Med School--plan of attack?

[ckl81]

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Hi All,
Thought I'd try to glean some advice from the informed group on SDN about building my case for medical school. I've been lurking for a few weeks now, doing some research, but I still have a lot to learn about the whole med application school process, and what makes a successful applicant. I'm a former computer scientist working in finance, and I've decided over the course of the past 2.5 years that finance is incredibly unfulfilling, and am seriously considering a career change to medicine. (I'm 26.)

Here is some background:
-Got my BS ('04) and Master of Eng ('05) in Comp Sci from MIT
[Note: MIT is pass/fail (although we have unofficial grades) for freshman year, and during that time I took a lot of my intro physics/chem/math classes, in which I got mostly B's. <--I didn't think anyone would ever see these grades! 🙁 ]
-Worked the past 2.5 years in Finance
-If you ignore the freshman P/F, I have a BCPM GPA of 4.0, but if you include the unofficial grades it drops to a 3.44. My overall undergraduate GPA is 3.7, and my graduate GPA is 4.0.

-From the looks of it, I still have to take another Chem class, Org. Chem 1 & 2, and a Bio course w/lab. If I take these classes and get A's my BCPM GPA will increase to 3.62 (by my rough calculations).

-I currently work 10 hours/day, no weekends.

-I have no clinical experience to speak of, and no real volunteer work yet, although I will begin volunteering at an apprentice teaching program the 1st week of March, where you develop a 13-week, 90-minute/week course about any topic of interest for inner-city kids. (Mine will be about personal finance.)

What should my timeline be for applying to medical school? I was thinking that I should envision myself as if I was in my second semester of my sophomore year in college, which makes me apply for acceptance to med school in 2010.

My plan is to begin taking those 4 required classes after work (maybe 1/semester) and start shadowing/getting clinical experience ASAP. I'm going to start studying for the MCAT immediately as well, and try to take it in August.

Does this plan make sense, or am I trying to cram it all in too tightly?
What would you guys recommend in terms of clinical/medically-related volunteering/shadowing? I want to check out a variety of areas so I can get an idea of what being a doctor is like, and maybe what field I want to focus on. What would I need to score on my MCAT to be considered a competitive applicant? Do I need a lot of ECs and volunteer experience to pump up my app? I'd like to just do things I'm interested in, but I'm not sure if quantity is more important...

I know I'm just at the starting line, but any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi All,
Thought I'd try to glean some advice from the informed group on SDN about building my case for medical school. I've been lurking for a few weeks now, doing some research, but I still have a lot to learn about the whole med application school process, and what makes a successful applicant. I'm a former computer scientist working in finance, and I've decided over the course of the past 2.5 years that finance is incredibly unfulfilling, and am seriously considering a career change to medicine. (I'm 26.)

Here is some background:
-Got my BS ('04) and Master of Eng ('05) in Comp Sci from MIT
[Note: MIT is pass/fail (although we have unofficial grades) for freshman year, and during that time I took a lot of my intro physics/chem/math classes, in which I got mostly B's. <--I didn't think anyone would ever see these grades! 🙁 ]
-Worked the past 2.5 years in Finance
-If you ignore the freshman P/F, I have a BCPM GPA of 4.0, but if you include the unofficial grades it drops to a 3.44. My overall undergraduate GPA is 3.7, and my graduate GPA is 4.0.

-From the looks of it, I still have to take another Chem class, Org. Chem 1 & 2, and a Bio course w/lab. If I take these classes and get A's my BCPM GPA will increase to 3.62 (by my rough calculations).

-I currently work 10 hours/day, no weekends.

-I have no clinical experience to speak of, and no real volunteer work yet, although I will begin volunteering at an apprentice teaching program the 1st week of March, where you develop a 13-week, 90-minute/week course about any topic of interest for inner-city kids. (Mine will be about personal finance.)

What should my timeline be for applying to medical school? I was thinking that I should envision myself as if I was in my second semester of my sophomore year in college, which makes me apply for acceptance to med school in 2010.

My plan is to begin taking those 4 required classes after work (maybe 1/semester) and start shadowing/getting clinical experience ASAP. I'm going to start studying for the MCAT immediately as well, and try to take it in August.

