Pre-med courses question

[bedr]

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, particularly those from caribbean schools, 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.

 

[Unzbuzzled]

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, particularly those from caribbean schools, 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.

If Caribb med school is anything like US med school, then no, you don't need to remember much from undergrad. It certainly helps to understand organic chemistry for biochem and cell bio, but even for those classes everything is explained in the text and notes. When I started, I had a fellow student not know what a mitochondrion was, and so far she's passing everything just fine. And most people have never taken courses in Neuro, Physio, Genetics, Embryo, ect in undergrad, let alone at the level of depth and detail they expect you to retain in med school. Good luck.

 

[Top Gun]

When I started, I had a fellow student not know what a mitochondrion was

You're kidding, right? They teach that in high school biology.

 

[Unzbuzzled]

You're kidding, right? They teach that in high school biology.

Unfortunately not. The awkward part was that she asked the professor what it was during a lecture. To her defense, I'm almost positive she wasn't a science major in college. And technically speaking, you don't need much in the way of biology for premed requirements. But yeah it was still a giant faux pas.