Postbac wants me to take Orgo 2 and Biochem while studying for the MCAT... is this insane?

[j_diggity]

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Hey all, as I said in the title, my postbac's default curriculum has students taking orgo 2 and biochem concurrently in the spring while studying for the MCAT, and then taking the MCAT in April. How feasible is this, really? A lot of people in my program are not taking orgo 2, but about 30% of the schools I'm interested in require or strongly recommend it. I also have a red flag in my app so I want to fill in all the right boxes so to speak.

I'm a pretty good test taker but I've never done anything like this before. Is this nuts? Should I drop orgo 2 and take it during the application year at a community college or something instead?

 

[NegativeMargin]

I can only give my personal experience, but biochem , physics 2 and organic chemistry research were all a part of my curriculum while studying for the MCAT.. so I guess that is somewhat similar.

I'd say it really depends on how competent you are in either class.. and how difficult these post-bacc classes are to begin with.

A lot of people learn biochem, physics, and organic chem by rote memorization and I am no exception. I felt it was a big benefit to have all of those things at the front of my mind when taking the MCAT.

That said it was not easy. I ended up completely forgoing the curriculum for both physics and biochem for the first 2 months, choosing rather to do a content review of them in an accelerated fashion as a part of my MCAT content review. I ended up getting an A in both classes but my grade suffered in the first two months because front loading all the concepts meant I was being tested on things before I cemented them in my memory. I did it this way so that I could maintain a more classic MCAT study schedule.. if I didn't I'd have been learning new concepts in physics and biochem while taking MCAT full lengths that would be covering those same concepts I had not learned yet.

I bring all that up because it is something you will have to juggle and decide for yourself what is best. It worked out well for me, but that is only because I was doing 16 hours a day, 6 days a week of classes, research, and MCAT prep for 3.5 months straight. I don't know how much wiggle room you have as a post bacc student, as a 28 year old non-trad I didn't feel I had much wiggle room either... It did turn out well for me, but there was substantial risk and it took me a good 3 months before I got over the burnout.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hey all, as I said in the title, my postbac's default curriculum has students taking orgo 2 and biochem concurrently in the spring while studying for the MCAT, and then taking the MCAT in April. How feasible is this, really? A lot of people in my program are not taking orgo 2, but about 30% of the schools I'm interested in require or strongly recommend it. I also have a red flag in my app so I want to fill in all the right boxes so to speak.

I'm a pretty good test taker but I've never done anything like this before. Is this nuts? Should I drop orgo 2 and take it during the application year at a community college or something instead?

I will not be the best judge of this (so go ask other posters here), but it depends on your program's support structure. If they have enough experience knowing the problems of doing organic 2 and biochem while studying for the MCAT and have specific mitigations to help with all of this, you might be fine. If there are no safeguards, then you have the right to delay that MCAT unless that is something that is tied into some articulation agreement. Never take the MCAT unless you are fully confident of your preparation and performance.

Does your program give you actual study time to self-prepare for the MCAT? I'm never a big fan of lock-step schedules though you will have to deal with it when you have to study for the board exams.

 

[j_diggity]

I can only give my personal experience, but biochem , physics 2 and organic chemistry research were all a part of my curriculum while studying for the MCAT.. so I guess that is somewhat similar.

I'd say it really depends on how competent you are in either class.. and how difficult these post-bacc classes are to begin with.

A lot of people learn biochem, physics, and organic chem by rote memorization and I am no exception. I felt it was a big benefit to have all of those things at the front of my mind when taking the MCAT.

That said it was not easy. I ended up completely forgoing the curriculum for both physics and biochem for the first 2 months, choosing rather to do a content review of them in an accelerated fashion as a part of my MCAT content review. I ended up getting an A in both classes but my grade suffered in the first two months because front loading all the concepts meant I was being tested on things before I cemented them in my memory. I did it this way so that I could maintain a more classic MCAT study schedule.. if I didn't I'd have been learning new concepts in physics and biochem while taking MCAT full lengths that would be covering those same concepts I had not learned yet.

I bring all that up because it is something you will have to juggle and decide for yourself what is best. It worked out well for me, but that is only because I was doing 16 hours a day, 6 days a week of classes, research, and MCAT prep for 3.5 months straight. I don't know how much wiggle room you have as a post bacc student, as a 28 year old non-trad I didn't feel I had much wiggle room either... It did turn out well for me, but there was substantial risk and it took me a good 3 months before I got over the burnout.

Thanks for sharing. I haven't taken orgo I yet so I guess we have to wait and see on that. I won't need physics (currently taking it and doing very well), so that should be alright. I guess I can wait and see how I do in Orgo 1 and then decide.

 

[j_diggity]

I will not be the best judge of this (so go ask other posters here), but it depends on your program's support structure. If they have enough experience knowing the problems of doing organic 2 and biochem while studying for the MCAT and have specific mitigations to help with all of this, you might be fine. If there are no safeguards, then you have the right to delay that MCAT unless that is something that is tied into some articulation agreement. Never take the MCAT unless you are fully confident of your preparation and performance.

Does your program give you actual study time to self-prepare for the MCAT? I'm never a big fan of lock-step schedules though you will have to deal with it when you have to study for the board exams.

Honestly I do not know about the safeguards. I asked the advisor if he knew the track record of students who took this schedule and how they did on the MCAT, and he admitted that he did not have that data.

What do you mean about self-prep time? I think the answer is no. We're going to be in class till the end of April. In fact, I think I'll have to take the MCAT before finals are done, or immediately afterward. I'm not as worried about biochem because at my institution most people take it during MCAT prep and say that it's fine (in fact very helpful for the test). There is no dedicated block study time though, if that's what you mean. I'll be able to take an MCAT prep course through the school if I want, so that's dedicated time, but most people say it's garbage. I honestly have no idea what I will do for MCAT prep just yet.

I think I may wait and take Orgo 2 during my application year, what would you think of that? I'll take some easier elective like A&P or Genetics alongside biochem during the spring, or maybe I'll take only Biochem, but I don't want schools to think I took too light of a load. Will taking orgo 2 during my app year make me look worse in the eyes of schools that require it?

 

[j_diggity]

For context, as an older nontrad I am really not interested in delaying my application another year. So I'm going to take the MCAT that spring, unless it's really foolish. The question is whether or not I should take Orgo 2 that spring or whether I delay it & take it during the fall of my application year.

Sorry for the triple comment.