Does this plan make sense, or am I trying to cram it all in too tightly?
What would you guys recommend in terms of clinical/medically-related volunteering/shadowing? I want to check out a variety of areas so I can get an idea of what being a doctor is like, and maybe what field I want to focus on. What would I need to score on my MCAT to be considered a competitive applicant? Do I need a lot of ECs and volunteer experience to pump up my app? I'd like to just do things I'm interested in, but I'm not sure if quantity is more important...

I know I'm just at the starting line, but any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!

Your overall GPA is fine, just do well ("mostly A's") on the remaining prereqs. Your goal on the MCAT is to break 30 and you will be competitive (average for matriculants).

But you absolutely need to get some health related clinical exposure, not so much to "pump up your app" as you suggest, but to help you know if medicine is really for you. It's not a quantity vs quality issue -- it's a "know what you are getting yourself into" issue. You are looking at things the wrong way if you are just doing it because you think adcoms want XYZ. Medicine is not like TV, and without good exposure, you are likely assuming things about the field that probably aren't so. Finding your prior career "unfulfilling" is not an adequate reason to go into medicine, although it may be an adequate reason to change jobs to something else. But in fact, you are going to want to paint the opposite picture of your prior job when applying -- that it was a valuable experience that gave you some perspective and transferable skills (whatever they may be), and that it was a great experience for a whole host of reasons, just not the perfect fit for you. But then you need a really good reason as to why you are changing careers to medicine, and without having much clinical exposure you probably won't have one yet. Med schools are going to expect you to be better thought out if you are leaving one career to go back to school. The need for a good explanation for "why medicine?" is going to be increased as compared to those traditional students who always were interested in medicine, and aren't disrupting their existing careers and lives to do it. Med schools will want you to have mulled over the decision for some time, and decided that healthcare is the right field for you, not that your prior job isn't right for you. So you have to come up with a reason why medicine is right for you. And without good exposure to the field, that tends to be impossible, not just for a PS/adcom purpose, but for your own purpose. This is a field that will require you to devote a decade to training, and then likely an average of 60 hours a week for the remainder of your life. You'd better know ahead of time that it is right for you. I would do some hospital volunteering and start talking to recently minted doctors before launching down this path. And I say recently minted doctors rather than some old rich uncle or parent, because medicine has changed pretty significantly in the last couple of decades, and only the younger doctors can give you a realistic picture of what your career is likely to be like. Good luck, but I think you have some work ahead of you before you start worrying about things like MCAT and timeline.

 

[ckl81]

Thanks for the feedback, Law2Doc. I agree with you on many of these counts; I'm still attempting to figure out whether a career in medicine truly is the best fit for me. It seems the best way to do that is to shadow and talk with some doctors and see if medicine is really the path I want to go down. I've thought it over for the past few weeks, and have tried (unsuccessfully) to dissuade myself, by talking to a couple of 4th-year med students, and reading Med School Hell. Obviously I have a lot more work to do on that front. But I have been thinking seriously about switching to medicine for a few weeks, by really sitting down and trying to pin down what I want out of a career, and medicine seems to be the most appropriate intersection of my interests.


I really appreciate the advice, it's very helpful. What type of volunteer jobs are the most effective ways to learn more about what it's like being a doctor? I live near MGH, and when I check the volunteer website it seems like most of the jobs are for patient escorting and hospitality---is that going to be at all helpful? Any suggestions?

 

[Law2Doc]

by talking to a couple of 4th-year med students, and reading Med School Hell.

4th year students are a fine start, but you really want to talk to folks just finishing up or just out of residency -- those are the folks who can tell you the real deal as to what the life of a physician is currently like. 4th year is the cushiest of the med school years, and so you are likely catching people in a happier mood than they perhaps would be in earlier or later years.

In terms of volunteering, I think ED volunteering tends to allow folks to get a bit more patient and doctor interaction than some of the transport jobs you describe. If you are near MGH, you are also fairly close to at least 3 other major hospitals in the city, so I wouldn't limit yourself to just that one.

 

[ckl81]

Good bit of advice; I'll try talking to a few people who are finished up with residency...

Also, forgive my ignorance, but ED in this case means emergency dept, right? Just wanted confirm. I'll definitely check the other few hospitals to see what they have going on in terms of volunteer work as well.

