Saving the labs for later?

[Teacher2Doc]

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So, I'm not getting any younger, and I want to get through my med school prerequisites as fast as possible. I'm sure a lot of my fellow non-trads feel the same way.

With my current plan, I will only drag my family down into the depths of student-level poverty for 2 years (not counting the four years of med school).

Current plan:
Summer 2011 - Chem I, Bio I
Fall 2011 - Chem II, Orgo I, Phys I
Spring 2012 - Orgo II, Phys II, Bio II
May 2012 - MCAT

I was talking to my premed advisor and he was worried I wouldn't be able to schedule all the courses and labs. He suggested that I take the lecture courses as currently planned and save the labs for glide year.

Would this work? Or would I end up reapplying in 2013 anyway?

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I think it should work just fine.

 

[DrMidlife]

See how those summer grades are before you plan too far ahead.

Best of luck to you.

 

[SFGuy2011]

Looks good for a start. Just an FYI though - sometimes those labs can fill up fast and be hard to get into.

If you stick to this and do well I don't see why you would need to reapply, but you'll have a better idea after you start taking classes and see how well you do.

 

[wholeheartedly]

The only things to maybe be concerned about are that sometimes they need to be taken at the same time and (The big one in my opinion) sometimes the labs can really make the lecture part of the course make more sense.

Most of my labs weren't that great and could have functioned on their own without the course and wouldn't have offered any benefit to the course. For two of my classes though, organic I and biochem, it was tremendously helpful to have the labs at the same time. In organic our TA was a rockstar and way better at explaining things than the prof. so the lab down-time wound up being a major study session for the entire lab. In biochemistry the labs always made the lectures make more sense to me and helped solidify things. Sometimes I learn better if I have the opportunity to apply information.

So just keep that in mind.

 

[EdLongshanks]

So, I'm not getting any younger, and I want to get through my med school prerequisites as fast as possible. I'm sure a lot of my fellow non-trads feel the same way.

With my current plan, I will only drag my family down into the depths of student-level poverty for 2 years (not counting the four years of med school).

Current plan:
Summer 2011 - Chem I, Bio I
Fall 2011 - Chem II, Orgo I, Phys I
Spring 2012 - Orgo II, Phys II, Bio II
May 2012 - MCAT

I was talking to my premed advisor and he was worried I wouldn't be able to schedule all the courses and labs. He suggested that I take the lecture courses as currently planned and save the labs for glide year.

Would this work? Or would I end up reapplying in 2013 anyway?

Are you also working during that schedule? If so, then this summer is too heavy. Also, you have no upper level biology classes. It is possible to get into medical school with just the pre-reqs, but most of your classmates have at least a few upper-level bio classes. I can tell you that upper-level bio is very useful for the MCAT.

Also, you have no shadowing/clinical experience in there. The interviews that I attended treated this as nearly a requirement. To apply osteo, you need a letter from a DO, which means you have to shadow one.

 

[EdLongshanks]

Are you also working during that schedule? If so, then this summer is too heavy. Also, you have no upper level biology classes. It is possible to get into medical school with just the pre-reqs, but most of your classmates have at least a few upper-level bio classes. I can tell you that upper-level bio is very useful for the MCAT.

Also, you have no shadowing/clinical experience in there. The interviews that I attended treated this as nearly a requirement. To apply osteo, you need a letter from a DO, which means you have to shadow one.

If you are not working, then this schedule is doable and you will have plenty of time for the shadowing. I wouldn't put the labs off. You can take the upper-level bio during your application year.

 

[Teacher2Doc]

@ EdLongshanks - I will have to work through my prereqs - wife and 3 kids to feed. The glide year should be plenty of time to finish labs/take upper level bio. I'm just wondering if not having the labs done before submitting the AMCAS app in june 2012 will significantly hurt my chances.

As to shadowing, this post was more about my coursework plans. I've already started shadowing. I'm also working on EMT cert right now and plan to work nights as an EMT while doing the prereqs. Now, I just need to figure out where I'll fit in sleeping/eating/family/volunteering!

 

[Teacher2Doc]

Is there anyone out there that has done this?

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

I don't know you so I can't say for certain whether this will work for you, but in general I think your plan is overly ambitious for most students--even most who will eventually get into medical school!

Even if you don't take labs at the same time as your courses, o-chem and physics are normally some of the most challenging classes for pre-meds. If you plan to work at the same time, I'd be worried that you won't have enough time to study for these classes. With a wife and three kids your studying time is going to be severely limited.

