Taking a class this summer

[217086]

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Hi everyone,

I'm reapplying this summer to MD programs and DO programs. Finished my undergrad 2 years ago. My gpa both c and s suck pretty bad(3.22), and I'm hoping to do something about that without taking a SMP program. I live near UC Berkeley, so I can take some of the extension classes. One class i'm looking at is medical virology or immunology. Both are worth 3 units. Do you guys think this will be helpful in my situation?

Thanks,
Stefan

 

[LaTortuga]

Absolutely, I think both of those courses could be very useful and helpful for your situation. When I re-applied for the 2008-09 cycle, I'd been out of undergrad for about 4 years. Some schools that I applied to specifically mentioned wanting to see applicants who have been out of school for a bit ... come back and attempt challenging 400 level undergraduate work.

I took a handful of medically relevant and interesting courses: immuno, virology, medical bacteriology and bioethics.

I thought of them as a nice way to raise the GPA by a few points, and lay the groundwork for success when medical school starts up. Sure, first year immunology will be far more advanced than any undergraduate course ... but at least you'll be able to lay a nice foundation for the med school stuff.

One word of caution ... if you do take the plunge and take these courses, be sure to nail them. Since this will be your most recent coursework, be sure to show the adcom's that you're still on top of your game.

Good luck! 😀

 

[217086]

Ok, thanks for the reply. One of the classes is an online class, will this be an issue or should I stick with classes that have meetings in an actual classroom?

 

[LaTortuga]

Wow, pretty quiet in the forums .. I thought someone with a little bit more expertise would have answered. 🙁 I don't have any experience with extension online courses, all of my courses were classroom based. My best guess would say a classroom course may be better if only for the opportunity to network and potentially get another LOR.

I know you mentioned that you graduated 2 years ago ... even so, you might want to see if your old school's premedical advisers have advice for you (classroom vs. online).

Good luck!