Thanks again Law2Doc. I've been checking out the very informative thread for the engineer, as his situation is similar to mine, and seems to be getting more responses, so I appreciate the extra effort to respond here. 🙂

 

[Nasem]

well every medical school I talk with (MD or DO) always tell me that the basic pre-med sciences aren't exactly cutting it these days (due to the increase in medical applications over the past few years)... to be fully competitive, you need strong numbers (which you have), but also good performances at the upper division sciences (300 and 400 level), things like biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, anatomy, etc etc

On top of that, you need some EC work, and at least (in my opinion) 300+ volunteering hours doing something "for the community"

 

[Law2Doc]

well every medical school I talk with (MD or DO) always tell me that the basic pre-med sciences aren't exactly cutting it these days (due to the increase in medical applications over the past few years)... to be fully competitive, you need strong numbers (which you have), but also good performances at the upper division sciences (300 and 400 level), things like biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, anatomy, etc etc

On top of that, you need some EC work, and at least (in my opinion) 300+ volunteering hours doing something "for the community"

From my experience, there's no way this is true. An ever increasing number of nonsci majors and postbac folks get accepted each year, and these folks rarely have these courses (except biochem where required). Additionally, the numerous adcoms I spoke with when applying told me it absolutely wasn't necessary to take these courses unless the school specifically required them. If schools want folks to take more than the prereqs, they will make more things prereqs (as some schools have with biochem). They really don't expect the upper levels.

 

[lord_jeebus]

well every medical school I talk with (MD or DO) always tell me that the basic pre-med sciences aren't exactly cutting it these days (due to the increase in medical applications over the past few years)... to be fully competitive, you need strong numbers (which you have), but also good performances at the upper division sciences (300 and 400 level), things like biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, anatomy, etc etc

Not true at all. They can be useful to boost a low BCPM GPA. That's it.

 

[Nasem]

Thats not something I concluded or made up.... this was specifically told to me by many admission advisors from the medical schools itself.... Is it true? is it false? I have no idea, but everytime I speak with someone and tell them my situation, the first question they ask is "well how many upper level sciences have you taken so far?"

 

[lord_jeebus]

Thats not something I concluded or made up.... this was specifically told to me by many admission advisors from the medical schools itself.... Is it true? is it false? I have no idea, but everytime I speak with someone and tell them my situation, the first question they ask is "well how many upper level sciences have you taken so far?"

I'm on an admissions committee.

I suppose other adcoms may do things differently.

 

[Law2Doc]

Thats not something I concluded or made up.... this was specifically told to me by many admission advisors from the medical schools itself.... Is it true? is it false? I have no idea, but everytime I speak with someone and tell them my situation, the first question they ask is "well how many upper level sciences have you taken so far?"

All I can tell you is that others have gotten the exact opposite advice from adcoms. It's possible that your specific credentials are such that the prereqs are not going to be adequate to get the nod, but that certainly isn't the general rule. Make of it what you will.

 

[Nasem]

Umm, as far as my grades go, I have approx 3.1 (will be 3.2 when done with few more classes) overall with a 3.6+ science

I know my overall is low, but having them advice me to take on upper level sciences didn't make much sense to me either, since my science gpa isn't damaged at all..... but oh well, I have no choice, they are my instate schools and I value thier opinion

 

[Law2Doc]

Umm, as far as my grades go, I have approx 3.1 (will be 3.2 when done with few more classes) overall with a 3.6+ science

I know my overall is low, but having them advice me to take on upper level sciences didn't make much sense to me either, since my science gpa isn't damaged at all..... but oh well, I have no choice, they are my instate schools and I value thier opinion

Ah -- I think your extrapolating your own situation to one that doesn't apply. With a 3.1 GPA you do need to take more courses to up the GPA. In such case you need to take something, and if you've already taken the prereqs, it may be that upper levels are what's open to you. Med schools aren't going to be impressed if you start taking fluff courses to up the GPA. So upper levels will be how you need to dig yourself out of the GPA hole. So I absolutely agree that in YOUR situation this makes sense. But that doesn't really mean that med schools are looking for upper levels from folks without GPA issues. So no, I wouldn't recommend them for folks who don't need to rehabilitate their credentials.

 

[Nasem]

Ah -- I think your extrapolating your own situation to one that doesn't apply. With a 3.1 GPA you do need to take more courses to up the GPA. In such case you need to take something, and if you've already taken the prereqs, it may be that upper levels are what's open to you. Med schools aren't going to be impressed if you start taking fluff courses to up the GPA. So upper levels will be how you need to dig yourself out of the GPA hole. So I absolutely agree that in YOUR situation this makes sense. But that doesn't really mean that med schools are looking for upper levels from folks without GPA issues. So no, I wouldn't recommend them for folks who don't need to rehabilitate their credentials.

