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07 August 2012

Online Postbaccalaureate Premedical Programs

By Dave Young


We are now living in a time where online classes are increasing at an unbelievable swiftness. Today, even top tier universities and colleges are providing classes over the internet via their own services or via such things as Coursera. With the ubiquity of internet-based classrooms, what about doing your postbaccalaureate premedical study on the web?

Do you remember that modern day we are living in in which the web is expanding dramatically? Well, medical science and medical schooling is not at all close just yet. In an age of cell phones and high speed broadband and free wi-fi, medical school admissions officers continue to be trapped in the early 90's "Here's the AOL cd" phase.

Nearly all medical schools in america will not accept courses taken on the internet. Some say it straight up (I'm thinking about you Vandy!) while other people soundlessly pitch those submissions in the garbage. Rest assured, online courses won't be suitable at pretty much any med school. This may possibly switch in the long run as institutions turn the corner with this issue, but for now this is how it really is.

So, will there be any role for web based studying in your post-baccalaureate studies? Certainly! Because of so many courses presently online, you can study from the top tutors on the planet free! There's no reason to let a poor teacher prevent your learning; go on the internet and learn about it from the much better one and come back and crush your exams.

I've also experienced a lot of success with Khan Academy, another free service on the internet to find free mini-tutorials on practically any area of interest. Khan himself used to instruct MCAT for Princeton Review, so most of the pre-med main subject areas can be found. If you ever realize you are baffled by a topic, you can see one or two 8 minute videos and soon it can all be sensible to you. And did I mention this is all absolutely free?

While Khan is the best for smaller doses of guidance, you should check out Coursera or MIT's online courseware to find some other full science classes solely over the internet. Walter Lewin's intro to physics class at MIT was the highest downloaded podcast on iTunes for a long time, and he helps make calc-based physics truly seem interesting.

Unfortunately, there's no plausible online postbaccalaureate premedical program currently, though there are plenty who would like to take your cash! For the time being, online post-bacc work will probably be confined to study for your own personal enhancement.

Consider using this to test the waters before investing actual money. Use it prior to your courses so you can start with a leg up. I personally have scored above the 90th percentile on the MCAT while not stepping within a science course thanks to these online sources, though I did eventually take classes within a brick-and-mortar school.

For many years, achieving success during pre-med courses was dependent upon the luck of having good instructors or just being naturally good; today, everyone can learn organic chem and physics through internet based post-bacc classes. Now if perhaps we could have the admissions committees be a part of the 21st century!




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