Meeting prerecs for non-traditional students

[ceb2022]

I am planning to apply to joint PhD-MD programs in the next year. I have completed most of the traditional prerequisite courses, but not all. Several schools acknowledge that applicants can complete prerequisite competencies by means outside of the traditional undergraduate coursework, such as interdisciplinary courses that emphasize biological and chemical competencies, or completing bench research with advisors.

My background: I studied nutrition science and became a registered dietitian. I then completed my masters and became a physician assistant. My cumulative GPA and science GPA is around 3.96 for both undergrad and grad school. I will have to take the MCAT and retake my GRE since it is out of date, but for my previous GRE I scored around the 90th percentile in all sections. I think in many ways I will be a competitive applicant. However, I am trying to decide if I need to complete a few undergraduate courses (during the pandemic) to assure myself that I have met the prereqs, or if I have demonstrated mastery of the basic science competencies through my graduate courses.

The courses I technically have not completed are the second semester of biology with lab and the second semester of inorganic chemistry with lab. I feel like my graduate courses as a PA have well-covered the biology competencies, but I am not sure if admissions committees will see it this way. I am not sure if I have technically met the inorganic chemistry competencies, either.

Has anyone been accepted into MD or MD/PhD programs without the traditional prereqs? If so, how did you demonstrate these competencies? I could simply try to complete these two courses, but I don't know how I will complete lab work during the pandemic, and I also would like to focus more of my time on MCAT prep and COVID-related volunteer work.

Any advice is appreciated!

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[dnyal]

You said it yourself: several schools, but not all of them. In Florida, ALL schools require that the prerequisites are met as they are stated. They are the minimum requirements and some FL med schools even specify that ALL coursework needs to be completed within a bachelor's program. There is no mention to completing them outside the traditional route. I live in Florida, so I have researched this a lot and emailed the schools directly, as I am also an non-trad with a foreign bachelor's that did not transfer to the US. In my case, they told me that my option was solely to get an American bachelor's.

From all I have read on these forums and from news articles where they interview ad comes, being a non-trad can be a two edge sword: It can work for you or against you, depending on what each specific school is looking for. What I am doing is then not limiting myself to a certain subset of schools that I "like," but to get into any school. It seems to be very competitive and tough (and sometimes straight random) to become a doctor in America, and if that is what you really want, it should not matter the school you get into. Accreditation is so rigorous here that differences between medical schools is pretty much like comparing which Ferrari goes faster when all the cars you have are Ferraris.

If you agree with me, then what I would advise you to do is to become as "generally qualified" as possible. That is, you should strive to be able to meet the requisites of almost any school that you apply into, looking to increase your chances of an interview and acceptance that way. That would mean having all the regular prerequisites the way they want them. You don't want to be in a position where an admissions officer chooses someone else with similar qualifications over you because they did take their bio courses in undergrad.

I am actually gonna start bio this fall and, no, I won't postpone it until after the pandemic because I am too old already and can't wait any longer. Our labs will be online with Labster and videos from our professor. I have read statements on many medical schools' websites that they will be accepting online courses for the semesters in which the national emergency was in effect (starting Spring 2020).