Taking classes in the year off

[Emmet2301]

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I have a few questions about reapplying to med school and taking classes in the year off.

1. What classes should you retake? Classes that you did badly in? Or intro level classes or upper level courses to increase your gpa.

2. Do universities allow people who already have their degree to do this?

3. Is it possible to have a full-time job during this?

4. When do you know that you should not apply to medical school and apply the next year with improved stats? Is there a certain gpa that if you fall under you should definetly not apply?

Thanks.

 

[gman33]

It's hard to answer most of these questions without knowing more about your application.
Post your degree and relevant stats (gpa, mcat, etc) and you can get some better advice.

Most colleges have some type of continuing ed program that allows you to take classes as a non-degree seeking student. I wouldn't recommend taking more than 1 science course at a time if you are working full-time. They eat up a lot of time and the worst thing you can do is do poorly in a class that was meant to boost your gpa.

 

[LaTortuga]

Hi Emmet,

I took classes before re-applying. The courses I did were all 400 level medically relevant courses: immuno, virology, bioethics, bacteriology. None of these were repeats, all new courses. I double majored during college and unfortunately didn't have the time to take these, so I made sure to take them during my year off before re-applying.

Universities will allow you to take courses once you earn your BA/BS ... but you'll have to look into postbac or nonmatriculated student programs.

One other option to think about is working for a major university near you. The school that I worked for offers a tuition exemption program which allowed me to take these courses (up to 6 credits/quarter) for free. The downside is that you have to wait until the third day of the quarter to register (so it is very difficult to get into high demand courses) but if you are persistent, you can use this type of free program to your advantage.

It is possible to work full time and take courses but I made sure to only take 1 per quarter. I wanted to put up good numbers, so I studied like crazy and made sure to 4.0 every one of them.

It's hard to say "when do you know that you should not apply" without knowing your stats, like the previous person mentioned ... however try to take a good hard look at your application. Be sure to improve something if you are going to apply again without waiting a year ... bump up the MCAT, add new volunteering/shadowing experience, add new life experience, anything. You might want to consider calling all of the schools that previously rejected you and getting feedback regarding what the major weakness was ... you might be surprised, it could be that your stats are fine, just the interview didn't go so well.

Look at the stats for the schools that you applied to, or will apply to next round to see how your numbers compare. I think it's best to shoot for >3.5 GPA and >30 MCAT. Look at MD applicants ... you can definitely get an acceptance with less than these numbers, but the odds will be stacked against you. If you do have a weak GPA, make sure you have some type of extracurricular sparkle to set yourself apart and make up for that weakness.

If you do decide to take a year off, make the most of it. Attack all of your activities with vigor, and enjoy the time that you have. I was initially leery about the idea of taking time off to really overhaul the application, but now that the application process is over, and I'm med school bound, I think the wait is definitely worth it. You'll grow a ton over the year if you decide to wait ... and it can only help you if you work hard during that year.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

Cheers! 😎

 

[Jen01]

I was in the same position as you. I wasn't accepted anywhere during my first round of applications, so 2 weeks after graduation (April 2008) I started taking more undergrad classes. I only took upper level science classes and made sure I was full time- some completely new, some that I didn't do as well in the first time around. I'm also working about 30 hours a week. Med schools want to see that you can handle a full load and still do well according to the advisor I met with. Taking intro classes or one class at a time probably isn't the best plan. Anyways, this worked for me and I just got accepted about a week ago. Good luck!

 

[bquillera13]

I was a reapplicant this year. I graduated from undergrad in May 2008. I took some science classes that I wasn't able to take during undergrad because of my major. I took molecular cell biology and micro. Right now I'm taking histology and endocrinology. I also worked part time doing research. I've been accepted this year, so I'm guessing it worked.