Advice for switching from teaching to pre med

[GreenDuck12]

Hey y'all,
I was wondering if anyone on here has made the switch from teaching to going back to school for pre med? If so, any advice on how to do it successfully? Did you choose formal post bacc or informal? Did you take the minimum required classes for admission or extra classes? Is it necessary to take classes beyond the minimum? Did you get involved in research?

I graduated with a BA in Spanish, Philosophy, and Literature from a public university with a 3.7 GPA, honors in Spanish, and Phi Beta Kappa. sGPA was a 3.5 with 3 graded classes. No research experience besides for seminar classes in Spanish and volunteer experience with local schools, food bank. I also designed a mentor program that was adopted by the university for students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

I'm just finishing my second year of teaching in a low-income school district as a math/English as second language teacher and am finishing up a Master of Education degree at a university in New England with a 3.7 GPA.

I'm trying to decide if I should go the formal or informal post bacc route. For informal, I would go a large research university near by and take the pre req classes along with bio chem, genetics, and molecular biology. This route would be two years plus a glide year but less than half the cost of a formal post bacc program (I could most likely pay for it without taking out loans). For formal, I would apply to and hopefully be admitted to Goucher, Bryn Mawr, JHU, and Scripps. The benefit here is that it only takes 12 or 13 months to complete the minimum required classes. I'm not incredibly interested in the schools that these programs link to, with the exception of Pritzker, though I would guess that I would not be a competitive applicant to this school.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences doing informal or formal post bacc and what things you were involved in. Thanks for your time.

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[Judson]

Does the formal route come with a certification and committee letter of recommendation? How about access to a premed advisor? I would call the institution you are interested in attending and ask to speak with a premed advisor about your options. You'll want to add psychology and sociology to prepare for the new MCAT as well.

Things that really stick out to me about you:
-Volunteer experience with local schools, food bank
-Designed a mentor program that was adopted by the university for students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds
-Second year of teaching in a low-income school district

Do well on your prereqs, get some clinical volunteer hours in, and maybe do some lab work (can be anything hypothesis-based) if you have time. You should have no problem finding your way to an acceptance letter.

 

[Fedaykin]

Hey y'all,
I was wondering if anyone on here has made the switch from teaching to going back to school for pre med? If so, any advice on how to do it successfully?

I'm a former teacher who got laid off the year that Chris Christie told New Jerseyans to vote down their school budgets. After months of not being able to find another job the following summer I decided that the complete lack of available jobs in a career I was miserable in was a sign from the universe. I decided to go back to school and pursue medical school regardless of the challenges- undergrad GPA was a 2.59.

Did you choose formal post bacc or informal?

Neither! I went for a traditional MS in Biomedical Science. An SMP wasn't an option because I didn't have my prerequisites finished. A post-bacc wasn't an option because I was a science major and had some of my prerequisites finished. After wrapping that up I moved on to a PhD which is where I am now.

Did you take the minimum required classes for admission or extra classes?

The fundamental idea of my plan is to demonstrate as much aptitude for medical school as I possibly can to erase any thought that the 2.59 is representative of my abilities. I took as many classes as possible to this end.

Is it necessary to take classes beyond the minimum?

Depends on your situation and what narrative you're putting together for your application. Is lots of classwork an important part of supporting the case you plan to present to an ADCOM that they should admit you?

Did you get involved in research?

Yes, I had to as part of my MS. I worked about 60 hours a week, spending time both in a hematology lab and in an HIV lab.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Does the formal route come with a certification and committee letter of recommendation? How about access to a premed advisor? I would call the institution you are interested in attending and ask to speak with a premed advisor about your options. You'll want to add psychology and sociology to prepare for the new MCAT as well.

Things that really stick out to me about you:
-Volunteer experience with local schools, food bank
-Designed a mentor program that was adopted by the university for students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds
-Second year of teaching in a low-income school district

Do well on your prereqs, get some clinical volunteer hours in, and maybe do some lab work (can be anything hypothesis-based) if you have time. You should have no problem finding your way to an acceptance letter.

Hey Judson,
Thanks for your post. After looking at the tuition for public universities in my area (Massachusetts) is the best route. I have a couple options about where to go such ass UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, and UMass Lowell. UMass Amherst is the largest and the only one of the three that would offer a committee letter. UMass Lowell and UMass Boston are significantly smaller than Amherst, although both are still public research universities. Should size/reputation of the university factor in to where I take classes, or is a four year university a four year university?

 

[GreenDuck12]

I'm a former teacher who got laid off the year that Chris Christie told New Jerseyans to vote down their school budgets. After months of not being able to find another job the following summer I decided that the complete lack of available jobs in a career I was miserable in was a sign from the universe. I decided to go back to school and pursue medical school regardless of the challenges- undergrad GPA was a 2.59.



