Session 18

On this episode of the OldPreMeds Podcast, Ryan and Rich again dive into the Nontraditional Premed Forum where they pull a question and deliver the answers right on to you.

Today’s question is quite interesting, as it pertains to busy nontraditional students who may not have time to go to classes, so they take online coursework rather than on-campus classes.

OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

Can you use an online degree for medical school?

The poster is considering doing an online degree as an older nontraditional student. They’ve emailed premed consultants and medical schools admission committees to ask. They’re thinking about doing a BA online at the University of Florida. 30 hours would be online, and they would complete premed coursework at a local campus.

Here are the insights from Ryan & Rich:

1. Some medical schools accept online courses, but most do not.

• MSAR lists which schools will accept or not accept online prerequisites

2. Undergrad institutions providing online courses are putting their name on the course.

• These schools would argue that their online course is as good as any course that they teach on-campus, so in all the transcripts you won’t know whether it’s an online class or not.
• Medical schools would like to see whether it’s online or not. They may ask a question on your secondary to see if you took any online coursework.

If you’re doing the medical school prerequisites on an actual campus and the rest of the degree online, there still could be some risks to it:

• It could limit what medical schools you can to apply to.
• It may put you at a competitive disadvantage in the applicant pool.

Major takeaways from this episode:

• It is such a time-consuming and expensive process to apply to medical school, so you wouldn’t want to run such a risk. But if taking an online course is a risk worth taking for you, go for it.
• Don’t rely on one just one medical school to apply to. Do your research. Check out the MSAR (for allopathic schools) or the CIB (for osteopathic schools) to arrive at the best decision possible.

[Related post: How Many Medical Schools Should I Apply To?]

Links and Other Resources

• Compare medical schools with the MSAR (allopathic) and CIB (osteopathic).
• Check out the Nontraditional Premed Forum, and leave a question of your own!
• Related episode: I’m Worried About My GPA and Online Courses. What Can I Do?
• Related episode: Can I Take Community College Courses for a Postbac?
• Need MCAT Prep? Save on tutoring, classes, and full-length practice tests by using promo code “MSHQ” for 10% off Next Step full-length practice tests or “MSHQTOC” for $50 off MCAT tutoring or the Next Step MCAT Course at Blueprint MCAT (formerly Next Step Test Prep)!