Social Science Grad Needs Advice

[sigmadeltag]

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So these questions have been answered in different contexts before, but couldn't find them in my particular context:

The quick version: I was originally a Biology major, switched to Social Science during my 3rd year, graduated, worked 2 years in business. Now I want to go the medical route but I have the following [normally] taboo issues:

-I did a lot of premed prereqs [about half of what I need] but I don't remember any of the material anymore, plus I got B's and C's the first time. My gut says retake everything (it's been over 4 years since I took these classes) to 1) relearn the material and 2) show that I can Ace the classes now. Is my gut wrong?

-So I can't do a second bachelors because no school around here accepts them AND the public postbac program (career changer program) wont accept me b/c I have premed prereqs taken within the last five years. Can't even afford to take pre-req classes at a 4-year because it's some $500-700 a class and zero-to-little aid offered since I have a B.A. already. Is my only option to do all pre-reqs at a CC, and is this acceptable?

-Ultimately, does a high MCAT score smooth all this over? Or is my potential to be a competitive applicant FUBAR?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Most CC science courses will be around $300 for a 3 credit course and $400 for a 4 credit course. So you really won't save much and it might be better to finish up the pre-reqs at a 4 year. Anyways if you've already taken all of your pre-reqs you need to calculate what your gpa is in all of them. For the most part retaking them won't help you much for MD especially if you're gpa in them is low. However for DO, retaking all of the courses might be effective as they will only look at the retakes. Along with a few upper levels I might add.


[EDIT] : For some reason I thought this was in Pre-Allo XD.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Most CC science courses will be around $300 for a 3 credit course and $400 for a 4 credit course.

Not everywhere, my friend. Here in California it's $26 per unit.

OP - I wouldn't bother retaking anything with a B or higher. There's no point in risking that. If you need to refresh on the material, sign up as an audit student.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Not everywhere, my friend. Here in California it's $26 per unit.

OP - I wouldn't bother retaking anything with a B or higher. There's no point in risking that. If you need to refresh on the material, sign up as an audit student.

Seriously? That's pretty low. But yah in my county it's $100 per credit, which contrasts the state universities $125 per credit. But yes I agree with Triage.

 

[koan]

So these questions have been answered in different contexts before, but couldn't find them in my particular context:

The quick version: I was originally a Biology major, switched to Social Science during my 3rd year, graduated, worked 2 years in business. Now I want to go the medical route but I have the following [normally] taboo issues:

-I did a lot of premed prereqs [about half of what I need] but I don't remember any of the material anymore, plus I got B's and C's the first time. My gut says retake everything (it's been over 4 years since I took these classes) to 1) relearn the material and 2) show that I can Ace the classes now. Is my gut wrong?

-So I can't do a second bachelors because no school around here accepts them AND the public postbac program (career changer program) wont accept me b/c I have premed prereqs taken within the last five years. Can't even afford to take pre-req classes at a 4-year because it's some $500-700 a class and zero-to-little aid offered since I have a B.A. already. Is my only option to do all pre-reqs at a CC, and is this acceptable?

-Ultimately, does a high MCAT score smooth all this over? Or is my potential to be a competitive applicant FUBAR?

Serenade is right, do not bother retaking any B... but do retake the C's and finish your prereqs with as many A's as possible. The upward trend in GPA will look good from any school (4-year or CC) but obviously a 4-year will have superior clout if you can swing it. If you can get a job at the university they may offer tuition waivers... for example my employer offers up to 6 credits free per quarter. I used this program to take evening physics classes while working full time. Paid something like $15 per credit for administrative charges...

A high MCAT will only smooth over so much... if you're app is really skewed one way or the other (super low GPA / high MCAT, or high GPA / super low MCAT) you'll run into problems.

 

[the duck]

Not everywhere, my friend. Here in California it's $26 per unit.

OP - I wouldn't bother retaking anything with a B or higher. There's no point in risking that. If you need to refresh on the material, sign up as an audit student.

yup! The resto of the country should worship us Californias! Our state obviously can afford to be giving out CC at such a low charge.

 

[CopToEM]

I will third or fourth the "do not retake a B" statement. Also, depending on how many credits you have under your belt now, retaking a couple of C's might not even be worth it.

Realistically if you have 120+ credits on your transcript and you change a couple C's to A's it's not going to have a profound effect. Of course, they are pre-reqs and it will show the med school that you do care about the material more than you did four years ago.

It's kind of up in the air. If you truly need a refresh on the material and you originally had C's there no reason for you to audit the class. Just do better than a C this time around.

Community college is fine. Especially if your reasoning is solely financial.

 

[Tekar]

So these questions have been answered in different contexts before, but couldn't find them in my particular context:

The quick version: I was originally a Biology major, switched to Social Science during my 3rd year, graduated, worked 2 years in business. Now I want to go the medical route but I have the following [normally] taboo issues:

-I did a lot of premed prereqs [about half of what I need] but I don't remember any of the material anymore, plus I got B's and C's the first time. My gut says retake everything (it's been over 4 years since I took these classes) to 1) relearn the material and 2) show that I can Ace the classes now. Is my gut wrong?

-So I can't do a second bachelors because no school around here accepts them AND the public postbac program (career changer program) wont accept me b/c I have premed prereqs taken within the last five years. Can't even afford to take pre-req classes at a 4-year because it's some $500-700 a class and zero-to-little aid offered since I have a B.A. already. Is my only option to do all pre-reqs at a CC, and is this acceptable?

-Ultimately, does a high MCAT score smooth all this over? Or is my potential to be a competitive applicant FUBAR?

I did all of my pre-reqs at cc except physics and upper grad ochem. The only reason I did the physics at the uni was because I could do both in 10 weeks during the summer.

You'll have some repair to do for the pre-reqs. You could also apply to masters degree in physiology or anatomy programs. That'll offset your concern and really help for medical school. It'll also allow you to get loans to feed yourself.