<p>I hope this wasn’t covered already, but I was wondering how important it is that medical schools see 4000 level courses on my transcript. I’m a junior bio major and haven’t taken any. I know they want to see a good mix of hard and easy classes and I’ve taken plenty of 3000 level courses, but do they really differentiate between 3000 and 4000? I plan to take a couple my senior year but I don’t know if this will be considered during the admissions process. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>What if you go to a college that gives evaluations not grades? Will you have to take your science classes at another school? Can you request grades? The school I’m thinking about is Hampshire College, if anyone has any firsthand experience, TIA!</p>
<p>I don’t know the policy at Hampshire, but at other universities that don’t report grades (Reed College), you can request a grade be assigned in addition to your evaluation.</p>
<p>You must have a recorded letter or numerical grade on your transcript when applying to medical school. </p>
<p>I suggest you contact the registrar’s office at Hampshire and ask how the school handles this. I’m sure you’re not the first student to ask the question.</p>
<p>I was checking requirements for our IS med school and saw that they require Genetics. D1 has NOT taken it, does she have to take it before applying to be considered? Or will they at least consider her and then ask that she make it up before matriculating if accepted? I ask because I though I read somewhere that they do this. She is in the first of 2 gap years, and so will not be applying until the next cycle.</p>
<p>She can apply with the course pending. She will be accepted conditionally. (Actually everyone gets accepted conditionally.) She should note on her AMCAS application that the course is pending and list the name of the school where and the term when she will be taking it.</p>
<p>The med school will send out a letter in May stating all the stuff an accepted student must do in order for their acceptance to to move from conditional to officially matriculated. It includes sending final official transcripts from all colleges attended to the med school (not to AMCAS) documenting that the undergrad degree has been awarded and all pre-reqs are completed, passing criminal background check, paying an additional deposit and a few other things I can’t remember now.</p>
<p>D1 applied with OChem 2 lab in progress and was conditionally accepted pending the completion of the pre-req. Apparently this happens all the time and is pretty routine.</p>
<p>The only hitch will come if the final grade in the missing class is below a C --then the conditional acceptance gets revoked.</p>
<p>Thanks very much, that helps!</p>
<p>I apologize if this question has been asked before.</p>
<p>I know that one year of organic chemistry is necessary, but do we also need a whole year of lab? I have read different things, so I am a bit confused.</p>
<p>Usually. Yes</p>
<p>If your school does not give “grades”, there are other ways to see where you are. Your letters will state as will your premed advisor’s letter.</p>
<p>Instead of asking on this board, have YOUR DAUGHTER (not you) check with the medical school. They will give you the straight answer</p>
<p>^Don’t worry, asking for input here was not intended to replace asking the school. I had a recollection of something I’d read before and since I’m here regularly I thought I’d ask.</p>
<p>S2 plans to apply at end of junior year but is being stubborn about when to take physics. he has advanced placement from hs, but despises physics and would not want to take an advanced course. so would just go back and take intro and drop the advanced placement credit. reading through BDM responses, it would seem that he could delay taking physics until senior year? (as mcat not physics intensive) but would the only consequence be that any med school acceptances would be contingent on him completing physics in his senior year? i had hoped he would complete all required courses before applying, but looks like that might not happen. any schools that dont require physics? :)</p>
<p>All schools require a year of general physics with lab.</p>
<p>And just having AP credit and no other physics classes on his transcript might be a black mark against him during the application review process, even if his MCAT PS score is good. (Missing a critical class.)</p>
<p>Applying with missing pre-reqs seems to work best for 1 semester type classes which are school specific–like biochem or psychology.</p>
<p>Both my kids took AP Phys BC in high school; both got 4s on the exam. Both kids said that college physics courses covered more material than the high school class did and in one case (D1’s) had substantially different content. (She got elementary circuits and intro to quantum mechanical phenomena in her college class.)</p>
<p>thanks wayoutwest… he knows he has to take it, but it is the timing of taking it that is the sticking point. i think he should just get it over with,he wants to wait… it was reading this comment by bdm made me wonder if he would be ok to wait</p>
<p>Timing: Many premeds wish to finish their courseload before the MCATs, which definitely has merits as a plan. The disadvantage is that you are forced to take many classes simultaneously. The solution is to delay as many classes are possible. Here are my suggestions:
1.) Do not take any biology classes related to ecology, evolution, diversity, etc. Focus instead on physiology, cell biology, and genetics.
2.) If you feel like you had a strong high school background in physics - or even if you just feel like you’re good at physics - then push that back as well. Physics on the MCAT is fairly easy, and a high school background (not even AP) combined with a good prep class should suffice.</p>
<p>I think that applying with one of the big 4 core pre-reqs missing is going to make adcomms unhappy esp since he has no college level physics grades to show. (And HS AP Phys ≠ college physics in most people’s eyes.) It could put him at a disadvantage when compared to his peers. He needs to understand that.</p>
<p>Sure, he doesn’t absolutely have to have physics before the MCAT; he doesn’t need physio, genetics or cellular either.</p>
<p>@WOWMom,
</p>
<p>Did they take AP Physics B, or AP Physics C? (or both?) These are two very different classes and they are NOT a sequence. My advice to anyone who scored a 4 or less is to take the class over in college. The grading is very inflated and a 4 means you missed A LOT. </p>
<p>@parent, I am subscribed to several MCAT question-of-day services plus I have taken the diagnostic and there are certainly physics question that really can’t be answered if you haven’t covered the material. I remember several on the diagnostic that included topics such as optics.</p>
<p>thanks wayoutwest and plumazul… i’ll let him him know your comments… i would certainly like him to take physics earlier than he plans…</p>
<p>Plumazul–they both took AP Phys C–calc-based physics. (Blame it on a temporary brain malfunction–I conflated AP physics and Calc. They both took Calc BC too.) </p>
<p>Both of them then took calc-based physics in college. D1 because she majored in physics; D2 because her school (top 30 research U) requires calc-based physics for all science/math/engineering majors–including bio majors.</p>
<p>And if IIRC, D1 said besides optics she had a several questions/reading passage about radioactivity/radioactive decay on her MCAT. (I remember because she said she didn’t need to read the passage, all she had to was look the accompanying graphic to answer all the questions because she did high energy physics research and read particle tracks all the time.)</p>
<p>that’s another question…i have to ask him…which one will he take? ap physics in hs and i have no idea whether calculus based or not (i’m sure he knows)…has already taken calc2 in college. which is the better one to take?</p>
<p>Whichever physics course is geared towards pre-meds…</p>
<p>Calc-based physics (esp if the physics majors and engineers are in the same class) has a reputation for chewing up bio majors because their math skills aren’t always on par with their classmates.</p>
<p>But calc 2 ought to be sufficient IF he’s comfortable using all the methods he learned in that class.</p>