Question about Post Bacc courses

[John Q]

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I'm considering enrolling in my local university full time (while working part time) to take 24-30 hours of courses in the next year. I have an undergraduate and masters in a bio major, meaning I have taken all the prerequisites. It has been 9/10 years since I have taken some of those courses (I am 28). Do I need/have to retake the intro prerequisite classes (even though I have masters and BS. My masters courses are as recent as 2010) or can I just take other upper level science courses?

The intro classes would be "easier" but I would prefer to take the upper level science courses.

 

[tryptamine]

Hey John! I'm a couple years older than you and am in the midst of executing a plan very similar to yours. I completed all of my prereqs in high school and freshman year of college, well over a decade ago now. It is not necessary to go back and take these courses, but your strategy should probably depend somewhat on what it is that you're looking to do. If you're trying to remediate a poor undergrad record, as I am, focusing on succeeding in upper div science classes should work to do that, though if there are any prereq courses that came in below a C, you'll probably want to re-take those, as well. If your undergrad record is strong and you're just trying to show evidence that you can still succeed in college courses, the full-time schedule might not be necessary.

One thing to keep in mind is that the MCAT (obviously disregard if you've already taken it) consists largely of material from those prereq courses, so make sure that you're comfortable self-studying to refresh that knowledge. If not, everything I've heard suggests that you won't be penalized for re-taking the courses to strengthen your foundation for the exam.

 

[calivianya]

I did something similar. I AP'ed out of all general chemistry and I'd taken the intro bios/easy A&P/easy micro between my first and second degrees, which were all a long dang time ago.

I retook absolutely none of that. I only took classes I hadn't taken before (orgo 1&2, physics 1&2) plus many upper level biology courses. I have secured an acceptance, so it didn't hurt me not to retake those courses, some of which were >10 years old. Best of luck!

 

[Goro]

I'm considering enrolling in my local university full time (while working part time) to take 24-30 hours of courses in the next year. I have an undergraduate and masters in a bio major, meaning I have taken all the prerequisites. It has been 9/10 years since I have taken some of those courses (I am 28). Do I need/have to retake the intro prerequisite classes (even though I have masters and BS. My masters courses are as recent as 2010) or can I just take other upper level science courses?

The intro classes would be "easier" but I would prefer to take the upper level science courses.

How confident are you that the pre-reqs you took so long ago will prepare you for the MCAT?

 

[John Q]

I already have a solid 2015 MCAT score. I work as a research scientist my knowledge base, on a day to day basis is already at a graduate level.

 

[ellia]

Did you already take the pre-reqs? As long as you didn't receive below a C in any of them I think you'd be better off just taking upper level science courses.