Post-Bacc program thoughts

[shispare]

Hello,

I graduated college in 2011, and have been working full-time since then. Started out with big 4 public accounting firm, got CPA, left to work in business planning/financial analysis at a hospital last year (where I am currently). At this point I've started doing investigations of post-bacc programs to bring my credentials for a med school application up to speed, but here is my background, and some questions I have:

Background:
Graduated 2011, GPA (cumulative) 4.0
Science classes taken: Physics 1 with lab, Chem 1 with lab, Biology w lab, microbiology w lab, Calculus 1-3, Statistics (calc-based), Discrete Math
Classes needed (I think, correct me if wrong Physics 2, Chem 2, Orgo 1, Orgo 2, not sure if a second bio class is necessary?

1) Is there a benefit to taking an official post-bacc instead of just taking relevant science classes at a local college? (in terms of research opportunities made available, faculty recommendations, etc)
2) If there is a benefit to the post-bacc, can you recommend the most important factors to consider in weighing programs? For example, price vs reputation. Are some much stronger in med school placement than others? Is there anything wrong with extension courses in the views of admissions committees?
3) I'm trying to find clinical volunteering opportunities, or ways to start doing more to strengthen my application. However, I'm reluctant to do that at my own hospital, because I don't want to jeopardize my current job by making it obvious that I plan to leave for education at some point. What resources would you recommend that I seek out?

Also, if this changes anything regarding your answers to the above, I am located (geographically) in Maryland, but I would be open to working/going to school anywhere.

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[deleted390966]

You have 4.0 GPA and you want to do postbacc? Save yourself time and money. Postbacc is for people with low GPA.

Yes, a second Bio class is needed.

1/ No, only that postbacc almost always costs more than CC or public college.
2/ No, unless it's a program that offers conditional acceptance to med school once finished/met certain criteria.
3/ Nursing homes, another hospital, hospice, shadowing doctors, etc.

 

[ghostman]

A few things need clarification here.

1. Not all postbacc programs are for people with low GPA. I had a high GPA from college and did a postbacc at Harvard Extension. Postbaccs can be for those who don't have any/most of the core science classes, or it can be those who want to redo those classes (due to bad grades, lots of time passed since taking those classes). Many postbacc programs do cost more, but there are those that don't. Hunter college (NYC) has a postbacc program and they are a public university with public university prices. Harvard extension (Cambridge, MA), of course, is a private university but has public university prices. If those classes are relatively recent for you, a full postbacc program probably isn't necessary. Just take the missing class at a public university. DO NOT take it at a community college. I actually contacted med school admissions offices back when I was planning all this and they explicitly replied not to do it at a community college.

2. Some postbacc programs do provide a committee letter that you can submit as part of your application. That's about it though. You don't need a committee letter. You can just get the recommendations directly from professors.

3. Volunteering at your own hospital doesn't necessarily mean you're planning to leave your job. Every hospital I've been at has had adult volunteers. Of course, if you want to avoid any awkward conversations, any service that offers patient interaction is sufficient.

I'm a med student now. I did the postbacc program at Harvard Extension because I never took any of the science courses and ended getting a committee letter at the end. I chose their program because it was cheap and it's a night, allowing me to volunteer in the day. After I finished with their program, I took biochem (some schools require it) at a city university in new york.

 

[jl lin]

You have 4.0 GPA and you want to do postbacc? Save yourself time and money. Postbacc is for people with low GPA.

This is not true--especially for career changers.

 

[Goro]

Nope

1) Is there a benefit to taking an official post-bacc instead of just taking relevant science classes at a local college? (in terms of research opportunities made available, faculty recommendations, etc)


Not all clinical volunteering has to be in a hospital. Try clinics, nursing homes, Planned Parenthood, hospice, camps for sick children, or suicide/crisis hotlines.


3) I'm trying to find clinical volunteering opportunities, or ways to start doing more to strengthen my application. However, I'm reluctant to do that at my own hospital, because I don't want to jeopardize my current job by making it obvious that I plan to leave for education at some point. What resources would you recommend that I seek out?

 

[gouqianbi]

DO NOT take it at a community college. I actually contacted med school admissions offices back when I was planning all this and they explicitly replied not to do it at a community college.

 

[Deranged Medic]

In your situation, the only advantage I see in an official post-bacc program would be the possibility of a linkage between the program and a medical school. That being said, I do not think you need to waste your time and money with an official program. Take your remaining prereqs at the most convenient university, and as for the second bio class, I would be surprised if you need one. I almost took micro instead of bio 2, and when I called a few medical schools to see if they would accept it, they all would have.

