Planning a postbac around necessary MCAT classes

[heartsink]

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I've gotten a lot of great information from this forum before and i'm hoping i'll hear some more now. Past threads on taking the mcat early didn't exactly answer my question so i hope this doesn't sound too redundant:

Starting in January of '14, i'm beginning my postbac from scratch. From what i've read, that comes out to be about 1.5 to 2 years of classes to meet most med school prereqs. So i can roughly expect to be wrapping this up around ~March of 2016.

Now, most traditional premeds will have already applied the year prior to their graduation so they can move seamlessly from undergrad to med school. Again, correct me if im wrong, but the most ideal layout is taking the MCAT before summer, applying to your schools around June, and the following year you matriculate.

But thats for traditional premeds, who will have 75% of their college classes done before taking the MCAT at the end of their junior year. A non-trad doing purely pre-med classes will have only done 50% of their pre-reqs if they try to take the MCAT and apply the year before they finish their classes. This seems unwise, as you would undoubtedly be missing classes related to the MCAT when you took it.

So for my situation, would i just have to bite the bullet and accept that I likely won't even be able to take the MCAT or apply until June of 2016, and just kill a year waiting to hear back? Is it possible to plan a postbacc class outline around the most critical classes for the MCAT? Or is it that these classes build upon themselves too much to allow for that?

Thanks for any advice you can give

 

[beBrave]

I've gotten a lot of great information from this forum before and i'm hoping i'll hear some more now. Past threads on taking the mcat early didn't exactly answer my question so i hope this doesn't sound too redundant:

Starting in January of '14, i'm beginning my postbac from scratch. From what i've read, that comes out to be about 1.5 to 2 years of classes to meet most med school prereqs. So i can roughly expect to be wrapping this up around ~March of 2016.

Now, most traditional premeds will have already applied the year prior to their graduation so they can move seamlessly from undergrad to med school. Again, correct me if im wrong, but the most ideal layout is taking the MCAT before summer, applying to your schools around June, and the following year you matriculate.

But thats for traditional premeds, who will have 75% of their college classes done before taking the MCAT at the end of their junior year. A non-trad doing purely pre-med classes will have only done 50% of their pre-reqs if they try to take the MCAT and apply the year before they finish their classes. This seems unwise, as you would undoubtedly be missing classes related to the MCAT when you took it.

So for my situation, would i just have to bite the bullet and accept that I likely won't even be able to take the MCAT or apply until June of 2016, and just kill a year waiting to hear back? Is it possible to plan a postbacc class outline around the most critical classes for the MCAT? Or is it that these classes build upon themselves too much to allow for that?

Thanks for any advice you can give

I would suggest that you bite the bullet. Taking your time will allow you to avoid cramming classes (so you can focus on getting good grades while learning how to understand the material rather than memorizing it) and will also allow you to complete any needed EC's (volunteering, Physician shadowing and research).

 

[heartsink]

I would suggest that you bite the bullet. Taking your time will allow you to avoid cramming classes (so you can focus on getting good grades while learning how to understand the material rather than memorizing it) and will also allow you to complete any needed EC's (volunteering, Physician shadowing and research).

That's more or less what i expected, i just wanted to see if it anyone else had a different thought. Thank you.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Not having all your prerequisites done is the biggest mistake you could ever make. Being that you'll take the new MCAT, you must have biochemistry before the MCAT, which means you'll have to see how to fit that into your schedule.

With the new MCAT and the new prerequisites (psychology, sociology and biochemistry), I think the non-traditional road will become a lot harder than before, especially if they add genetics as a prerequisite.

 

[rneb]

Not having all your prerequisites done is the biggest mistake you could ever make. Being that you'll take the new MCAT, you must have biochemistry before the MCAT, which means you'll have to see how to fit that into your schedule.

With the new MCAT and the new prerequisites (psychology, sociology and biochemistry), I think the non-traditional road will become a lot harder than before, especially if they add genetics as a prerequisite.

Well, I was hoping to take the 2014 MCAT, which means I won't have to take those courses for the exam per se but will probably take them afterwards just to strengthen my application. The question I was asking was should I bunch the pre-reqs up so that I can have those prereqs done before the 2014 MCAT or should I space them out which means that I will be forced to take the 2015 MCAT.

I guess in short my question is which is the more difficult path:

A VERY dense schedule to make the 2014 MCAT
or a more lenient schedule but then having to take the 2015 MCAT

 

[TriagePreMed]

Well, I was hoping to take the 2014 MCAT, which means I won't have to take those courses for the exam per se but will probably take them afterwards just to strengthen my application. The question I was asking was should I bunch the pre-reqs up so that I can have those prereqs done before the 2014 MCAT or should I space them out which means that I will be forced to take the 2015 MCAT.

I guess in short my question is which is the more difficult path:

A VERY dense schedule to make the 2014 MCAT
or a more lenient schedule but then having to take the 2015 MCAT

if you think a dense schedule will allow you to a) get good grades and b) time to study for the mcat, why not?