Well, my situation is a little different (low uGPA and all), but what your saying is still conflicting with what I am being told....

The admission office themselves are telling me that an applicant with a strong performance in the upper division sciences gives them a good indication of how well they are going to perform in thier medical school (theyr not talking about boasting up the GPA or Science GPA or anything of that sort)..... Again, I am not making any of this up, if someone doesn't believe me, contact all the medical schools in MI (except Univ of Mich) and they'll tell you the same thing

Another point..... Wayne state (MD), told me specifically (on the phone) AND when I went and spoke to them, that if you have a post-bacc of 20 credits or more of upper division sciences, they will ONLY look at the post-bacc GPA and not your undergrad GPA (again, this has nothing to do with how poor or strong your undergrad GPA was)..... How much truth is there in what theyr saying? I don't know, but they seem pretty firm on this idea

MSU (DO and MD), told me similar thing, except they told me that thier adcoms like to look at the whole application (undergrad & post-bacc), but if you show a strong upward trend in the post-bacc along with the upper division sciences, they are most likly to focus on it the most (again, this is NOT just for those who have a damanged undergrad GPA ~like myself)

 

[Luxian]

I think you will have good luck with this. I went to Caltech (also P/F first year) as an engineer, so it's been a bit of a switch getting over into premed. I got in with a relatively low GPA (3.1) but I did have a Masters with a good GPA. I think that doing the post-bacc classes and performing well should do the same for you.

The one thing I would change if I were to do it over again is to get some clinical exposure. This was mentioned again and again in the interview process. I think if you get some volunteering in, perform well on the MCAT, and do well in your post-bacc classes, you should have no problem getting into a good school!

 

[HanginInThere]

really appreciate the advice, it's very helpful. What type of volunteer jobs are the most effective ways to learn more about what it's like being a doctor? I live near MGH, and when I check the volunteer website it seems like most of the jobs are for patient escorting and hospitality---is that going to be at all helpful? Any suggestions?

I found that my hospital volunteer work was good for getting exposure to hospital life in general, for verifying (for myself) that I really did want to spend my time working with sick people, and for demonstrating (for the adcoms) my ongoing commitment to the process. This is all important stuff, but it's not the whole picture. What it didn't especially do was show me what it's like being a doctor - because most of my time was spent with the nurses, patients, and hospital staff, and not with the doctors.

To learn about what it's like to be a doctor, keep doing what you're already planning: talk to med students, talk to young and old docs, read books, and do some shadowing. I only ended up formally shadowing two doctors, for one day each. It was enough for me to check that my image of how doctors spend their time seemed right, but I'd recommend doing more if possible. (I've gotten the acceptences I was after, but my guess is that this was one of the weaker aspects of my application.)

For hospital experience, you might want to check out the premed volunteer program at Brigham & Women's. It requires some time in transport/hospitality volunteering first, but then you get to move on to other departments. I did it for a couple of years and spent time in both the NICU and the ED. (Yes, the ED is the Emergency Department.) I'd definitely recommend the program. I don't know what the other hospitals around offer.

If you're having trouble finding doctors to shadow, ask your med student friends for contacts, talk to your own PCP, or go through whatever alumni directories/services MIT offers.

Good luck!

 

[HanginInThere]

Well, my situation is a little different (low uGPA and all), but what your saying is still conflicting with what I am being told....

The admission office themselves are telling me that an applicant with a strong performance in the upper division sciences gives them a good indication of how well they are going to perform in thier medical school (theyr not talking about boasting up the GPA or Science GPA or anything of that sort)..... Again, I am not making any of this up, if someone doesn't believe me, contact all the medical schools in MI (except Univ of Mich) and they'll tell you the same thing

I'll take your word that admissions offices told you that, but as other people are pointing out it definitely isn't the standard advice.

My own anecdotal experience: A CS undergrad degree, the 4 premed science years taken postbac, and one semester of biochem. No other upper-level science classes. Average GPA, strong MCAT. Lots of interviews, multiple acceptances, and no interviewers ever challenging me to demonstrate that I'd be able to perform well in med school.

