Post Bac program necessary?

[MasterChieff]

As a non-traditional student, is a Post Bac program necessary? Is it easier/cheaper to just take the med school requirements at any university? Does the Post Bac give you advantages in preparing your application or for the MCAT? Do med schools prefer one path over the other?

I took Gen Chem I (A) during undergrad and earned a 3.98 GPA (math major). I have been with Teach for America for 2 years. I have shadowed several physicians (one-full-time for around a month, others were for 1-2 days) and volunteer in a hospital for a few hours here and there. Teaching and coaching keeps me pretty busy during the school year.

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[BluMist]

Personally, I am in the middle of a DIY post bacc. Similar GPA with you, so GPA repair is not a goal.
I've been out of school for a while now, so my main goal is to refresh/satisfy requirements while maintain full-time job, so local community college ended up working out the best for me in term of cost, schedule, and flexibility.

I did a bit of research on a formal post-bacc program, but nothing truly stood out to me for significantly increasing my chance to medical schools. YMMV.

 

[rsrs3739]

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[DrMidlife]

postbac: any undergrad after you get a bachelors
postbac program: any post-bachelors undergrad work that has a goal
postbac premed program: where the goal is getting into med school. Includes DIY
structured postbac premed program: this is where the word "program" stops being a euphemism because there's been some thought and maybe design put into support and/or activities that people taking prereqs should also have. may require an application process. May grant a certificate.
formal structured postbac premed program: typically rigorous, competitive, expensive, may have linkage to one or more med schools

then there's:
academic enhancer premed postbac: may or may not include prereqs, allows low GPA premeds to take more classes to prove they can get A's, highly variable. arguably includes:
SMPs, special masters programs, used to be these were an audition for the host med school where you do most of the first year of med school to prove you can handle it. now very rare for these programs to tightly link with the host med school. there are only about 15 SMPs in the US.

See the SDN postbac forum, down under interdisciplinary, for commentary from current and former students (overwhelmed by WAMC from applicants) about most of the above.

best of luck to you.

 

[GreenDuck12]

It's a little hard to generalize all medical schools as having a preference one way or another. Some admissions officers/committees may be more familiar with certain programs that a lot of their students have attended as being schools that prepare students well. Ultimately, your GPA and MCAT score are the biggest factors in your admission. You can take the same science courses at a state school or formal post bac program and prepare for the MCAT all the same. As for advantages, each program advertises the things that make their program special (and, in their mind, worth the extra cost) but it's up to you to decide which option is best for you. Just out of curiosity, where did you do TFA? I just finished TFA a little while ago.

As a non-traditional student, is a Post Bac program necessary? Is it easier/cheaper to just take the med school requirements at any university? Does the Post Bac give you advantages in preparing your application or for the MCAT? Do med schools prefer one path over the other?

I took Gen Chem I (A) during undergrad and earned a 3.98 GPA (math major). I have been with Teach for America for 2 years. I have shadowed several physicians (one-full-time for around a month, others were for 1-2 days) and volunteer in a hospital for a few hours here and there. Teaching and coaching keeps me pretty busy during the school year.