New poster, questions about online courses

[mistiza]

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Before I start, here's a little information on me:

2nd Time Reapplicant
UCLA College Graduate
GPA: 3.63 (Cumulative) 3.38 (Science)
Major: Psychobiology

It seems a bunch of the schools I applied to the first time around had a problem with my lack of upper division biology courses (I had upper division psychology, cognitive science, and psychobiology courses as part of my major instead). Besides that, I really want to boost my science GPA as much as possible this year anyway.

Due to my moving back to Northern California, a delayed meeting with an advisor, and other circumstances now out of my control, I have missed the deadlines for enrolling in classes for Fall 2005. My option now is to enroll in online courses at UC Berkeley Extension while waiting on starting at San Francisco State in Spring 2006.

Here are my questions:
1. Is there anybody here who has taken an online course in the sciences? What were your experiences?
2. I am considering taking Immunology and upper division Genetics at the same time. Is this too much a work load for a first-time online student?

My other option would be to take only one class and dedicate a helluva lot of time to an early start on the MCAT and new volunteer experiences.

Thanks for any help on this topic. 🙂

 

[PhDtoDO]

Hey,

I think your questions are pretty specific but I would have to say that the med schools might not know that if was online or care. I say go for it. My best friend got her masters online and even though I didn't, you can get my masters online too (at Tulane School of Public Health).

Many med schools aren't so concerned about this upperlevel science experience since you don't even have to be a science major. I think bringing up your science GPA as a science major is the bigger thing.

As for taking classes and studying for the MCAT...how much you can handle is up to you.

It sounds like you're on the right track.

Just my opinion,

Good Luck!

-s

Before I start, here's a little information on me:

2nd Time Reapplicant
UCLA College Graduate
GPA: 3.63 (Cumulative) 3.38 (Science)
Major: Psychobiology

It seems a bunch of the schools I applied to the first time around had a problem with my lack of upper division biology courses (I had upper division psychology, cognitive science, and psychobiology courses as part of my major instead). Besides that, I really want to boost my science GPA as much as possible this year anyway.

Due to my moving back to Northern California, a delayed meeting with an advisor, and other circumstances now out of my control, I have missed the deadlines for enrolling in classes for Fall 2005. My option now is to enroll in online courses at UC Berkeley Extension while waiting on starting at San Francisco State in Spring 2006.

Here are my questions:
1. Is there anybody here who has taken an online course in the sciences? What were your experiences?
2. I am considering taking Immunology and upper division Genetics at the same time. Is this too much a work load for a first-time online student?

My other option would be to take only one class and dedicate a helluva lot of time to an early start on the MCAT and new volunteer experiences.

Thanks for any help on this topic. 🙂

 

[remo]

I would be very leary of any online courses - especially upper level science ones like genetics. Many schools won't accept them. They want to make sure you took an important course like that in a classroom. I recently asked UC Davis about taking an online English course to fulfill their requirement and they said they would not accept it. You might be able to fake it and hope the transcript looks like a classroom course but it might not be worth the gamble. You should check with the schools you plan on applying to and see what their policy is with online courses.