Postbacc concerns

[LordWiki]

Disclaimer: I'm really new to the pre-med world, so I'm not even 100% sure if I'm asking the right questions here! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I'm starting my senior year of college, and as someone who decided on pre-med late in the game, I won't have all of my prereqs done by the time I graduate, and I don't want to stay at my current school because it's an expensive private school. After I graduate, I'll still have to do a year of English, a year of general chemistry, a year of organic chemistry, and a semester of biochemistry.

Would it be okay if I take these prereqs as evening classes at a state university close to home, as a ragtag DIY postbacc, so I won't have to pay insanely high tuition and so that I can work full-time while studying? Would it look bad if I have my prereqs from different institutions, and/or if the bulk of my prereqs are at a less "prestigious" institution than my undergrad? Also, would you recommend against taking supplemental courses (like psychology, sociology, and maybe an upper-level bio) during the summer, as long as my prereqs are taken during the fall/spring semesters? I've gathered that it's not recommended to do prereqs at a community college, so I'm avoiding them, opting instead for a decently respected, but not extremely well-regarded, state university.

Please let me know if I'm worried over nothing or if there are other, more important questions that I should be asking!

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[Goro]

Would it be okay if I take these prereqs as evening classes at a state university close to home, as a ragtag DIY postbacc, so I won't have to pay insanely high tuition and so that I can work full-time while studying?

Totally OK

Would it look bad if I have my prereqs from different institutions, and/or if the bulk of my prereqs are at a less "prestigious" institution than my undergrad?

It is a common pre-med delusion that you have to take all your coursework at a single school in four years straight.


Also, would you recommend against taking supplemental courses (like psychology, sociology, and maybe an upper-level bio) during the summer, as long as my prereqs are taken during the fall/spring semesters?

That will be OK

 

[LordWiki]

Thanks Goro, much appreciated! Another question: would it be a problem if I take a prereq (like English or gen chem) over the summer, as long as it's only one? I still plan on taking the vast bulk of my prereq classes during the summer, but it would really help if I can take one of my prereqs during the summer.

 

[Goro]

Thanks Goro, much appreciated! Another question: would it be a problem if I take a prereq (like English or gen chem) over the summer, as long as it's only one? I still plan on taking the vast bulk of my prereq classes during the summer, but it would really help if I can take one of my prereqs during the summer.

That will be fine. It's the weeding courses that med schools look down upon as summer courses.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

That will be fine. It's the weeding courses that med schools look down upon as summer courses.

In the AMCAS application, do we have to specify which courses were summer courses versus fall/spring courses ?.

It this is not listed in the AMCAS application, how do the ADCOM determine if this was a summer course versus a regular school year course ?

Do the ADCOMs go by the AMCAS application or do they review the individual college transcripts ?

 

[Goro]

1) In the AMCAS application, it appears we dont have to specify which courses were summer courses versus fall courses (is this true or false ?) .

2) It this is not listed in the AMCAS application, how do the ADCOM determine if this was a summer course versus a regular school year course ?

3) From what I have seen on SDN, most ADCOMs go by the AMCAS application, and do not use the college transcript very much. Is this true of ralse ?

1,2 don't know. AACOMAS apps show summer courses.

3 college transcripts are almost unreadable. MD Adcoms use AMCAS reports

 

[KnightDoc]

In the AMCAS application, do we have to specify which courses were summer courses versus fall/spring courses ?.

It this is not listed in the AMCAS application, how do the ADCOM determine if this was a summer course versus a regular school year course ?

Do the ADCOMs go by the AMCAS application or do they review the individual college transcripts ?

Of course you do. If you didn't, as you point out, adcoms would have no way to know (adcoms don't look at official transcripts during the admission process -- that would defeat the purpose of AMCAS verification, and it's unclear whether or not AMCAS even sends them to the schools -- I don't think they do, since some of them are paper), and no one would ever say summer classes are looked down upon. You are confusing the GPA grid, which breaks down GPAs by academic year, from actual course entry, which identifies the academic year and term a class was taken. Adcoms see this, and this how they know when a class was taken.

 

[PigsHaveWings]

1,2 don't know. AACOMAS apps show summer courses.

3 college transcripts are almost unreadable. MD Adcoms use AMCAS reports

Yes, you are right, you do have to declare the term you took the course. Here is the section from the AMCAS guide.

"These fields show the Academic Year and Term during which you took a course. The AMCAS year begins with summer and ends with spring. Courses taken in the summer should be entered with the next academic year, even if your institution considers them in the previous academic year. For example, if you took a course in the first summer session of 2016, you should enter it as the 2016-2017 academic year, even if your school considers it in the 2015-2016 academic year "

thank you