If a medical school lists a course as "required", does that mean before applying?

[efle]

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For example, JHopkins lists biochemistry as "required" rather than "recommended". I know in most cases the typically required courses (Chem Phys Bio Orgo) are covered before application cycle because they're tested by the MCAT, but I imagine a lot of people don't get around to taking BioChem until Senior Year.

So does their "required" label mean must be completed before you get here if offered admission (so one could apply post-Junior summer then take it as a Senior in semester) or does it mean don't bother applying unless you have already finished the course? Same question for schools which require Calc and don't accept AP Calc (such as UCLA). Can I still apply without Calc on my transcript and then take a course the following semester?

 

[Beargryllz]

No it does not

You can apply without having ever taken the MCAT or earned a B.S.

Do have it all done by the time school starts or they'll revoke your acceptance

 

[Doudline]

^To my knowledge, schools are not going to review your application if you haven't taken the MCAT.

 

[Osteoth]

No it does not

You can apply without having ever taken the MCAT or earned a B.S.

Do have it all done by the time school starts or they'll revoke your acceptance

Often times if the school likes you enough they will waive the requirement if it is a subsidiary one such as biochemistry or a second semester of English. Have known several people who did not have to complete these pre-requisites.

On the other hand, its always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Omppu27]

Usually it's by matriculation, but it varies by school.

 

[Beargryllz]

^To my knowledge, schools are not going to review your application if you haven't taken the MCAT.

To my knowledge, they do

 

[Abstractions]

To my knowledge, they do

While there may be an exception to the rule (Which I assume you're referring to out of experience), in general; schools do not review applications without an MCAT score.

 

[moisne]

They will send you secondaries sometimes, but you will not receive II without mcat.

Referring to original question - pre reqs should be done by matriculation. I called multiple schools before, that's what they all said.

 

[Law2Doc]

Often times if the school likes you enough they will waive the requirement if it is a subsidiary one such as biochemistry or a second semester of English. Have known several people who did not have to complete these pre-requisites.

On the other hand, its always better to be safe than sorry.

It's not "if they like you enough". It's if you have essentially taken the equivalent and we are talking about non-science non-prereq courses. For example, someone who was a Humanities major with extensive writing intensive course work might not be required to go back and take a course labeled "English". Other ancillary things like statistics might also fall into this category -- if you've had a data analysis course for business majors, this might be allowed to count even though it's not stats 101. Has nothing to do ith liking you. But no, biochem, if required, really wouldn't fit this bill, because its not only a science prereq for this school but also they are requiring it precisely because they intend to start their med school version of the biochem course at a Different launching off point than the school that doesn't require it or maybe jyst "recommends" it. It would put you at a big disadvantage being the only guy who didn't have it. (you wouldn't want to not have it under your belt even if it could be waived). So it's a totally different analysis then an English class.

However, as mentioned, you really need to complete the required coursework by matriculation, not application. Plenty of people have spent their summer before med school picking up that last biochem, English or statistics courses they found they were supposed to have. Ruins a summer, but schools are fine with this.