Prerequisites - when do they become too "old"?

[danthi]

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Hi everyone. I'm a non- Canadian international student, non-trad (graduated in May 2022). I've been trying to figure out if prereqs have an "expiration date". Some schools say "5 years", some 10. Some say they "prefer" or "recommend" it to be recent coursework.

Anyways, I'm planning to apply in the 2027 cycle, and wanted to ask if anybody knows if these courses I took are too "old" for a strong application. If so, would you suggest retaking courses just for a refresher, and to show schools that I am still involved academically? Or would a postbac make my app more competitive? Concerned, esp after taking into account the chances for a non-Canadian international.

Here are my courses I took and when:

• Calculus 1 - Fall 2019, B
• Gen Chem 1 - Fall 2019, B
• Gen Bio 1 - Fall 2019, A-
• Gen Bio 2 - Spring 2020, A
• Gen Chem 2 - Spring 2020, A
• Orgo 1+Lab, Fall 2020, A
• Orgo 2+Lab - Spring 2021, A
• Physics 1+Lab - Summer 2021, A
• Sociology - Spring 2020, A
• Molecular and Cell Bio 1 - Fall 2020, A
• Molecular and Cell Bio 2 - Spring 2021, A
• Microbio Advanced Research Lab - Spring 2021, A
• Microbio - Fall 2021, A
• Biostatistics - Fall 2021, A
• Independent Research/Undergraduate Biology Thesis - Fall 2021/Spring 2022, A
• Physics 2+Lab - Spring 2022, A

Other notes:

• Taking biochem + lab Spring 2026, psychology in the upcoming Winter semester
• Thinking of taking Intro to Bio Lab in 2026, considering some school prereqs??
• Since I have graduated, I have been working a Research Associate position at a cancer biotech company....not sure if this shows anything in terms of academic retention post-college though.
• Courses in 2020-2021 were online due to COVID

Other metrics:

• cGPA: 3.832
• sGPA: 3.86
• Clinical hours: 300-400+ hours by application date
• Shadowing: 100+ hours by application date
• Service: 200-300+ hours by application date
• Research: 10k-11k+ hours by application date
• MCAT: taking in April 2026

Thank you all 🙂

 

[nobadwaves]

I would call the programs you are interested in and ask if they have time limits on classes. This is what I had to do and I needed to retake my courses (but they are much older than yours and I could use the GPA boost).

 

[moltmannfanboi]

If you take biochem and get an A, I don't think that prerequisite course age is going to be the thing holding you back. I had two schools I had to remove from my list because of prereq age, and one of them was due to the age of my *writing intensive* classes. (They were fine with the science coursework for some reason.)

A strong MCAT score will also help smooth over any concerns about academic rigor/future performance.

For context:

Gen Chem: Circa 2010
Bio 1: Circa 2011
Bio 2/Microbio: Circa 2020-2021
O Chem: Circa 2021-2022
Physics: Circa 2021-2022
Biochem: Circa 2023

No issues with getting IIs so far.