Pre-med courses question

[bedr]

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Hi. I will be applying to medical school and am an older applicant. I took the pre-med required courses about a decade ago, and frankly I don't remember everything. I know that I will get a major refresher when studying for the mcat, but I wanted to ask current medical students and recent graduates if that would be enough to be prepared for medical school. One of my friends that is in med school says that she doesn't use much of the stuff she learned in pre-med classes. But I figure they must be required for a reason, and I don't want to be behind from the beginning. Would you recommend that I retake the classes? Thank you for any advice and insight you can give me.

 

[elyswim]

I wouldn't recommend that you retake all the classes. I don't use most of it. The only benefit you would receive would be a great study for the MCAT, but really that can be accomplished via diligent self study.

If you have time I would recommend a course in biochemistry, physiology and possibly anatomy (especially if it has a lab component) these tend to be the most difficult courses for M1s and is certainly backed by my own anecdotal data (I notice the students with MAs in Anatomy and Biochemistry have a considerable lighter load this first semester than us)

 

[WellWornLad]

If you get a good MCAT score, consider yourself ready for medical school. There's nothing outside of the MCAT curriculum I'd consider essential - in that respect, it's a good standardized test.

If you are a relatively marginal student, take some med school courses, not remedial courses - anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology tend to be the big ones that people have trouble with. It'll buy you some time first year if you're a little rusty, but won't save your ass if you're destined to fail (which is rare). If you've always been a good student and breezed through undergrad, don't sweat it.

 

[NickNaylor]

I wouldn't recommend that you retake all the classes. I don't use most of it. The only benefit you would receive would be a great study for the MCAT, but really that can be accomplished via diligent self study.

If you have time I would recommend a course in biochemistry, physiology and possibly anatomy (especially if it has a lab component) these tend to be the most difficult courses for M1s and is certainly backed by my own anecdotal data (I notice the students with MAs in Anatomy and Biochemistry have a considerable lighter load this first semester than us)

Definitely agree. While some knowledge of basic principles is helpful, most of the material you likely haven't seen before, so retaking courses won't be that helpful. MCAT studying should probably be sufficient for you to get refreshed.

 

[gravitywave]

There are also some schools that require you've taken the pre reqs within a certain amount of time before you've applied ie those courses can only be so old. Otherwise you have to take more credits. Einstein comes to mind, there are probably others.

 

[chasonian]

I think that you could not retake the premed classes and be fine, but you'll be studying for the MCAT for a muuuuuuuuuuuuch longer time than a student who has taken the premed courses. I took the premed courses and then studied pretty intensely for the MCAT for 3 months and scored well. You have to remember you will be taking the test with kids that have just taken the premed courses and put in intense study time devoted just to the MCAT. Just be prepared to study for the MCAT for over a year.

You might want to invest in a part-time tutor too for some of the harder concepts. I'm just trying to give you a realistic picture of what not retaking the premed courses will look like versus my personal opinion whether it's possible to not retake them...

 

[Smurfette]

Moving to Nontrad forum as users there may have more insight....

 

[DrMidlife]

I took physics in 1988 and started med school last summer. The rest of the prereqs I took or retook a few years ago.

Thing #1: a minority of med schools require your prereqs to be within the last few years. UMass is one of the few that actually says so.

Thing #2: all med schools are going to be concerned if you haven't been successful in hard science classes in a classroom very recently, regardless of what the web page says or what somebody says on the phone.

Thing #3: you have to submit 3-5 letters from faculty attesting to your brilliance and academic aptitude. Most of these letters need to be quite recent.

Thing #4: if you find during MCAT prep that you don't remember the material, then you're not doing MCAT prep. You have to have a handle on the content before you can do test prep.

Thing #5: if your cumulative undergrad GPA isn't in the 3.5 or better range, don't kid yourself about getting in on the merits of your resume. It doesn't matter how old you are, or how much in a hurry you are, you have to get into med school on the same terms as the kids, and that means undergrad GPA and MCAT. GPA redemption is possible (also expensive and time consuming); see the postbac forum for ideas.

Best of luck to you.

 

[anguisette]

I took physics in 1988 and started med school last summer. The rest of the prereqs I took or retook a few years ago.

Thing #1: a minority of med schools require your prereqs to be within the last few years. UMass is one of the few that actually says so.

Thing #2: all med schools are going to be concerned if you haven't been successful in hard science classes in a classroom very recently, regardless of what the web page says or what somebody says on the phone.

Thing #3: you have to submit 3-5 letters from faculty attesting to your brilliance and academic aptitude. Most of these letters need to be quite recent.

Thing #4: if you find during MCAT prep that you don't remember the material, then you're not doing MCAT prep. You have to have a handle on the content before you can do test prep.

Thing #5: if your cumulative undergrad GPA isn't in the 3.5 or better range, don't kid yourself about getting in on the merits of your resume. It doesn't matter how old you are, or how much in a hurry you are, you have to get into med school on the same terms as the kids, and that means undergrad GPA and MCAT. GPA redemption is possible (also expensive and time consuming); see the postbac forum for ideas.

Best of luck to you.

Great advice. As for the bolded, there was a post earlier this year by craftyconqueror about expiration policies for specific schools she looked up. It may change by the time you apply, but it's not a bad starting point.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=923599

 

[bedr]

Thanks so much to everyone for the replies. I guess the general concensus is that I don't necessarily HAVE to retake the classes to be prepared for med school. I was wondering though, if there are any situations where the pre-med material would come up as a practicing physician. I'm guessing not really but would appreciate if any current practicing physicians could comment. Thanks!

 

[DrMidlife]

Thanks so much to everyone for the replies. I guess the general concensus is that I don't necessarily HAVE to retake the classes to be prepared for med school. I was wondering though, if there are any situations where the pre-med material would come up as a practicing physician. I'm guessing not really but would appreciate if any current practicing physicians could comment. Thanks!

Direct physician use of material studied as a premed is not the point of premed study.

The point of premed study is to lay a foundation of:
- comprehension of basic science concepts
- study skills
- testing skills

If you want to be prepared for med school, focus on those three things.

Best of luck to you.

 

[dsoz]

My BS is almost 20 years old. I applied to 8MD and 12 DO school (look at my MDApps link under my avatar) none of the schools that I applied to said anything negative about the "advanced age" of my classes. I feel pretty good about acceptances to three of my top five schools.

Good luck.
dsoz

 

[bedr]

Thanks again so much for the replies and the good lucks! I guess being out of school for so long is making me a little insecure and thinking of worse case scenarios. I'd just hate to be in an urgent situation as a practicing physician where I couldn't immediately recall something from pre-med courses that I needed to help the patient.