retaking prereqs vs upper level science courses

[peseshet]

I contacted one of the medical schools I am interested in. I posed the question about prereqs being a couple of years old - going back to retake them or taking upper level science courses similar to the medical school curriculum (biochemistry, endrocrinology, comparative anatomy). I was told by them to take the upper level science courses. I am interested for those of you on the forum, who did go back to take prereqs over? who just took upper level science courses?

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[TiggidyTooth]

I'm doing both, retaking and taking upper division sciences.

Tooth

 

[RoseLee]

I'm redoing some of my pre-reqs too because my first ones are 12-15 years old...so much has changed in the field of biology (especially cell biology) that I wanted to be prepared for the upper division courses. I'm not doing ALL of them over tho..just the ones I feel I will need to succeed in upper division. (and am taking Ochem over because that's the one class that I can't remember hardly anything from! )

Roselee

 

[cher25]

I'm going to take upper levels because 1. there's no way in hell I'll sit through those classes again, I'd be bored...especially in Org. And 2. I really don't think the med schools will let you slide on retaking because you've had it before..so even if you did well, they'd probably think, well, she's had it before, so she was familiar with the material. So I think if you take upper levels, it'll prove that you can do well with fresh new hard science courses.

 

[jeanie523]

On a side note...

I'm not too familiar with the layout of the general med school application, but I heard that there's a section asking you to separate your pre-req grades (e.g. gen chem /bio 1,2) from the others. Does anyone know for a fact if this is true? I understand why they want separate gpa's for your undergrad, post-bac, and graduate school work, but a separate section for those 8 courses?

I hope the answer is not what I think it is, otherwise, this could be tragic.

Any thoughts?

 

[cher25]

I filled out the AMCAS last year and they did want a seperate GPA for those classes. There's an overall GPA calculation, an 'other classes' GPA calculation, and a Science and Math GPA calculation. Not only you pre med pre reqs...but every science and math class that you've ever taken. That's the GPA that they're most concerned with because med school is full of hard science classes so they want to see how you do in them in undergrad.

 

[jeanie523]

Thanks Cher. In your previous post, you mentioned that you were not planning to take the pre-reqs over again, but will take hard science courses (e.g. genetics, endocrinology, physiology). If there is this separate section for those 8 courses, don't you think that it's worth taking some classes over again (along with some hard sciences)? Just wondering...

Thanks!!

 

[cher25]

Well, I'm going for a master's degree in Biomedical Sciences which will allow me to take a bunch of hard science courses. I would definitely take classes over again if I thought it would help. But in my case, it won't. Even if I retook a few pre-med courses and made A's, my GPA wouldn't move much. On the med school application, they have a completely seperate section for graduate school courses. The math and science GPA for grad school courses is calculated seperately and your grad school GPA is also calculated seperately. So if you only take undergrad science courses, it will be averaged in with your undergrad GPA, which is good for those seeking to use these courses to push their undergrad GPA up and be more competative. But in my case, it won't do that..Even if I took 10 undergrad post bac courses, I still wouldn't be competative enough. I still wouldn't have a 3.5+. So what I'm doing is going for my masters degree. I'll take the same classes as post bacs do, only at the graduate level...and this way, I'll have a seperate fresh GPA on my application. I'll have my undergrad and my grad .