Neither! I went for a traditional MS in Biomedical Science. An SMP wasn't an option because I didn't have my prerequisites finished. A post-bacc wasn't an option because I was a science major and had some of my prerequisites finished. After wrapping that up I moved on to a PhD which is where I am now.



The fundamental idea of my plan is to demonstrate as much aptitude for medical school as I possibly can to erase any thought that the 2.59 is representative of my abilities. I took as many classes as possible to this end.



Depends on your situation and what narrative you're putting together for your application. Is lots of classwork an important part of supporting the case you plan to present to an ADCOM that they should admit you?



Yes, I had to as part of my MS. I worked about 60 hours a week, spending time both in a hematology lab and in an HIV lab.

Hey Fedaykin,
Thanks for your post. I remember when that happened. Unfortunately, it's happening in education all over the country and I have a feeling it will make its way to Massachusetts as well. With regards to the Master and Doctoral program, did you change your mind about pursuing an MD or is that still in the works?

My goal in the post-bacc is to complete the pre-reqs and improve my less than stellar science gpa. Despite a decent cumulative gpa, my performance in the middle two years was sporadic. Given that that is a weak point in my application, I would also be trying to demonstrate that I have matured over my time away from school and am able to handle the rigors of med school. In terms of a narrative, I grew up in a low income rural community where the nearest doctor was close to an hour away. Many of the challenges that my students have (even in Massachusetts) stem from access to medical care where their doctors speak their native language (spanish). My career goal, as of now, is to be a pediatrician in a rural/underserved community.

 

[Judson]

Hey Judson,
Thanks for your post. After looking at the tuition for public universities in my area (Massachusetts) is the best route. I have a couple options about where to go such ass UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, and UMass Lowell. UMass Amherst is the largest and the only one of the three that would offer a committee letter. UMass Lowell and UMass Boston are significantly smaller than Amherst, although both are still public research universities. Should size/reputation of the university factor in to where I take classes, or is a four year university a four year university?

A four year university is a four year university unless the university is ivy league or a feeder school. Go where you think you will maintain the highest GPA. There are lots of factors to think about with regard to that. How easy are the classes? Do you like the area? Do you work better in large vs small classrooms? etc, etc.. Also consider opportunities you will have at each school. How hard will it be to get a research position at a smaller university vs a larger university?

 

[Fedaykin]

Hey Fedaykin,
Thanks for your post. I remember when that happened. Unfortunately, it's happening in education all over the country and I have a feeling it will make its way to Massachusetts as well. With regards to the Master and Doctoral program, did you change your mind about pursuing an MD or is that still in the works?

It's still in the works, I just decided to play the long game. My GPA is in a range where people (specifically Caucasians) not only don't get in, they don't even apply. For that reason I decided to not put any money into a preparatory degree unless the degree also set me up for a fallback career- hence, graduate school. Moreover, I decided I needed to go really outside the box with my plan and get credentials that students with a 3.8 & 36 freshly graduating from college simply can't compete with. My PhD is giving me a lot of that.

It's an interesting path. There are a lot of people (including here) who claim that ADCOMs won't view a PhD as anything more than a super-EC, which would really negate any impact my work will have to ameliorate the GPA and mean my entire application is DOA. There are also people who tell me that a PhD is the closest thing an applicant can have to an inside track to an acceptance and that with my credentials I should expect good med schools to compete for my acceptance of their offer of admission, and that most ADCOMs won't really care about my undergrad record so long as my prerequisites are done. The latter group includes my faculty, many of who are MDs and dually appointed to our medical school, so their opinions are the ones I'm putting more stock in.

My goal in the post-bacc is to complete the pre-reqs and improve my less than stellar science gpa. Despite a decent cumulative gpa, my performance in the middle two years was sporadic. Given that that is a weak point in my application, I would also be trying to demonstrate that I have matured over my time away from school and am able to handle the rigors of med school. In terms of a narrative, I grew up in a low income rural community where the nearest doctor was close to an hour away. Many of the challenges that my students have (even in Massachusetts) stem from access to medical care where their doctors speak their native language (spanish). My career goal, as of now, is to be a pediatrician in a rural/underserved community.

I think there are two things going on here- one is your career goals, the other is your academic preparation. If you suspect ADCOMs will question whether or not you can handle the rigor then in your shoes my plan would be to take as rigorous a schedule as possible for one academic year- with other stuff (shadowing, volunteering, etc) in their as well. I think that volunteering is going to be your most important non-academic credential. Your career goals are very much in the bleeding-heart realm of motivations, so some strong community service work would do a lot to demonstrate your dedication to them. Lots of opportunities out there to work with underserved populations.