Hello all. I am currently in a dilemma as I am finding it very difficult to go back to school to complete my pre-requisites to apply to medical school while working full time nights as a nurse. In the Fall I tried to take a general chemistry course but had to drop out a few weeks after the start date because my night schedule would not work with the 4-5 days/week class schedule. It's becoming pretty disappointing because I cannot seem to take these courses without becoming PRN at my position, which financially I cannot do. I understand that it is frowned upon to complete my science courses at a community college but have people heard of students who have been accepted to medical schools who were able to take their pre-requisite science courses online from a university? I really want to make this work because this has been a dream of mine my entire life.
Online Science Core Courses at University Fulfilling Pre-Req Requirements?
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It is possible to take pre-reqs online, but MANY schools outright won't accept them. Others have a limit of how many classes or credits of pre-reqs they will take online - sometimes you have to ask, other times they're explicitly listed, or they may be under the application FAQs.
If it's a dream of yours your entire life, then don't risk slashing your chances and take them in person, because you're already going to be cutting your chances at many places by taking even 1 online pre-req.
D
deleted480308
Take cost of living loans and go to prn
You should be able to live on prn nursing
You should be able to live on prn nursing
Yeah, what everyone's said above. There are quite a few schools that will accept online prereqs - mostly state schools though. My 2nd degree (nutrition) was fully online and I had to take a bunch of science prereqs. Since I was working both PT and FT with a NYC commute in the middle, online was the only option. It's super irritating that some schools look down on online classes so much - I really don't get it. The vast majority of online science classes I've taken were far more challenging than in-person ones, especially compared to community college.
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It probably has to do with less consistency, different labs that don’t really have as much instruction and are often lacking compared to brick and mortar, and increased potential to cheat - not just in proctored exams, but homework, labs, and other stuff to turn in floating around the internet etc which also affect the grade you get.
Yeah, very true. Just really frustrating for someone like me who worked hard to get good grades in online courses the right way. I know I had classmates that did not, so I get the schools' hesitation.
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Some students will cheat no matter what techniques we instructors use to minimize it. So....I decided to make everything open book, open notes, open internet, and I encourage students to consult with others. I have had people question this approach and I simply tell them that this is the way things are done in the real world if you are employed at a company, for example.
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Is it considered cheating when prior students upload entire exams onto Chegg or similar and current students download them, simply memorize the answers and get A's? on tests, homework assignments, etc?
Students in my ochem and biochem classes did that - got A's on all assignments and exams just memorizing; while I did the work. On prem class, not online.
I consider it somewhat cheating but in the end, I don't really care either way - I can't control when/where/if they become doctors, only myself but the notion that on-prem courses stem cheating more than online is a bit redonkulous in my mind
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My old exams are available on Chegg and CourseHero. I do change up my tests/quizzes. I do emphasize/instill the fact that students are responsible for their learning. Each term I tell them that they can go on Craigslist and hire someone to do my course for $300-$500 and that they are wasting their time and money since they get nothing out of it.
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They get an A. They potentially and probably carry a higher GPA than those who do the work and learn the material.
It's cheating.
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This seems to be the crux of non-trads going back to school.
How did I do it with a wife, two kids, a mortgage, and vehicle payments? Sold the house and vehicles, used profit to pay off remaining debt, then started living like broke college students.
There was no way I could enroll in full time+ credit hours and maintain decent grades, while also working full time.
The leap of faith comes to all non-trads when it's time to sink or swim. It's scary as hell. So far it seems to be working our for me, but I can certainly understand the trepidation.
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It is no secret that they will wash out sooner or later. After all, as the saying goes...you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.
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So, you're okay with people cheating and getting A's, then getting into medical school (and likely cheating there too) becoming physicians because at some point, it'll come out in the wash? Meanwhile, those of us who get an A- or B+ get screened out because we didn't cheat?
Cheating is also, according to the AP, a crime.
So perpetuating that doesn't help anyone - just you because you don't have to create different tests OR demand them back so people can't do Chegg, etc.
There's no excuse for allowing students to cheat but I know, you won't change your methods and I won't change my opinion on them.
Cheers!
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I definitely understand your struggle. I'm 23 with a Wife, a 8-month old daughter, 2 dogs and a mortgage. I work as a RN at a level 4 NICU full-time doing weekend overnight shift(Sun,Fri,Sat 7p-7a). This allows me to take prerequisite classes for med school throughout the week. I just take one class at a time and squeeze in ECs when I can. It's not ideal but honestly it is only difficult when a class is only available Monday morning, or Friday afternoon, then it becomes hard to get some sleep after your Sunday shift or before your Friday shift. Not sure about where you work but at my hospital I get an extra $8 for weekend overnight differential plus critical care pay, so my checks are significantly more than my other RN friends as well so that helps a lot with my expenses.
Side Note: I'm taking accelerated courses at my local CC that have been either 6 weeks, 8 weeks or 14 weeks instead of the traditional 16 weeks and these classes meet two or three times a week including lab for the science classes (All In-Seat Classes). I would suggest seeing if something like this is a viable option for yourself. Its never going to be easy, you just have to tough it out until you're ready for the application cycle
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I was in your shoes a few years ago as I was trying to decide how to both chip away at my prereq's and continue to work fulltime. I decided to take my 5 prereq's online with a regionally accredited program because A) I may never actually get in to medical school no matter what I do and B) I'm not so terribly unhappy with my current career such that quitting the job and living on loans while being a fulltime prereq student was a warranted financial/career risk. You're a nurse though and I'm a mechanical engineer, so your risks are very different.
The way I see it is like this, advanced apologies for my reduction. Medical schools have a long list of priorities for what they require of an accepted student. But all those requirements fall away rather quickly when the underlying requirement cannot be properly anticipated--future board scores. Research into this leads to the MCAT and endless support for its inception and continued revisions. Existing research between the MCAT and board scores shows only one good correlation--high MCAT = high board scores. While other combinations are possible, their p-values are >> 0.05. Sure you're prereq's are indicators, but all roads lead to MCAT, which leads to board scores.
So I took the online route knowing many medical schools won't be on me list. The other side of this is...that there will still be a bunch of medical schools that are current with the times and welcome unusual yet still qualified applicants. So I aced those online prereq's as is expected by adcoms, now it's time for the MCAT. I could be wrong but also acing the MCAT will definitely lead to acceptance somewhere, provided all other application attributes are at least on par with the cookie-cutters. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure one can get crushed by the MCAT and still ace their boards, but there is no positive correlation to support this.
I also believe you should have something that makes you stand out, beyond checking the boxes for GPA/MCAT, research, recommendations, shadowing, and volunteering. I'm swinging big on volunteering. I love the ER and am on track to have 600+ hours come application time. You're already a licensed health professional and will need to find that 'thing' that makes your app stand on two legs.
As for me, I have no idea how I will do on the MCAT because I've never actually taken it before. Might ace it, might get medical school stomped out of me that day. Just like a marathon, all you can do is formulate a training plan, stick to it, and run. I'm still in the content review phase, haven't even gotten to the gen chem sequence. Took those at university 7 years ago, review should be a good time.
In short, do whatever you're comfortable with but do your homework. As long as you can ace the MCAT and the other parts of your application display you're invested in medicine and can handle it, you'll get in somewhere.
