Is it too late for me?

[232816]

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I began taking post-bacc classes at a local college in 2001, shortly after graduating from college. I this part time, while working, and finished all my requirements about 3 1/2 to 4 years ago. In the meantime, different things came up in my personal life, which led me to push back the application process to the point where I gave up on the dream all together. Now I'm having second thoughts and I have a few questions.

1). Since so much time has elapsed since I took my post-bacc classes, will i need to retake any of them?

2). Will this refelct poorly on me that I wavered for so long?

I need honest advice. I would love to hear from a premed advisor or someone in that field, so feel free to pass this on if you know of anyone.

Thanks in advance

 

[njbmd]

Whether or not the gap is a liability depends on a few circumstances:

• What is your overall undergraduate GPA?
• Have you taken the MCAT(once) and scored competitively?
• What have you done in the meantime to keep competitive (assuming you were in the first place)?

If you anticipate applying next year (this year is over for the most part), then you may need fresh MCAT scores that are excellent, new LORs, a PS that accounts for the block of time away more than (I gave up) and depending on how competitive you were in the first place, new coursework that is excellent. If your previous work was excellent, then newer work may not be necessary.

Also, you need to consult with the schools that you anticipate applying to in order to see if they have an age limit on coursework. Some schools do have age limits but most don't.

 

[Bleurberry]

I began taking post-bacc classes at a local college in 2001, shortly after graduating from college. I this part time, while working, and finished all my requirements about 3 1/2 to 4 years ago. In the meantime, different things came up in my personal life, which led me to push back the application process to the point where I gave up on the dream all together. Now I'm having second thoughts and I have a few questions.

1). Since so much time has elapsed since I took my post-bacc classes, will i need to retake any of them?

2). Will this refelct poorly on me that I wavered for so long?

I need honest advice. I would love to hear from a premed advisor or someone in that field, so feel free to pass this on if you know of anyone.

Thanks in advance

If I understand your question...

No, once you take the classes, they're good for life. But your understanding of the material may be lacking since you haven't likely cracked a textbook on O-chem or Bio since then, right?
And you've got to take the MCAT's, right?

If I were you, and the obvious is that I'm not, if I met all the requirements to apply I'd take a thorough Kaplan MCAT course and pour through it until I was scoring in the 30's, and then apply.

I'm a Osteopathic Medicine proponent, and I don't think they'd hold it against you, but you have to describe in your statement how you've come to commit to medicine, and it sounds like you're still working out the kinks.
You also want to gain clinical experience, and shadow a doctor or two, and I recommend you do that before anything else.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

much of the thoughts above are opinions, tough (or at least counterproductive) to argue with them.

Only suggestion to add is that some schools, per adcomms I've spoken with, look for recent evidence of academic ability. Not to say this must be a dealbreaker, but it'd go a long way to take say, 2-4 advanced bio courses to prove that you can do well in them now. and some areas like genetics, cell biology, etc are subject to more focus on the mcat than in years past, so this could help you prepare more effectively for the mcat as well.

 

[dragonfly99]

Would take a prep course and try to ace the MCAT.
I think there are many schools that wouldn't think twice about 4 or 5 year old chemistry classes from an applicant with a 3.7 and 30+ MCAT, but if the person has a 3.3 GPA and 22 MCAT, that would be a lot different situation.
If you are worried schools might have "age limits" on course work, the best way to find out is telephone their admissions office and ask.