Looking for help developing a roadmap to a medical school-friendly degree

[Jonathan Whatley]

This total is about 40 credits depending on the school. Also somesort of math probably at least calc but since math is required for every degree its a given.

Very few med schools still require calc. Johns Hopkins did last I heard. Statistics, though, is increasingly being added to med schools' 'recommended' lists.

Avoid doing these with clep, ace, nccrs, etc. 

Agreed, except that I think using a widely recognized, 'traditional' test-out option for English Comp I & II is just fine. (When I was looking at medical school, I used TECEP for both. The original source of the credit is an accredited college.)

if the medical school pre reqs are UL (they probably won't be)

Biochem and anatomy are UL sometimes, the others will be LL almost everywhere.

then transfer as much as you can with alt credit.

There are pros to this approach, but also cons. Your alt credit won't be graded credit toward your AMCAS GPA. It can help to have a cushion of As and B+s in subjects that come easily to you to hold up your GPA. If your GPA is derived from just a very few courses, the punch you'll take from something like a rough Ochem II is magnified.

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I completely agree with you that I'm overreaching. Many people do online stuff at the pre-requisite level.  But the rules vary from school to school and to have a solid chance of being admitted, it is my OPINION that the best way is the traditional way, meaning "ass in seat". If the OP can't, then he can't. If that's the case, doing prereqs online is better than nothing, for sure.

It is true that many people, some of whom are friends of mine, have done a portion of their prerequisites online. However, each and every one of them told me they were asked this when they were brought in for an interview by the medical school. So either the online prereqs are a red flag, or the med school admissions people already know and they want to see if you'll lie. I suspect the latter is more likely. 

In my opinion, doing all of your classes in person, keeps an applicant's choices open. If OP wanted to become a nurse practitioner, then online would never be a problem or even a question. So I guess this brings up another question; does the OP want the title of MD/DO or are they genuinely interested in helping others as a practitioner?

Will you have ego issues being called a Nurse Practitioner or a Physician Assistant as opposed to “doctor “?
Does he want to do surgery? If so go to medical school, but if not, I would highly recommend that OP consider the amount of debt he will rack up. 

If you are "dying" to have the MD title, be prepared to pay for it with money (that you most likely don't have yet) and time. If you are willing to deal with the time, money, disappointments, setbacks that will surely await you on that path, then take the path that will open up the most doors for you in terms of sending out your application---which means avoiding doing things online.  

Keep in mind, this recommendation is coming from someone who is attending WGU. I have nothing against online classes, but medical school admission boards are extremely conservative and they think online prerequisites are easier. If it comes down to 2 applicants with the same GPA, MCAT, volunteer time, etc, they will start to dig deeper into stupid shit, like if you did anything online. It's dumb and unfair, but that's how it is for now.

Fair, and all good questions and points!

Part of my argument is that there's no evidence it's anything much to worry about if most of the classes that fill out an applicant's bachelor's degree aside from those core science prereqs were completed online.

For med school aspirants specifically, I'd recommend a strong lean toward courses from regionally accredited schools and perhaps 'traditional' alt-credit like CLEP (from the people who brought you AP, very common on traditional transcripts). For med school aspirants specifically, I'd recommend a lean away from the newer wave third-party startup ACE/NCCRS providers.