Old Science Grades --> need to renew?

[cridecoeur00]

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Hey Guys:

I'm 29 and have been working full time since college. I'm looking to possibly applying to med school as a non-traditional student.

I was pre-med in my college days, finishing up with a 3.3 GPA. I did a masters (math) and took a few other classes for the heck of it while I had the chance (again, none science - mostly liberal arts).

I'm not sure if I could do this via a special masters program or would have to take the premed requirements again since the classes were taken between 8-10 years ago.

Any thoughts? 🙂

Thanks!
~cri

 

[njbmd]

Hey Guys:

I'm 29 and have been working full time since college. I'm looking to possibly applying to med school as a non-traditional student.

I was pre-med in my college days, finishing up with a 3.3 GPA. I did a masters (math) and took a few other classes for the heck of it while I had the chance (again, none science - mostly liberal arts).

I'm not sure if I could do this via a special masters program or would have to take the premed requirements again since the classes were taken between 8-10 years ago.

Any thoughts? 🙂

Thanks!
~cri

The answer to this quesiton is medical school specific. Contact the schools that you wish to apply to and find out their policy. Some schools want recent coursework and will accept older pre-reqs as long as you have some recent coursework while others may advise you to re-take.

Also do a Google search (and look at the SDN Post Bacc Forum) for information about SMPs and Post Baccs. You may be able to get some info about different options for you should you elect to go that route.

As I stated above, you may not have to retake but just take some new coursework if the medical schools that interest you do not care. (Mine didn't as I applied with pre-reqs that were more than 10 years old but had recent graduate courses).

Get some info that is specific for you and choose the best option that will get you to your goal. Good luck!

 

[Lshapley]

My background is pretty similar to yours. Most of the schools I contacted wanted to see recent coursework but the basic science classes I took didn't expire. I decided to enroll in a postbac and then take a combination of basic sciences (Gen Chem 1 and 2 for a good MCAT foundation) with upper level biology classes (cell bio, physiology and genetics) also with an eye towards MCAT prep.

The benefit of working this way is that now I have a solid foundation for the MCAT and also my bpcm gpa (which was a 3.2, with a 3.3 overall gpa) is now much higher. Breaking the 3.4 threshold is good from what I understand.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey Guys:

I'm 29 and have been working full time since college. I'm looking to possibly applying to med school as a non-traditional student.

I was pre-med in my college days, finishing up with a 3.3 GPA. I did a masters (math) and took a few other classes for the heck of it while I had the chance (again, none science - mostly liberal arts).

I'm not sure if I could do this via a special masters program or would have to take the premed requirements again since the classes were taken between 8-10 years ago.

Any thoughts? 🙂

Thanks!
~cri

There are only a small handful of schools that actually have firm expiration dates on prereqs (I seem to recall it being about 7 years old). Someone researched that by communicating with schools and posted results on SDN a couple of years ago, I think.

However a lot of postbac program directors will suggest that if your prereqs are quite old (eg 10 years), you ought to retake them. Additionally, as njbmd indicated, a lot of schools like to see recent coursework, so even if your prereqs are still "un-expired" you may want to bolster it with additional upper level science coursework

As to whether to do SMP or ug postbac, it somewhat depends. Both routes have decent success in getting folks into med school, if you are successful there, and either might work in your circumstance IMHO. The ug postbac also has the benefit of allowing you to increase your undergraduate level GPA, which for some people is a big help (although with a 3.3 you are probably in the ballpark). One thing to also consider is that the SMPs often require you to already have taken the MCAT, so if you are contemplating taking additional sciences to help prepare/review for that test, that might suggest going the ug postbac route.

 

[cridecoeur00]

Folks

Thanks for all the advice here. I think its best that I figure out which schools I'm looking at and work backwards from there.

~cri