In case you didn't know, you will also need biochem, psychology, and sociology in order to be ready for the new MCAT that starts in January.

 

[shispare]

I'd like to thank everyone for their thoughts. Since I wrote the original post, I submitted applications for clinical volunteering at two local hospitals. My interview for the first is on Jan. 15, so hopefully they'll let me get started on that pretty soon. I've also found a doctor who said he'd be willing to let me do some clinical observation which will be very helpful.

I have a few other concerns regarding the science pre-reqs that I took. They were all early on in my undergrad (2006-2007 mostly), so it's been quite a while and although I did well in them, the material isn't fresh in my mind. I'm not worried about the math stuff, but if I had to go back for, say, Chem 2, my chem 1 knowledge right now is so rusty that I'm concerned I might not do as well. I contacted Hopkins post-bacc admissions who looked over my transcript and agreed with this line of reasoning, but they may not be completely impartial. Given the time elapsed, do those of you who felt that taking classes at a local 4 year is the best route still think that I could jump back into Chem 2, bio 2 etc, or would I want to start and do chem 1 again as a refresher? Maybe hit up a Schaum's Outline or something before class? To me that seems like the quickest refresher.

Also, regarding recommendations. Is it realistic to get recommendations from professors I take for classes now (if I take classes as a non-degree seeking student instead of a structured post-bac), instead of my undergrad? I'd like to get recommendations that are more recent and focused on my goals, and don't feel that recs from undergrad business/finance professors are really going to be very helpful for me.

 

[DrMidlife]

If you got A's in gen chem etc, then I suggest retaking classes is not the most efficient way to remember the material. You may be able to just work problems to get review done. If you still have your textbooks, there you go. An alternative is to pick up the Examkracker 1001 books, which are for MCAT prep but will focus you on the material you need to review. Use Khan Academy and pre-made flash cards such as Anki, memorize your ions, memorize your periodic table trends, work through lots of energy problems.

Since some of your prereqs will be considered "old", you should plan on taking biochem as an answer to questions about the age of your prereqs.

For letters it makes no difference if you're in a program or not. Just make it easy for professors to get to know you, by asking questions *after* class and coming to office hours.

Best of luck to you.

 

[meander]

Look into taking your remaining classes at UMD -- good and cheap (compared to a formal career changer program). You may even be able to schedule them around your 9-5.

The only formal programs that are potentially worth the cost are Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Hopkins, and maybe Scripps. It's definitely not worth the cost for you unless you plan to take advantage of a linkage.

Your pre-reqs are not old enough IMO to require a retake, especially since you still have a fair number of classes left to take now. If your grades were meh it would be one thing, but there's no reason to risk damaging your GPA with unnecessary retakes.

 

[JW2020]

Some med schools require Biochemistry in addition to the physics, bio, orgo classes that you need. Also make sure you've satisfied the English requirement. I did an independent post-bacc and it was a much better alternative to quitting my job and matriculating full time; instead I continued to save up money (my employer also had a 5k annual tuition reimbursement). There are certain post-bacc programs which are linked to certain medical schools and offer extremely high chances for completers (85% of students who complete the UConn official post bacc are accepted into medical school and all are automatically guaranteed at least an interview at UConn) but in general if you don't mind waiting an extra year or two to finish up your pre-reqs a DIY post bacc will be just as effective. Just make sure you do well.

 

[LaceyMD]

The only thing I'd add to the excellent advice you've already received is, if that I didn't see psychology and sociology on your list - if you haven't taken those, you'll probably want to at least consider doing so because, even if not all schools are officially requiring them, you will likely need them for the new MCAT.

As a side note, with respect to your concern about the length of time since taking some of your pre-reqs, there was a woman in my Chem 2 class who had taken Chem 1 nearly 10 years earlier. She struggled a bit the first few weeks to catch up, but got up to speed pretty quickly with some extra out-of-class practice/review of the early chapters of our book (we used the same book for Chem 1 & 2 at my school). She ended up with one of the highest grades in our class, possibly because she spent more time studying the basics some of our classmates glossed over in their study plans. As a bonus, she spent quite a bit of time at office hours asking questions, so our professor got to know her pretty well - which is always handy when it comes time for letters of recommendation!

 

[shispare]

Thanks again for everybody's thoughts! I'll post back in after my volunteering activity starts.