My D attends a Big Ten University where the one semester Biochemistry class for pre-med majors is only offered online fall semester. It is offered as a hybrid class in the Spring- but she feels she needs to take it now to prepare for MCAT in the spring. We just got a membership to the AMCAS Medical School Admissions Requirements website. So, far I have found the following schools require Biochemistry, but do not accept online courses:
John Hopkins
Yale
Harvard
University of Illinois
Indiana University
University of Pittsburgh
I talked to pre-med advisory (who admits that they are not as knowledgeable on medical schools in other states) and she indicates she believes they accept the course they offer and said they believe Medical Schools will categorize it as a hybrid course because all the exams are in person and are proctored.
Does anyone have any info on this? My D will be applying during the 2019-2020 cycle. I did see references made on some medical schools about changes being made for the class. I would appreciate any insight provided. THX 
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biochem makes up about 1/3 of the questions in the biological sciences section of the MCAT. She absolutely need to take biochem before she attempts the MCAT.
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Most med schools will not accept 100% online classes as fulfilling admission requirements–except under special circumstances (active duty military serving overseas, for example) and typically require that the student obtain written permission in advance from the admission office before enrolling in an online pre-req class. Hybrid classes may or may not acceptable, depending on the individual med school’s policies. Your D will need to contact each medical school’s admission office and ask about their policies w/r/t hybrid classes.
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There are more med schools that require an in-person biochem class than what you have listed above. Probably substantially more. For example, our state med schools require biochem and don’t accept online classes–and it’s not on your list.
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How each med school views the online class with proctored exams is entirely up the individual school.
AMCAS and individual med schools have access to an online database of course catalogs for every US college. Admission offices can check this catalog and are able to tell from the section number and designation used in the catalog whether the class is online/hybrid/conventional…Adcomms tend to accept whatever designation a college attaches to a class in their own course catalog. So if her home college lists the class as online or primarily online, the adcomm will consider the class online.
- Admissions requirements for med schools can and do change from year to year, occasionally on very short notice. (Famously, OSU added a new pre-req halfway through the admission cycle one year…)
And to complicate things further–most med schools are transitioning to competency-based admission which elimination specific course requirements. Under competency based admission, students are expected to demonstrate mastery through either coursework (esp upper level coursework) or extensive research in the area.
tl;dr–your D needs to email admission offices of any med schools she intends to apply to inquire about their policies w/r/t online and hybrid classes.
@WayOutWestMom
Thanks for the info.It does appear like the requirements are in a state of change based on the “competency-based admission” and the need identified in the past few years for biochemistry to be incorporated. However- I would think not allowing proctored exam, online classes does not correlate with the goal of “competency-based admissions”. If she takes the class, gets an A, and demonstrates proficiency of Biochemistry on the MCAT, I think that would demonstrate “competency”. However, I don’t think they will see it that way for the next couple of years… so I will tell her to do as you advise and email the admissions offices of schools she is interested in applying to.
I am irritated by the semantics being played here (proficiency = competency???). I am also irritated that the university that she attends is not offering the in-person course in the fall of each year. I feel like waiting to take Biochem in the spring would not give her enough time to review and study the material for the MCAT in the spring.
What you think and believe or is your opinion doesn’t matter. Only what the admission committee thinks matters when it comes to admission policies. The process is what it is…
There is still a great deal of stigma surrounding online classes and med schools are wary of accepting online coursework because the quality of often widely variable and there is a high potential for fraud (even with proctored exams). (After all, who knows if the person who showed up to take the exam is actually the same person who has been doing the homework or at-home labs?)
The purpose of competency based admission is two-fold:
1) to encourage students who have AP/IB credits or other advanced standing to skip repeating entry level coursework in favor of taking additional in-depth upper level coursework or of engaging in significant independent scholarly research
2) to provide alternatives for non-traditional applicants, esp those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and who may not have access to the traditional 4 year college experience
I think the LCME made the wording intentional vague because it permits each school to define what acceptable to it and its internal admission policies since each med school has a different mission, accepts/enrolls a different student population and answers to a different Board of Governors. There really isn't a one size fits all one specific recipe that will fit every single med school. In fact, prior to the LCME's adoption of competency standards, there were no universal standards for med school admission. Each med school was free to develop their own policies, and in some cases. this meant med schools could accept applicants who were wildly unqualified but were politically connected or who donated large sums to the school. (And it has happened--and not in the distant past either...)
@WayOutWestMom : Curious about "high potential for fraud–even with proctored exams " ? Can you elaborate ? Thank you in advance !
@momofsmartdancer : Although unfamiliar with medical school admissions, it seems as though your daughter should take the first available course in order to be able to do well on the MCAT. Consult with her current school to see if she will be eligible to retake the course in order to facilitate eligibility for medical school admission.
@Publisher
Med school admission is so highly competitive that desperate students will engage in unethical means to gain an advantage. It’s fairly easy to get a fake student ID or driver’s license that says Person A is actually Person B. Using this ID, Person A takes the proctored exam for Person B. Since the proctor doesn’t actually know what Person B looks like, no question about the identity of Person A is ever raise. Also online assignments and labs aren’t proctored so there is no way of knowing who is doing the actual work that will be part of the final grade for the class.
For the past 8 years, AMCAS has resorted to fingerprinting & photographing all individuals who present themselves to take MCAT in order to reduce/eliminate “ringers” from taking the exam.
Also taking then re-taking the same class is very poor idea. Both courses are included by AMCAS and AACOMAS when computing GPAs and sGPAs. Retaking a class that one has already passed is a negative ding on one’s application. Med schools get as many as 12,000+ applications for 150 seats. Admission is a negative process, with adcomms actively looking for reasons to eliminate applicants. One wants as few dings on one’s application as possible.
@WayOutWestMom
You add some interesting information to think about… if someone gets admitted to med school who is significantly underqualified, one would think they would be very challenged to master the material and pass the tests. I wonder if a med school that let in a relative of a generous donor would get special help to keep up???
@Publisher
I have reviewed course descriptions and she would not be able to retake the hybrid version of the course in spring of her senior year as they don’t allow retakes. They do offer a two course sequence for biochem majors. It looks like she might need to take the second course in that sequence. I am not happy about that alternative because of some reasons. First, it would be an extra course, not counting towards courses required for graduation (and an extra hard one at that). Second, the sequence would be out of whack going from taking a self-contained course to the second course of a sequence of courses. Third, she would have at least a 6 month time gap before taking the second course (she would not take that course while studying for MCAT). Fourth, her goal is to graduate with a 4.0 GPA and reviews indicate the second course can really mess with a person’s GPA. Getting a 4.0 is her personal goal not really related to med school.
@momofsmartdancer
In the most recent case, the Dean of a Med school was fired from his job for admitting a politically connected applicant who had been rejected by the admissions committee as being unqualified. (Members of the adcomm reported him to the LCME and the subsequent investigation somehow was leaked to all the local newspapers…)
Amid the outcry of publicity the applicant in question withdrew from the school and never started classes. I don’t know what eventually become of him.
Med schools are very invested in their students passing classes (and the USMLE/COMLEX exams), in part because their accreditation depends on maintaining certain student graduation and exam pass rates. Every med school (allopathic and osteopathic) in the US offers free tutoring/free and other academic supports to their admitted students.
Do you know what they call the person who graduates last in his med school class?
Doctor
However, not even the intercession of the Dean of the Medical School will allow a consistently failing student or student who has repeatedly failed a national exam to remain enrolled.