Post-bac course load

[Mars41]

After a train wreck of an undergraduate career, I have a renewed since of purpose and am going back to college to prepare for medical school within the next few months. Being that I am 25 and not getting any younger I was initially going to try to cram all the prerequisite courses together in one school year. Upon rethinking this, however, I figured that I might be better off concentrating on getting A's and taking more time to really learn the material. My current plan of action is to take one course per semester for the next two years. Will taking a single course each semester be frowned upon by an admission committe? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[Mars41]

... And I apologize for the double posting. Phone wasn't loading so I hit enter 10 times.

 

[lmn]

I would say yes, in med school you are going to be taking the equivalent of a semester load of heavy classes in the time frame of a few weeks instead of months, even if you ace every single class, how can an adcom know that you would be able to do the same when all of the classes were piled together and you were extremely pressed for time and stressed? Imo, you need to show that you can take on a full course load of classes and still be successful (all while also doing EC's) to show that you can balance your time and still succeed like you will need to in med school.

 

[wheredidyoufind]

I just did this exact thing. I took a year of classes, including the pre-reqs I needed to take plus other science classes to make it a full time load. I figured my best way to show that I was a different student was to have a real word course load. WHat courses do you need to take?

 

[Mars41]

I am coming from a liberal arts background so I will literally be starting fresh.

Full year of Bio/chem/phys/biochem/orgchem

Would love to hear other suggested sequences that might work well.

 

[LostinLift]

Yes one course will look bad, unless working full time. Also one course at a time would take forever.

Let's back up though, do you know where and how you will be taking these post-bacc courses?

 

[Mars41]

I graduated from an out-of-state private liberal arts college but I will be taking the the prerequisites at the College of Charleston which is where I am originally from. I have no girlfriend or anything to distract me. I am fully focused on school and just want to make sure I do it right after messing up so bad during my undergraduate studies.

 

[LostinLift]

What are your ECs like? Clinical experience? Research? Volunteering? If you're lacking in any of these areas you should get involved during your post-bacc. I used the time during my post-bacc to do all these things and I think they made the difference more than my grade improvement (though it was vital).

In any case you should start with 2 of the easier courses with labs (bio1 and chem1) and see how that feels while doing other stuff. From there you can mix in o-chem 1 and take biochem (no lab) with your later courses and finish in 4 semesters, or take 3 classes+ at a time. If you take these classes seriously and study properly, they honestly shouldn't take you that much time.

 

[Mars41]

That sounds like a really good plan lostinlift. Thank you for the words of encouragement.