Possibly another forced remote semester incoming..

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

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I have a friend who works in a fairly high up position in the admin staff of the college I'm taking pre-reqs at. She told me today that her bosses were talking about how they are planning to recommend another fully online semester due to the absolute state Florida's gotten itself into again for Fall 2021.

Obviously going to wait for an official announcement, but should I just cut my losses and wait til school's back in session again? I'm only taking chem and physics so I really don't want to do them online unless we're locked down indefinitely again.

If this happens, I own a business and would just add more contracts to work full time during my break while continuing any possible ECs that will still be going on during another damn outbreak. Wouldn't be sitting at home playing video games all day, def still a productive member of society.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Personally I would take the classes in order to move forward instead of holding off potentially for another year.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Personally I would take the classes in order to move forward instead of holding off potentially for another year.

I appreciate this perspective. My thought is, I'm already very non-trad so what's another year? I make roughly $100-120k depending on how much I work right now so it's not like I'm living rough waiting to be a doctor. I'm a software engineer running a small contracting company with a couple subcontractors working under me. It's not doctor money, but I'm not really making this career move for money so that's not a huge factor for me.

I have a pretty mediocre BS GPA (3.3ish) and a pretty decent PB GPA (3.75ish) currently averaging out around 3.45ish. I'm not sure if online coursework will cause me issues as a result of my past meh performance esp as I have yet to even start on MCAT yet beyond a few days a week of Anki. The other side of this is taking a break in the middle of my PB could kill the momentum of the chem sequence and maybe look weird to adcoms, but I assume explaining the situation would probably dispel that.

Other stuff I've got going on: Trevor Project, HRC phone banking, hospital volunteering til they close that down again 🙁, Civil Air Patrol, supposed to start at a food bank sometime next week, and a barbershop quartet group that'll probably be put back on hiatus soon since it's getting so bad here again.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I'm not sure if online coursework will cause me issues as a result of my past meh performance

Given the pandemic I think admissions committees will have more to worry about than whether or not programs had to switch online. For the most part they are pretty reasonable and don’t expect a year of premeds to defer classes for a year to wait for things to go back to in person learning. That being said if you are concerned about doing well in classes with an online format then waiting may make sense but we don’t know what the future may hold.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Given the pandemic I think admissions committees will have more to worry about than whether or not programs had to switch online. For the most part they are pretty reasonable and don’t expect a year of premeds to defer classes for a year to wait for things to go back to in person learning. That being said if you are concerned about doing well in classes with an online format then waiting may make sense but we don’t know what the future may hold.

My real concern is the lack of real labs. I usually watch the lectures remotely anyway. We already had to cut out half of the in-person labs for intro chem due to space/class size issues with social distancing (essentially we were supposed to have two labs a week, but they split the class in half and each come one day a week). I have really weak lab skills as a result. I know being a doctor isn't really about wet lab research unless that's your thing, but I still feel like it's a basic requirement to be baseline decent at the technical aspect? Maybe I'm overthinking this.

 

[GreenDuck12]

My real concern is the lack of real labs. I usually watch the lectures remotely anyway. We already had to cut out half of the in-person labs for intro chem due to space/class size issues with social distancing (essentially we were supposed to have two labs a week, but they split the class in half and each come one day a week). I have really weak lab skills as a result. I know being a doctor isn't really about wet lab research unless that's your thing, but I still feel like it's a basic requirement to be baseline decent at the technical aspect? Maybe I'm overthinking this.

Having a basic grasp of some lab techniques is useful for the mcat but not really necessary beyond that. For the mcat most folks need to study up on the lab techniques but it isn’t really challenging. Unless you are interested in bench research I wouldn’t stress about it and even then I wouldn’t expect to gain much even with robust labs in chemistry. Honestly I wouldn’t stress about it.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Any thoughts from @Goro or other adcoms?

 

[deleted1080380]

I disagree with the above. The "lab techniques" you learn in lab are just worthless. Most universities give you absolute garbage or otherwise passed down and broken lab tools that you spend half the time fixing instead of actually using, and when you do it's scuffed AF.

On top of that, labs are a HUGE time sink...I would have loved to have that stuff remote so I didn't have to deal with the BS 5 hour labs and superflous lab reports that took 20 hours to write for no reason at all.