 

[TarHeel55]

For hospital experience, you might want to check out the premed volunteer program at Brigham & Women's. It requires some time in transport/hospitality volunteering first, but then you get to move on to other departments. I did it for a couple of years and spent time in both the NICU and the ED. (Yes, the ED is the Emergency Department.) I'd definitely recommend the program.

I'll second HanginInThere's recommendation if you are looking for a volunteer program in the Boston area. After the transport/hospitality weeks, I spent a few months volunteering at a clinic for multiple sclerosis patients. I loved it... tons of one-on-one patient contact, awesome staff. The experience really helped me clarify my own interests and motivations regarding medicine. However, my impression is that some of the B&W departmental assignments provide a meaningful experience than others. I would try to get a sense for this from the volunteer coordinator and other volunteers if you do the program.

 

[HanginInThere]

What should my timeline be for applying to medical school? I was thinking that I should envision myself as if I was in my second semester of my sophomore year in college, which makes me apply for acceptance to med school in 2010.

My plan is to begin taking those 4 required classes after work (maybe 1/semester) and start shadowing/getting clinical experience ASAP. I'm going to start studying for the MCAT immediately as well, and try to take it in August.

Does this plan make sense, or am I trying to cram it all in too tightly?
What would you guys recommend in terms of clinical/medically-related volunteering/shadowing? I want to check out a variety of areas so I can get an idea of what being a doctor is like, and maybe what field I want to focus on. What would I need to score on my MCAT to be considered a competitive applicant? Do I need a lot of ECs and volunteer experience to pump up my app? I'd like to just do things I'm interested in, but I'm not sure if quantity is more important...

I know I'm just at the starting line, but any and all advice is appreciated, thanks!

You don't want to rush the process if it means not submitting the strongest application you can.

I wonder whether you'd be better off applying for 2011, rather than '10. That means you'd be submitting your application the spring/summer of 2010, rather than a year from now, so you'll have time to do all your prereqs before applying and take the MCAT AFTER you finish the prereqs.

Why do you want to take the MCAT in August, before you take the prereqs? The test depends on knowledge of phys/chem and bio/orgo, and while your background probably puts you in decent shape for the physical sciences section, it sounds like you'd pretty much need to learn all the bio sciences from scratch. Unless I'm missing something about your background and preparation, doing the MCAT early seems like a real mistake.

Where are you planning on taking your prereqs? I don't know the schedules for the other area schools, but I'd definitely recommend the Harvard Extension school for your situation. Classes are offered in the evenings, the instructors are very good, and the price is great. Check out the Harvard Extension thread in the postbac forum for lots of good information. But you're too late to take classes for this spring semester, so you might want to look around and see if there are other good options for this spring or summer.

In the meantime, keep exploring the volunteering/shadowing/talking/reading avenues. This will be a good start on things you need to do for your application, but more importantly it will give you more chances to figure out whether this is really the path you want to be on.

Again, good luck!

(Oh, and I'd also recommend picking up "Med School Confidential" or other books about the application process. They'll help you both evaluate whether you want to do this and formulate your application plan.)

 

[Nasem]

I'll take your word that admissions offices told you that, but as other people are pointing out it definitely isn't the standard advice.

My own anecdotal experience: A CS undergrad degree, the 4 premed science years taken postbac, and one semester of biochem. No other upper-level science classes. Average GPA, strong MCAT. Lots of interviews, multiple acceptances, and no interviewers ever challenging me to demonstrate that I'd be able to perform well in med school.

You have no idea how good that makes me feel lol, cause I am an CS major my self with a 3.01 undergrad (with post-bacc work of all the general / organic chemistries along with both biologies) goes up to 3.2ish

Its good to hear people were in the same spot as I am right now and they came on top

 

[CultureDoc]

Why do you want to take the MCAT in August, before you take the prereqs? The test depends on knowledge of phys/chem and bio/orgo, and while your background probably puts you in decent shape for the physical sciences section, it sounds like you'd pretty much need to learn all the bio sciences from scratch. Unless I'm missing something about your background and preparation, doing the MCAT early seems like a real mistake.

I absolutely second this advice . . . don't rush the MCAT!! There's no need. Get your pre-reqs done and take your time studying for the beast. It would be much better to get an excellent score a couple of years from now than to get a disappointing score in August and have to gear up to take it again.

