a few C's on his/her transcript (possibly after remediating)? I have very strong reasons as to why I did poorly. Please PM for more details if you wish.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello, I was wondering in the case of someone completing their masters, can the offer of acceptance be rescinded if one receives a few C's on his/her transcript (possibly after remediating)? I have very strong reasons as to why I did poorly. Please PM for more details if you wish.

It's always possible. You need to keep the admissions office in the loop about this.

 

[GatsbysBatman]

Any updates OP? I also have not taken Physics (psych undergrad).

 

[Dr.Esq]

Curious the list of schools you applied to?

 

[Goro]

Any updates OP? I also have not taken Physics (psych undergrad).

Did you notice that the OP has deleted their account?

 

[GatsbysBatman]

Did you notice that the OP has deleted their account?

I guess I should take that as a sign to take physics II 😕

 

[chilly_md]

Please don't bump old threads, especially when the OP is no longer a user. Closing.