Long story short, especially for chemistry:
1. Online is just objectively easier
2. Online will save you probably 20 hours per week of BS that teaches you nothing and just wastes your time
3. In person labs are not fun or educational, they're boring and annoying especially for chemistry (mostly due to the resources you are given)
4. You don't need lab skills for literally anything, and if you do (let's say you want to do chemistry research) you'll be re-taught them anyway with functional lab tools and someone who actually cares/needs you to have good output
5. MCAT requires a pretty superficial understanding of all lab techniques, and there are plenty of extant lab technique review docs that go way more in-depth than you need

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I disagree with this take if you're at all interested in research. Labs do teach you basic techniques that someone later doesn't have to teach you, and it's valuable to say you've done things at least once before (such as intro bio labs) or have familiarity with them (chem lab techniques or upper div bio labs). I've been part of hiring people for research positions and they don't need you to know much but yes being able to pipette, use a microscope, and know what a bio/fume hood is and not to stick your head in one helps you.

What environment were you in where everything is broken? I've been at low-funded junior colleges and universities and have never needed to fix anything during a lab class. Sure it might look old and outdated but it's not going to be broken.

I have done a fair amount of research in med school and have used exactly 0% of the lab techniques I learned in undergrad.

That said, many med schools require a lab component I think. So not having them will mean you are missing prereqs unless the whole pandemic thing has changed that.

 

[deleted1080380]

I disagree with this take if you're at all interested in research. Labs do teach you basic techniques that someone later doesn't have to teach you, and it's valuable to say you've done things at least once before (such as intro bio labs) or have familiarity with them (chem lab techniques or upper div bio labs). I've been part of hiring people for research positions and they don't need you to know much but yes being able to pipette, use a microscope, and know what a bio/fume hood is and not to stick your head in one helps you.

What environment were you in where everything is broken? I've been at low-funded junior colleges and universities and have never needed to fix anything during a lab class. Sure it might look old and outdated but it's not going to be broken.

To your second point, our chemistry department is notably horrid despite HYPSM school, no one cares about undergrads so maybe that's an outlier.

In regard to research, I still don't think it matters. You would still be doing the lab online and learning enough. I do biomedical research and use many organic synthesis techniques (of which I did learn during in-person labs) and labs are pretty unrepresentative of what you actually do, and I think the point of them is to just weed people out tbh.

For bio research none of the techniques are intensive. A 5 year old can learn them.

What's more important in research is your ability to analyze data and devise a plan moving forward, or drawing conclusions. As an undergrad you're not going to be thrown into a lab and asked to do x y z; they will always pair you with a PhD mentor first, usually, who will teach you everything in-depth even if you 'learned' it in lab beforehand.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I have done a fair amount of research in med school and have used exactly 0% of the lab techniques I learned in undergrad.

That said, many med schools require a lab component I think. So not having them will mean you are missing prereqs unless the whole pandemic thing has changed that.

There is still a "Lab" component, but similar to during the first lockdown, the labs would be simulation and similar, so not "real" labs. So I would have a lab credit that would presumably count for the pre-req except at schools that refuse any online coursework. I am hopeful that most schools wouldn't be too ridiculous about this given the pandemic situation, but med schools gonna med school?

I have zero interest in wet lab research; any research I do will be computational based on the fact that I'm currently a software engineer and have no interest in swishing stuff around in glasses for 4 years to see an outcome. If the stuff that I need to know for the MCAT and to reasonably matriculate can be learned easily outside of an in-person lab I guess doing it online wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, I'm just nervous about adcoms thinking I'm a dummy because of online coursework.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

For reference, I am not targeting top tier schools. I just want to be a family med doctor and serve my community; none of the super competitive specialties currently interest me, the only other field I see being attractive is psych or possibly IM. I realize this can change in med school, but I'm almost 30 and pretty sure what I want out of life at this point.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Then I wouldn’t worry about a truncated lab experience.

 

[xffan624]

There is still a "Lab" component, but similar to during the first lockdown, the labs would be simulation and similar, so not "real" labs. So I would have a lab credit that would presumably count for the pre-req except at schools that refuse any online coursework. I am hopeful that most schools wouldn't be too ridiculous about this given the pandemic situation, but med schools gonna med school?

I have zero interest in wet lab research; any research I do will be computational based on the fact that I'm currently a software engineer and have no interest in swishing stuff around in glasses for 4 years to see an outcome. If the stuff that I need to know for the MCAT and to reasonably matriculate can be learned easily outside of an in-person lab I guess doing it online wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, I'm just nervous about adcoms thinking I'm a dummy because of online coursework.

