taking an online psych or sociology course?
Those are “recommended” but not req’d.
Really depends upon the policies of the specific school. Some med schools say no online classes period; some say no online classes for pre-reqs. Consult the MSAR for specific school policies.
When a med school says “no online classes period”… what does that really mean?
Does that mean if someone took an online class sometime in their past they’re automatically disqualified from being accepted to that SOM? That sounds ridiculous.
Imagine…you’ve taken your normal course work, and you’ve taken an (unnecessary) Italian class online before going to Italy for a study abroad. Sometime later you apply to med school. Would the med school seriously auto-reject you even if you had excellent stats?
This just doesn’t make sense.
I doubt a school would reject an applicant for just that, but it may not consider any class taken online. In your example, a school might XXXX out the Italian credit when reading the student’s application and instruct reviewers to disregard it.
It also probably depends on what institution the online class was taken through.
If a student takes a an online class offered thru their home institution often there is nothing on the transcripts which identifies the class a “online only.” The med school wouldn’t know or probably care. However if it was taken thru a different school or a institution whose presence is primarily online (think online for-profit colleges) --those may get red flagged as questionable.
It is not accurate to say online prereqs are not allowed. The current MSAR has columns for AP, online and CC courses that are accepted for each school. Some, like Duke and Harvard, have an orange check mark under some prereqs indicating they will consider online courses on a case by case basis. Others such as Alabama or Iowa have a mix with some green check marks indicating online courses are accepted for those classes.
I don’t think anyone would recommend opening the door to too many potential question marks on an app, but online prereq classes are not de facto prohibited.
^^Which I why I said upstream to consult the MSAR.
However, I also think there’s more granularity w/r/t orange checks. Someone contemplating an online class really needs to investigate further about the specifics. For example, our state med school has an orange check but if you check the actual school admissions page, you’d discover it only allows student to take online pre-reqs “with advanced written permission from the Dean of Admissions”. (IOW, the student must obtain permission from the Dean before s/he enrolls in an online course. And the student must present specific justification to get that permission, such as extended overseas military deployment.) It also states that no lab credit may be earned thru online coursework under any circumstances.
Both are pretty significant qualifiers.
Agreed. But the title of this thread is misleading.
I agree with WOWmom in terms of the italian example. It’s not that schools “forbid” students from taking online courses, it’s that theyt don’t accept online courses as valid. If the course was not needed for admission in the first place, the fact that it was online will have no impact.
Again, the MSAR currently shows green checks for online classes (meaning accepted) at many schools for many prereqs, with others considering on a case by case basis. To say that online courses are not considered valid for prereqs or otherwise appears to be outdated information. Applicants must check each school individually.
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It’s not that schools “forbid” students from taking online courses, it’s that theyt don’t accept online courses as valid. If the course was not needed for admission in the first place, the fact that it was online will have no impact.
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That is my gut feel.
@mom2twins are there med schools that will accept online science prereqs?
Yes. Biochem in particular seems to be allowed, certainly because it is such a new requirement at many schools. Physics is accepted at Alabama. I was asked to look for a student who is a Florida resident and a few of their publics accept online for almost all requirements, including sciences. I would always confirm directly with the school if it were my student.
I’m confused – how would they even know if a course is online? At my undergrad orgo 1 and 2 was ONLY offered online so I had no choice but to take it that way. I got into medical school so it didn’t affect me and I don’t recall them even asking if it was online on my application nor did it being online even show in my transcript.
@whatupdawg Didn’t you go to UIUC? Orgo I and II are only available online?
If you didn’t go to UIUC, where did you go?
Do you mind saying what UG you went to? This seems highly unusual. How was the lab component handled?
@whatupdawg What year are you in med school? Which med schools accepted you?