What do you think of Online Courses??

[BRUINGOLD]

I was thinking about retaking intro bio and intro chem through the UC Berkeley Online Extension program in order to improve these weak spots in my app.

Has anyone tried such programs and what do you think of them? Also, any thoughts on how medical schools feel about students taking courses online??

Thanks!

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[Skaterbabe74]

I've taken many of my "core" classes online, but I would hestitate to take a science class, especially a prereq online. The issue will be a lab....These prereqs are assumed to have been taken with their accompanied labs and there's really no way to incorporate a lab into an online format unless you live close enough to the sponsering school to go to the campus for the lab. Now if you go to a school where the labs are considered a completely separate entity from the lecture portion then it may be possible, but you'll still have to take the labs at some point. The other thing that would make me hesitate to do these classes online would be that many schools are only going to accept a certain number of online courses. On the other hand, taking a non-science online would certainly show that you have the discipline to handle med school classes as they most definitely require a lot of discipline. They are actually often harder in many respects than taking a class on campus....

--Jessica, UCCS

 

[BRUINGOLD]

Thanks for the feedback. I was also concerned about the lab. It turns out that this program has designed the lab portion to be done at home. I'm not really sure how this would work, though.

 

[LoneCoyote]

Maybe since you would be retaking the classes you already took earlier it wouldn't matter as much if you did them online? I also think that maybe how the med schools react to online requirements could partially depend on how it appears on your transcript. I know Arizona for awhile was offering Molecular Biology only as an online class. So it just appeared as Molecular Bio and there was no specific online notation. They also offer some distance learning classes and you can take Intro Physics (w/o lab) and it just appears as a different section # than the regular class. The advisor here said it was fine to use these classes as prereqs. I personally did not like the online format for molecular bio because I felt it was sort of disorganized and hard to follow. We also had online discussion that I did not like the format of. So I dropped it but it really works well for some people, especially if you like just doing the stuff on your own and not having to go to class all the time.

 

[Jacobim]

You had weakness in intro bio and intro chem?

 

[2ndave]

It turns out that this program has designed the lab portion to be done at home.

Hmm--Gen Chem lab right in your own home... I'm curious to know what that will involve!

Seriously, give a few med schools you're interested in a call and see what they think.

 

[BRUINGOLD]

azpremed-- that's what I was thinking too. Hopefully, they wouldn't mind as much because I've already taken these courses at UCLA. I'm going to check with Cal and see exactly how these will appear on the transcript.

2ndave- same here, lab should be pretty interesting.

Jacobim-- yeah, I had a weakness in intro bio and intro chem. Big deal. I'm not retaking the whole series, just the first of each. I took them the first quarter of my freshman year and did not do as well as I wanted.

 

[gdk]

BRUINGOLD, just to reiterate - i've noticed that some schools do not accept online, correspondance, or outreach course credit at all (or AP credit for that matter). i would definately check with your top few schools before taking anything online that you want credit for. also, some require science coursework to be within the last 7 years or so... if you are retaking from a while ago.

 

[2ndave]

2ndave- same here, lab should be pretty interesting.

What I want to know is if they'd let you measure stuff on your bathroom scale and report it in American units!

You could do the titrations from one of those turkey basters too.

Just teasing, of course. But they must send out some kind of kit or something so you can do the experiments.

 

[pallhaco doce]

I took an online Gen Chem course (labs were in class, though, 1x per week). I did not like it. If I did not already know the material, I would have learned diddly (we had a huge amount of "online" coursework that was pretty much just busywork).

I have taken some regular classes that rely heavily on online materials and exercises, but they still have lectures and stuff. Doing everything online is a little bit different -- requires a bit more structure and discipline on your part. It might be okay, but it really depends on your personality.

BTW, if you are looking to buy some CD-Roms with GChem lectures and exercises, I'm your man. Seriously! (They are from Thinkwell).

Good luck,
PD

 

[BRUINGOLD]

Yeah, they must have some kit or something. I'm still trying to contact schools and make sure that they will be acceptable. I will post an update here in case anyone is thinking about doing the same thing! It will definitely take a lot of discipline on my part, but I think I'm ready for it, so hopefully, all goes well!

PD, I'll let ya know if I need the CD-ROM's.

 

[lola]

i'm taking biochem through uc berkeley extension. it's not technically an online course, it's a "distance learning" course. nothing is on the computer -- you learn from books. i don't know how the gen chem & bio are, but the biochem is watered down and there is no lab. and yes, it requires discipline (something i don't seem to have much of ).
can you not retake them at a community college?

 

[BRUINGOLD]

lola-- I'm not too sure on the details for gen chem and bio. I was pretty surprised to see that they are offering them online and that they had a lab that can be done at home. I might be participating in a research program in the summer or if not, then working full-time so I wanted to re-take them at my own pace, if possible.