Probably 75%+ of the pre-med population did online coursework last year so I think you'll be fine on that front. Coursework that's only online because of COVID is viewed differently than university coursework that's always online (outside of COVID restrictions).

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

There is still a "Lab" component, but similar to during the first lockdown, the labs would be simulation and similar, so not "real" labs. So I would have a lab credit that would presumably count for the pre-req except at schools that refuse any online coursework. I am hopeful that most schools wouldn't be too ridiculous about this given the pandemic situation, but med schools gonna med school?

I have zero interest in wet lab research; any research I do will be computational based on the fact that I'm currently a software engineer and have no interest in swishing stuff around in glasses for 4 years to see an outcome. If the stuff that I need to know for the MCAT and to reasonably matriculate can be learned easily outside of an in-person lab I guess doing it online wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, I'm just nervous about adcoms thinking I'm a dummy because of online coursework.

Then you’re fine. No one cares. Don’t worry about it affecting your ability to do research lol. And you can learn what you need to know for the mcat through khan academy and stuff.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Then you’re fine. No one cares. Don’t worry about it affecting your ability to do research lol. And you can learn what you need to know for the mcat through khan academy and stuff.

Great, thanks so much for your responses. I'll just press on then.

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

Then you’re fine. No one cares. Don’t worry about it affecting your ability to do research lol. And you can learn what you need to know for the mcat through khan academy and stuff.

If relevant to the OP for MCAT study plans, I would like to mention that the MCAT course for Khan Academy is going away this September. They've been bombarded by a mass increase in funding needs. You can homeschool your PK-12 child on there because everything is Common Core compliant and it sounds like some parents are opting for that or at least using it as a supplemental resource. Khan Academy decided things directed at college students were the things to go given the current funding restraints.

But, books are still a great option and those are never going away. Concur you can learn everything you need from books for lab techniques covered on the OP. Personally, I have very happy with The Berkeley Review books in that regard, @Nontrad_FL_LGBT. 🙂

Loving the username by the way. 🙂

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If relevant to the OP for MCAT study plans, I would like to mention that the MCAT course for Khan Academy is going away this September. They've been bombarded by a mass increase in funding needs. You can homeschool your PK-12 child on there because everything is Common Core compliant and it sounds like some parents are opting for that or at least using it as a supplemental resource. Khan Academy decided things directed at college students were the things to go given the current funding restraints.

But, books are still a great option and those are never going away. Concur you can learn everything you need from books for lab techniques covered on the OP. Personally, I have very happy with The Berkeley Review books in that regard, @Nontrad_FL_LGBT. 🙂

Loving the username by the way. 🙂

Good to know! There are plenty of other video resources for lab stuff too.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

If relevant to the OP for MCAT study plans, I would like to mention that the MCAT course for Khan Academy is going away this September. They've been bombarded by a mass increase in funding needs. You can homeschool your PK-12 child on there because everything is Common Core compliant and it sounds like some parents are opting for that or at least using it as a supplemental resource. Khan Academy decided things directed at college students were the things to go given the current funding restraints.

But, books are still a great option and those are never going away. Concur you can learn everything you need from books for lab techniques covered on the OP. Personally, I have very happy with The Berkeley Review books in that regard, @Nontrad_FL_LGBT. 🙂

Loving the username by the way. 🙂

Thanks for the heads up! So sad to hear that content is going away, it's been a staple for ages!

 

[baz2020]

Thanks for the heads up! So sad to hear that content is going away, it's been a staple for ages!

If relevant to the OP for MCAT study plans, I would like to mention that the MCAT course for Khan Academy is going away this September. They've been bombarded by a mass increase in funding needs. You can homeschool your PK-12 child on there because everything is Common Core compliant and it sounds like some parents are opting for that or at least using it as a supplemental resource. Khan Academy decided things directed at college students were the things to go given the current funding restraints.

But, books are still a great option and those are never going away. Concur you can learn everything you need from books for lab techniques covered on the OP. Personally, I have very happy with The Berkeley Review books in that regard, @Nontrad_FL_LGBT. 🙂

Loving the username by the way. 🙂

Last update Khan Academy said the AAMC and them are working on a permanent solution for the storage of these resources for free

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

Last update Khan Academy said the AAMC and them are working on a permanent solution for the storage of these resources for free

Woohoo! I did not know that. Last I checked, they were just going to scrap it.

Thank you so much for letting me/us know! 🙂