NON traditional questions

[nmmdprospect]

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I am a college grad with a degree in physics, graduated 2 years ago. Ii want to attend medical school, but am really not into the idea of going back to undergrad school to get O-chem 1 and 2 done along with Bio-chem and 1 biology course. I have noticed some school such as KERN and Pennsylvania do not require specific coursework is there any other schools that are more lax on the course requiremnts?

 

[tryptamine]

O-chem and biochem are foundational subjects, and you'd really not be doing yourself any favors skipping them. I'm not familiar with schools that drop these basic requirements, but my assumption would be that they do that more to accommodate students who have taken alternatively named coursework that demonstrates they have this background already. Stepping into the MCAT without comfort and faciltiy in these subjects, let alone trying to tackle the first year of med school, seems something of a fool's errand, and I really doubt there are many reputable institutions that would let you set yourself up for failure like that.

 

[gyngyn]

There are plenty of schools without pre-req's:
Wake Forest
Vanderbilt
USC Keck
Stanford
Rush Medical College
Southern Illinois
Tulane
Albert Einstein
Hofstra
NYU
University of Cincinnati
Drexel
University of Pennsylvania
Sydney Kimmel
University of South Carolina (Charleston)
University of Virginia
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
Duke
East Tennessee State

That doesn't mean you shouldn't take them...

 

[nmmdprospect]

Ok thank you, I appreciate the quick response and nature of honesty. I have thought about taking them. and will consider it at least taking the Ochem 1 and 2 over the spring and summer.

 

[tryptamine]

Being a physics student, I think there's a reasonable chance you'll like o-chem, honestly. Once you get through learning the naming algorithms, it's a lot more based on pattern recognition and internalizing relationships-- you can build the whole subject up from a few basic concepts. As a chem major who was pretty frustrated with what seemed like the arbitrariness of a lot of gen chem, it was a good turning point for my interest in the subject.

Biochem is a bit more disorganized and memorization-intensive, but there's also a chance you could pick it up from MCAT study materials (e.g. Kaplan + AK Lectures) if you are generally a self-driven learner and are really opposed to taking the class. That said, it's a significant portion of two sections of the exam these days, so more extensive practice working and gaining familiarity in the problem space really can't hurt.

Good luck in your journey!

 

[Ad2b]

Ok thank you, I appreciate the quick response and nature of honesty. I have thought about taking them. and will consider it at least taking the Ochem 1 and 2 over the spring and summer.

I would take ochem 1 and biochem at a minimum. Biochem is more than rote memorization, or at least, it was for me. I drew a lot of pathways (metabolism, AA creation, beta-ox, gluconeo, etc etc etc), learned to graph enzymes, etc. Ochem II is typically carbo chem and you get a lot of that in biochem (at least our class did - the whole reaction to close sugar rings, or create AA's or whatever).

 

[nmmdprospect]

I think ill do that, I am going to pay to take Ochem 1 and BIOCHEM this sring and take Ochem 2 Summer term 1. Is it possible to take the MCAT before Ochem 2?

 

[Ad2b]

I think ill do that, I am going to pay to take Ochem 1 and BIOCHEM this sring and take Ochem 2 Summer term 1. Is it possible to take the MCAT before Ochem 2?

Many schools don't require ochem 2. You can get the MSAR to see which ones do or don't. I will never take it and didn't need it for the MCAT. And what little oc2 is on there you get in biochem or can learn. But you have time to figure that out. Typically, however, orgo 1 is required for biochem. At least in the schools I've attended. YMMV