NONTRADITIONAL APPLICANT NEEDS ADVICE!

[adreh44]

When life throws you a curve ball... you become a nontraditional!!! I know I want to become a doctor. That's crystal clear but the path to becoming one is not as clear as I thought it would be Due to some unforeseen events, I have to change my plans and decided to pursue medicine here.

So here's a little bit info about me:
-Finished my degree (BS Medical Technology aka Clinical Lab Science/Medical Lab Science) outside US
-US citizen

When I moved back here, I started reading the requirements for the schools I'm interested in. I found out that I've almost taken all of them during my undergrad so I had my transcript evaluated and my gpa is 3.59 but oh boy I was so surprised to see my credits reduced!!! For example my general chemistry was reduced from 5 to 3, same with all other subjects I've taken. I had a total of 208 credits when I graduated and now it's only 129.5

After evaluation:
General Chemistry I - 3
Quantitative & Qualitative Chemistry - 2
Organic Chemistry - 3
Biochemistry - 3
General Biology - 2
Human Anatomy & Phsyiology - 3
Physics - 2
Cytogenetics - 1.5

1. Shoul I retake all these subject to meet the requirements for credits?
2. Can my quali and quanti chem replace gen chem 2 and also anatomy&physiology for gen bio 2?
3. Are there any more subs I should take?
4. Can I submit my application without retaking subjs and wait if the school would require me to retake it?

Right now I'm studying for MCAT this year and next year I'm planning to apply if everything goes well *fingers crossed*
I've had volunteer jobs and internship at hospital during my undergrad years and pretty active in & out of school but I'll probably try to get more experience here

Thank you so much for reading this (it's kind of long) and I appreciate all the advice I can get!

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[wholeheartedly]

you'll want to check specific requirements at individual websites but most want one to two years of courses or the pre reqs taken at a U.S. institution.

see the following examples and spend a good chunk of time reviewing different med school websites

https://case.edu/medicine/admissions/application-process/requirements/

case wants one year of advanced sci courses if undergrad was from outside U.S.

u of minnesota
basically requires credits to be at U.S. institution

u of maryland
http://medschool.umaryland.edu/admissions/appreq.asp

So most schools are wanting to see degrees or at least good chunk of science credits or pre reqs at a U.S. or Canadian institution.

 

[Law2Doc]

Agree with the above. Would also hold off preparing for the MCAT until you do because (a) it's only good for 3 years and if you end up taking a year or two of courses that can make things tight if you don't get in the first time and (b) whatever courses you need to take/retake might actually be useful in preparing for the mcat so silly to take the test first. This isn't a race and you need to get your ducks in a row before you pull the trigger, not rush off and take the mcat before you have all the required coursework.

 

[Traumweber]

Are these credits from a school considered to be "American" for all intents and purposes, such as American University in Lebanon?
If not, you have ZERO credit hours as far as AMCAS is concerned, which is both a good and bad thing because you have a clean slate and can keep a 4.0 gpa if you start taking classes at a U.S university. The bad thing is that you are essentially getting a second bachelors degree (many schools require 90+ U.S credit hours before matriculation. Classes can be from bachelors level or graduate school level to satisy the 90 hour requirement, but grad school GPA (if you do well) is not looked at for medical school applications...on the flip side, if you tank you grad school GPA that will raise a few eye brows I would think)

 

[adreh44]

you'll want to check specific requirements at individual websites but most want one to two years of courses or the pre reqs taken at a U.S. institution.

see the following examples and spend a good chunk of time reviewing different med school websites

https://case.edu/medicine/admissions/application-process/requirements/

case wants one year of advanced sci courses if undergrad was from outside U.S.

u of minnesota
basically requires credits to be at U.S. institution

u of maryland
http://medschool.umaryland.edu/admissions/appreq.asp

So most schools are wanting to see degrees or at least good chunk of science credits or pre reqs at a U.S. or Canadian institution.

Thank you! I've already seen the requirements for the schools I'm interested in but I'm still looking at other schools

 

[adreh44]

Agree with the above. Would also hold off preparing for the MCAT until you do because (a) it's only good for 3 years and if you end up taking a year or two of courses that can make things tight if you don't get in the first time and (b) whatever courses you need to take/retake might actually be useful in preparing for the mcat so silly to take the test first. This isn't a race and you need to get your ducks in a row before you pull the trigger, not rush off and take the mcat before you have all the required coursework.

Thank you! I totally get your point I just want to ask if I'll be retaking my subjects, would it be better to enter a post baccalaureate program? I've covered most of the courses I need but upon evaluation I found out that my credits are not enough to meet the requirements.

 

[italiancowgirl]

Just because you took the required class does not mean they feel it is enough. Actually if you do an extensive review of what is online it might not be a bad idea to call a program near you and make an appointment to talk through what would be accepted and what would not. Go prepared, with their requirements handy, and your transcripts etc. Whatever you are looking at that has the grades hours reduced should be handy as well. They are often more agreeable about meeting with people when interviews have died down and they have selected most of their class. GL!

 

[Wisegal]

I agree with the above posters in saying that you want to check with the programs you're interested in and see what their exact requirements are. I would recommend taking at least the basic MCAT requirements here in the States, to make sure you're prepped for the test. As for additional subjects useful for med school: you want to have a recent course in A&P (at least 300 level), a 400 level biochemistry course, upper level molecular biology, microbiology, cell biology, and genetics. Getting as many of these courses in as possible will make the first year of med school much more doable, and they would also help you bump your credit hours and can count towards the US coursework requirement if your schools have one.

The rationale behind taking these courses before med school is that even though you'll be repeating much of it, the speed at which med school moves means that you DON'T want to be learning these topics for the first time. For example, our last course was "molecular basis of medicine", and lasted 8 weeks. In that time, we covered everything (plus more detail) that I did in 2 semesters of UG biochemistry, plus medical genetics. If I didn't have a good foundation in those topics beforehand, I would have really hated life! It was still a LOT of work, but I was nowhere near as miserable as some classmates for whom the material was completely new.