Ask yourself what you would do if you got a low grade on a major exam and it was too late to drop the class. Would you quit working altogether to bring up your grade? Or would you keep working and take whatever grade you get?

...

I'll give you a moment to think 🙂

...

Okay, if you said you'd keep working then I'm worried that you're not committed enough to getting into medical school. Might sound harsh but I'm just being honest. I'm a nontraditional student and I've watched lots of nontraditional students make the "obvious" choice to put their spouse/child/mortgage in front of their grades and extra-curricular activities. I don't blame them for their choices, but neither am I surprised when they don't get into medical school...

As for taking the MCAT in May... I advise everyone to give themselves one to two months to study for the MCAT where the MCAT is their top priority (hopefully their only priority). Plenty of people get A's in all their core pre-req classes right before taking the MCAT and still do worse on the MCAT than they would like. I tell everyone to take a prep class (Kaplan/Princeton/other).

Remember: As a nontraditional student your life experience only helps you after your application makes it to a real living person. Your grades and MCAT scores still have to be acceptable for this to happen.

Good luck!

 

[EdLongshanks]

@ EdLongshanks - I will have to work through my prereqs - wife and 3 kids to feed. The glide year should be plenty of time to finish labs/take upper level bio. I'm just wondering if not having the labs done before submitting the AMCAS app in june 2012 will significantly hurt my chances.

As to shadowing, this post was more about my coursework plans. I've already started shadowing. I'm also working on EMT cert right now and plan to work nights as an EMT while doing the prereqs. Now, I just need to figure out where I'll fit in sleeping/eating/family/volunteering!

I'm a good student. But that plan is more ambitious than I could have survived. My last semester was a burnout. My advice is to build in another year.

 

[gunito]

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

Slow down and make sure you do well.

 

[MrLinderman]

Weird. I didn't even know you could take the lab at a later date. My UG made us take the lab the same semester we took the class.

Edit: Also, are you taking both of those classes in the summer at the same time or are you spreading them out over summer sessions?

 

[EdLongshanks]

Weird. I didn't even know you could take the lab at a later date. My UG made us take the lab the same semester we took the class.

Edit: Also, are you taking both of those classes in the summer at the same time or are you spreading them out over summer sessions?

Different schools, and sometimes different departments within schools, do it differently. My Biology classes are together, my Chemistry are separate. Same school

 

[sharmi]

@ EdLongshanks - I will have to work through my prereqs - wife and 3 kids to feed. The glide year should be plenty of time to finish labs/take upper level bio. I'm just wondering if not having the labs done before submitting the AMCAS app in june 2012 will significantly hurt my chances.

AMCAS expects us to submit our grades for the pre-reqs WITH labs. Not completing 1/2 pre-reqs or labs BEFORE applying may be fine, but not having any of the labs may not resonate well with them. To top that you won't any upper level sciences. Also you will have to travel for interviews (during your glide year, depending on where you apply) - so that may not go very well if you plan to take ALL the labs at the same time (you have to be present in person for a lab, correct?). I would totally suggest building in another year into your plan.

As to shadowing, this post was more about my coursework plans. I've already started shadowing. I'm also working on EMT cert right now and plan to work nights as an EMT while doing the prereqs. Now, I just need to figure out where I'll fit in sleeping/eating/family/volunteering!

I will be applying this summer and have a family (with 2 little ones) plus a career in engineering right now. Believe me, its harder than you can imagine at this point. The classes are not hard, but to manage to fit everything in a week is hard. I had spread it over almost 3 years (will complete 60+ credits before I apply this year). I did a lot of upper level bio, you probably don't need all that. I had never had any bio after my 10th grade - which is why I tried to take as many as I could. It sure helped me on the Bio section in the MCAT.

And lastly, taking the MCAT right after a full semester of sciences (if you have had none before) + full time work + EC = a very bad idea. Not to sound pessimistic, but even if you are on top of the material (I doubt this, especially, w/o any upper levels or any extra MCAT study time) you need at least a month to just do practice tests. Just build in the extra year and this will be so very feasible.

 

[Teacher2Doc]

@ Everyone - Much food for thought! I really appreciate all the time and thought you put into your responses. Just thinking about taking two years instead of three is a relief! Maybe I'll spread it out and enjoy the journey.

@ Sharmi - Haven't had any bio since HS either, but I love the stuff. Two years will give me time to really dig into Bio.

@ gunito - I'm putting that one on the wall!

 

[Teacher2Doc]

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I'll give you a moment to think 🙂

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Thanks! I needed that!