Advice on direction..Postbac?

[da3mite]

Hello,

I am a student at the University of Michigan majoring in psychology. I am about to graduate this weekend and for the last two years, I was on the psych Ph.D. wagon. Recently, I've become interested in a medical future (and less intrigued by the Ph.D.) and unfortunately, I have taken not one pre-med science class, due to my stringent career goals up until this point.

With graduation upon me from Michigan, I will have to either take classes at some other university (Michigan is out of state for me so due to tuition, taking more classes here is probably out of the question..for now), or apply to Postbac programs to put myself right on track. I initially considered the former option because my father lives in the Chicago area and I would be able to live with him/take classes at another esteemed university like the University of Chicago. However, the top universities in that area do not offer the possibility of a second Bachelor's. Thus, I am wondering a few things:

1. Would a top Postbac program (like Columbia) be worth the cost? I have no debt from undergrad but is it worth the large sum for its prestige, guidance, and strong commitment to will me into medical school?

2. If I were to just take classes at a nearby university, does the university I choose for solely taking pre-med courses matter in terms of prestige? Would getting high grades at a top school be different than top grades at a less-prominent school for admittance into med school?

3. What are some other elite Postbac pre-med programs that you know of?

Thank you very much,
Michael

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[Goucher2013]

In your situation, I'd reconsider the possibility of sucking it up in terms of cost and continuing at UofM. From what I've heard, they've got some particularly excellent teachers for subjects like orgo and physics, and you could do the the CSP sections to get the extra face time with profs & TAs.
The option can surely not be as competitive and expensive as Columbia, especially once you add living expenses. Columbia has a high failure rate and it's pretty sink-or-swim.

Don't worry too much about prestige. Formal postbacs have a leg up in terms of connections with med schools, good teaching and so forth, and all those factors are way more important than prestige. See the myriad threads for debates about prestige vs GPA. The general consensus seems to be that a 3.9 from a half-decent state school is almost always better than a 3.5 from a top-ten school.

 

[JPA178]

I'm actually a UMich grad myself, a Wolverine for life, and I'm about to start my postbac at Johns Hopkins. I wouldn't recommend taking your pre-med classes at Michigan after you've graduated. Once you have graduated and finished an undergraduate degree, you have to take your classes with a status of "non-degree student." This means you won't be able to register until the FIRST DAY OF CLASSES. You and I both know how frustrating registration on Wolverine Access is to begin with - imagine how hard it is to get into classes as a non-degree student!

Plus, at Michigan, no committee letters - for anyone. Not a huge deal, but most med schools prefer them.

Those are the main reasons I applied to formal post-bacs. If you can attend a good state school in your home state and you won't have the registration issues you encounter at UMich, then go for it. Otherwise, I'd recommend applying to formal post-bacs - I feel it will be worth the cost in the end. The first tier programs are universally considered to be Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Johns Hopkins, Scripps, and Penn. Columbia's a strange case because, from what I understand, they don't help you out all that much besides letting you take your classes at Columbia. I could be wrong though.

 

[darkjedi]

Hello,

I am a student at the University of Michigan majoring in psychology. I am about to graduate this weekend and for the last two years, I was on the psych Ph.D. wagon. Recently, I've become interested in a medical future (and less intrigued by the Ph.D.) and unfortunately, I have taken not one pre-med science class, due to my stringent career goals up until this point.

With graduation upon me from Michigan, I will have to either take classes at some other university (Michigan is out of state for me so due to tuition, taking more classes here is probably out of the question..for now), or apply to Postbac programs to put myself right on track. I initially considered the former option because my father lives in the Chicago area and I would be able to live with him/take classes at another esteemed university like the University of Chicago. However, the top universities in that area do not offer the possibility of a second Bachelor's. Thus, I am wondering a few things:

1. Would a top Postbac program (like Columbia) be worth the cost? I have no debt from undergrad but is it worth the large sum for its prestige, guidance, and strong commitment to will me into medical school?

2. If I were to just take classes at a nearby university, does the university I choose for solely taking pre-med courses matter in terms of prestige? Would getting high grades at a top school be different than top grades at a less-prominent school for admittance into med school?

3. What are some other elite Postbac pre-med programs that you know of?

Thank you very much,
Michael

What are your SATs and GPA?

The 'elite' postbacs are Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Scripps and Hopkins. They typically only accept students that they are confident will get into medical school anyway, whereever they go. That said, the advising that comes with these programs are unparalleled, and their name recognition can go a long way, provided you do well.

 

[Goucher2013]

Michigan is a pre-med graveyard. You're fighting for A's against the top students from around the entire world. Plus, the exams in those classes are pretty hard.

I should point out that you'd be "fighting for As" against the same caliber of students, both for linkage program admission and during the pre-med classes. Many of those students went to even more elite schools than Michigan (I didn't, for the record), so if you're intimidated by your fellow Wolverines, you'll be intimidated just as much at selective postbacs. There's an extremely friendly atmosphere among students, but clearly when everyone else is scoring in the mid-90s, you're competing to keep up with them whether you're friends with them or not.

There's no curve in my postbac; you still have to score in the 90s to get As - and there's no curve because everyone else gets As. This has come back to bite me several times. I'm towards the bottom of my class because I have a habit of scoring in the high 80s at least a couple of times per semester. And the exams are certainly quite hard as well - we had an absolutely ball buster of a three-hour physics test on Thursday. Plus we do three classes and three labs at a time.

I'm writing this because while there are many reasons to choose a structured postbac, but less competition isn't one of them. I presume the Michigan ship has sailed since today was graduation, but there's certainly still the option of a local state school back home. For someone with a few years of work experience, I'd recommend waiting until the next postbac application cycle, but competition for postbac slots is toughest among applicants who've just graduated college. so the do-it-yourself route merits serious consideration.

 

[da3mite]

Hello all,

Sorry it took me so long to respond to all of your helpful information. As some of you (or all of you in your own cases) know, graduation weekend can be quite....insane. Anyway, I appreciate all of your responses very much. Also, thank you for the links and the info one the "top" post-bacc programs. I actually just scheduled a pre-med adviser meeting for this upcoming week so hopefully I receive more valuable information with that! To the other new Michigan graduates here, congratulations!

-Michael

 

[Vain Brother]

i realize this thread doesn't have NYU in the title and therefore my question is unlikely to get the attention of anyone who really knows what he/she is talking about. nonetheless...

can someone explain what the NYU "linkages" are exactly? i know what a linkage is - but nowhere on the NYU linkage page is the word "guaranteed." it looks like if you keep a 3.6 and get a 32 MCAT...you get the privilege of being considered to these various medical schools. it doesn't say you're guaranteed admission, or even an interview - just that you can apply (i guess to skip the glide year). can anyone clarify this?

 

[medicii]

Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Scripps, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, UPenn, WashU, NYU, Harvard Extension, Temple, La Salle, Drexel (many different options), Dominican University, CUNY Hunter (NYC), local state programs (Cali has a lot of formal/informal post-bac programs; NYC does too...). Several of these programs have deadlines that have already passed, but some are open until June 1/July 1 (some even until August), so good luck.

https://services.aamc.org/postbac/ --> "Career Changers" is more your situation (few/no pre-reqs)

i realize this thread doesn't have NYU in the title and therefore my question is unlikely to get the attention of anyone who really knows what he/she is talking about. nonetheless...

Vain Brother, no need to multi-post or hijack threads. Hundreds of people read these forums daily and will help you out if they can (I've responded to your question in another thread).