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- Jul 30, 2012
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Hey All,
So, after having turned down a medical school opportunity this summer in favor of pursuing undergrad academic passions outside of the medical sphere that my family has tried to push me away from, I've come to the conclusion that med school really was the choice for me all along (and really regretted my decision to not lock myself into attendance, as you might imagine.)
My stats are pretty solid: 3.99 GPA in a liberal arts discipline at a top 20 school, 760-CR + 680-M and 33 ACT. I took a year of chem with lab and got an A, and did equally well in some upper level stats courses. I also have a pretty solid explanation for "why medicine," as I've already conducted and published international research on community health education, done lots of work interpreting at a clinic, and also have about one year of neurolinguistic research under my belt.
The problem that I'm having now is that I don't really know how to navigate the post bacc selection process, particularly as an undergrad whose family doesn't really support the whole med school route in the first place. I know that this has been done before, but I haven't found any posts that mirror my situation...so I'm hoping that one of you might be able to give me some advice!
1) What programs would I be competitive for as an undergrad applicant next semester (my senior year)? It seems like undergrad rankings aren't really indicative of post bacc program quality, but I'm hesitant to attend schools that don't have a strong academic reputation when I'm shelling out so much money. My family has been pushing me toward Columbia (if I were to do this at all) given the brand recognition factor, but I'm concerned given what I've been reading on these forums...any feedback re: prestige?
2) Linkage programs are probably the most attractive part of these post bacc options for me, so I've been looking pretty closely at Columbia and Hopkins given their connection with Sinai--easily my number one choice. Columbia Med is also of great interest to me, so the Columbia linkage--if it's legit--would be awesome. I'm concerned about the chances of applicants for these programs, though; could anyone tell me about linkage admissions chances for a non-career-changers? I may base my post bacc choice entirely based on linkage options if there's a good chance of admission to a top school with my undergrad scores; is it worth banking on linkage, or is it totally unpredictable?
Thank you all!
So, after having turned down a medical school opportunity this summer in favor of pursuing undergrad academic passions outside of the medical sphere that my family has tried to push me away from, I've come to the conclusion that med school really was the choice for me all along (and really regretted my decision to not lock myself into attendance, as you might imagine.)
My stats are pretty solid: 3.99 GPA in a liberal arts discipline at a top 20 school, 760-CR + 680-M and 33 ACT. I took a year of chem with lab and got an A, and did equally well in some upper level stats courses. I also have a pretty solid explanation for "why medicine," as I've already conducted and published international research on community health education, done lots of work interpreting at a clinic, and also have about one year of neurolinguistic research under my belt.
The problem that I'm having now is that I don't really know how to navigate the post bacc selection process, particularly as an undergrad whose family doesn't really support the whole med school route in the first place. I know that this has been done before, but I haven't found any posts that mirror my situation...so I'm hoping that one of you might be able to give me some advice!
1) What programs would I be competitive for as an undergrad applicant next semester (my senior year)? It seems like undergrad rankings aren't really indicative of post bacc program quality, but I'm hesitant to attend schools that don't have a strong academic reputation when I'm shelling out so much money. My family has been pushing me toward Columbia (if I were to do this at all) given the brand recognition factor, but I'm concerned given what I've been reading on these forums...any feedback re: prestige?
2) Linkage programs are probably the most attractive part of these post bacc options for me, so I've been looking pretty closely at Columbia and Hopkins given their connection with Sinai--easily my number one choice. Columbia Med is also of great interest to me, so the Columbia linkage--if it's legit--would be awesome. I'm concerned about the chances of applicants for these programs, though; could anyone tell me about linkage admissions chances for a non-career-changers? I may base my post bacc choice entirely based on linkage options if there's a good chance of admission to a top school with my undergrad scores; is it worth banking on linkage, or is it totally unpredictable?
Thank you all!