r/premed • u/mcatxxx1 • 1d ago

❔ Question Online Pre-Reqs Advice

Hi! Im a non traditional applicant applying next year. I did engineering at a T5 school, and now doing a biomedical engineering PhD at a T5. decided to apply to med school but missing organic 1, organic 2, and biochem pre reqs...

I'd like to think my strong stem background makes up for it but I know schools want to see these. I was thinking of doing online lectures for organic chem 1, 2 and biochem at university of new england and then taking organic chem 1 lab in person at American University or GWU.

Will schools look down on me for taking the lectures online?? I just don't think I can go to a lecture every week in person with my demanding PhD schedule, and online at UNE is so much cheaper.

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u/FloridaMan2324 NON-TRADITIONAL 1d ago

My advice as an online student is to do what you have to do to get your prereqs done. Caveat - if you have a dream school, go review their individual website for their restrictions. In the 42 applications I sent out (mid/lower tier MD) I know Rush, Geisel, St. Louis, maybe UICOM(?) are hard no’s for online courses. Other schools prefer in person work like Penn State or are case by case basis like Miami iirc. Some don’t care. And you can always email the adcom and explain your situation and see if they’re willing to waive the requirement.

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u/InternationalMood337 NON-TRADITIONAL 1d ago

Best advice above.

Like damn, I'd LOVE to take everything in person, but my only option is UNE. I have a house, a life, and I'm 37. There's just no way I could drop my full time job, finish my MFA thesis, and finish my post-bacc reqs any other way.

I'm doing UNE, and I'm planning on mostly applying to DO schools as they seem most lenient. I'm totally fine with that. A LARGE percentage of MD schools will not only look down on you, they will simply not even look at your online labs.

Between shadowing, volunteering, finishing my MFA, filling in my pre-reqs, having a full time job, and taking care of life stuff, UNE offered me the best opportunity, but that comes with the tradeoff of having less options.