 

[ckl81]

I think you will have good luck with this. I went to Caltech (also P/F first year) as an engineer, so it's been a bit of a switch getting over into premed. I got in with a relatively low GPA (3.1) but I did have a Masters with a good GPA. I think that doing the post-bacc classes and performing well should do the same for you.

The one thing I would change if I were to do it over again is to get some clinical exposure. This was mentioned again and again in the interview process. I think if you get some volunteering in, perform well on the MCAT, and do well in your post-bacc classes, you should have no problem getting into a good school!

I'm definitely going to try and get a lot of clinical exposure until I interview, not only because I think it's necessary to get some sort of feel for the profession and the day-to-day life, but also to maybe get an idea of what field I might want to focus in.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement!

 

[ckl81]

I found that my hospital volunteer work was good for getting exposure to hospital life in general, for verifying (for myself) that I really did want to spend my time working with sick people, and for demonstrating (for the adcoms) my ongoing commitment to the process. This is all important stuff, but it's not the whole picture. What it didn't especially do was show me what it's like being a doctor - because most of my time was spent with the nurses, patients, and hospital staff, and not with the doctors.

To learn about what it's like to be a doctor, keep doing what you're already planning: talk to med students, talk to young and old docs, read books, and do some shadowing. I only ended up formally shadowing two doctors, for one day each. It was enough for me to check that my image of how doctors spend their time seemed right, but I'd recommend doing more if possible. (I've gotten the acceptences I was after, but my guess is that this was one of the weaker aspects of my application.)

For hospital experience, you might want to check out the premed volunteer program at Brigham & Women's. It requires some time in transport/hospitality volunteering first, but then you get to move on to other departments. I did it for a couple of years and spent time in both the NICU and the ED. (Yes, the ED is the Emergency Department.) I'd definitely recommend the program. I don't know what the other hospitals around offer.

If you're having trouble finding doctors to shadow, ask your med student friends for contacts, talk to your own PCP, or go through whatever alumni directories/services MIT offers.

Good luck!

Thanks for the link to B&W's premed volunteer program, I was just looking at the normal volunteer stuff there, and didn't stumble across that particular program. Right now I have 2 doctors lined up to shadow, and possibly a third, all in drastically different areas, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for other opportunities. I recently moved to Boston, so I don't have a PCP, but maybe I'll set up an appointment and ask him/her about shadowing opps.

Thanks!

 

[ckl81]

You don't want to rush the process if it means not submitting the strongest application you can.

I wonder whether you'd be better off applying for 2011, rather than '10. That means you'd be submitting your application the spring/summer of 2010, rather than a year from now, so you'll have time to do all your prereqs before applying and take the MCAT AFTER you finish the prereqs.

Why do you want to take the MCAT in August, before you take the prereqs? The test depends on knowledge of phys/chem and bio/orgo, and while your background probably puts you in decent shape for the physical sciences section, it sounds like you'd pretty much need to learn all the bio sciences from scratch. Unless I'm missing something about your background and preparation, doing the MCAT early seems like a real mistake.

Where are you planning on taking your prereqs? I don't know the schedules for the other area schools, but I'd definitely recommend the Harvard Extension school for your situation. Classes are offered in the evenings, the instructors are very good, and the price is great. Check out the Harvard Extension thread in the postbac forum for lots of good information. But you're too late to take classes for this spring semester, so you might want to look around and see if there are other good options for this spring or summer.

In the meantime, keep exploring the volunteering/shadowing/talking/reading avenues. This will be a good start on things you need to do for your application, but more importantly it will give you more chances to figure out whether this is really the path you want to be on.

Again, good luck!

(Oh, and I'd also recommend picking up "Med School Confidential" or other books about the application process. They'll help you both evaluate whether you want to do this and formulate your application plan.)

Again, thanks for all the advice HanginInThere, in retrospect that definitely seems like rushing it. I guess I was so amped up to apply as soon as possible that I didn't think it through--it's great to have people on SDN give you a reality check.

I've looked into both Tufts and Harvard Extension; Tufts seems to be a cheaper deal for the summer but HE seems be cheaper during the regular fall/spring. I haven't heard much about the Tufts program, but I'll poke around on SDN and see what people had to say. I'm going to need a science faculty recommendation from one of my professors for these pre-reqs though, so I'm thinking it might be better in my case to take all the classes at the same school to try and establish some rapport with one or more professors.