Medical Education US

DrDave,

Thank you very much for all your responses in this thread. I really appreciate the effort and find your advice incredibly helpful as I try to familiarize myself with the med school application process.

I originally graduated with a BS in engineering about 10 years ago with a 3.2 GPA. I took Chemistry I & II back then, but it's been so long I think I'll need to re-take them before moving on to the Organic Chemistry and Biology classes (which I didn't take). I'm also considering retaking Physics I & II. I have a few questions I was hoping you could help me with --

1. As I'm retaking Chem I & II (and possibly Physics I & II), do you think I'll need to retake the associated labs for them as well?
2. Are labs generally required for ALL these courses?
3. Will the GPA I report to schools include these additional classes I'm taking post-baccalaureate? I'm hoping to use this as an opportunity to improve my 3.2.
4. Will I be able to find somebody to serve as a more formal advisor to help guide me along the path towards medical school even though I won't be enrolled in a degree program?
5. Is there anything else I should keep in mind after having been outside of academia for so long that you can think of?

Thank you again for your time.

roygbiv,

I split off this post from the medical school requirements thread because I thought it was specific enough to warrant its own thread. I also edited the title and it should automatically pull up some related threads which are linked at the bottom.

1. Most medical schools require the pre-med courses to include an associated lab. If you had taken the lab when you did originally take chemistry I and II, then you may not need to retake the lab (as you may not even need to retake chemistry). You should check with a few of the schools in which you are interested to confirm. Just because you don't need to take the lab, it may be helpful to do so as it may help prepare you for the MCAT and it may also help you with understanding what you are studying in the class. If you don't want to take the associated lab, I would suggest you first check with some medical schools and see if they would want you to have completed the lab recently.

2. Most medical schools require associated labs for chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and physics.

3. Medical schools will definitely see your grades from your recent coursework. I would think they would likely weigh recent grades more than remote grades, but they probably still look at overall GPA / science GPA from all of your coursework.

4. You would need to check with your college.

5. I would suggest you try to network with some other "non-traditional" medical students / pre-med students. There are several sites that specialize in non-traditional students. Google the topic and I'm sure you'll find some helpful information.

Thanks much, DrDave!