Pre Medical Post Bacc Programs in DC, MD

[qwertyuiop1]

Hey everybody, I'm in my last semester of undegrad and am hopefully one day praying to get into med school. I have a 3.0 GPA and am looking into pre med post bacc programs in order to complete my med school pre req classes. I spoke with my advisor about enrolling in my universities pre med program (which I just found out they had) and she told me that since I didn't have a 3.2 GPA as one of their requirements to get into the program, that my chances were slim. However she spoke with the person in charge of the program and said that there are ways around the GPA requirement, being work experience in the health field. I worked for a plastic surgeon for a year as a surgical tech, and I just finished a summer internship for one of the leading psychiatrist practices in the area. I did a lot of research and have a letter of recommendation waiting for me as well from the both doctors. One attended Georgetown Medical school and the other graduated from George Washington Med and also conducts lectures at Georgetown Med as well. Oh, I go to American University btw and I know of UMD, Georgetown, Hopkins, and UVA that also have post bacc programs as well. How do you think my chances are for getting into any of these programs? Anyone who has been enrolled in one of these programs and can help with any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

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[gmcguitar4]

Hey everybody, I'm in my last semester of undegrad and am hopefully one day praying to get into med school. I have a 3.0 GPA and am looking into pre med post bacc programs in order to complete my med school pre req classes. I spoke with my advisor about enrolling in my universities pre med program (which I just found out they had) and she told me that since I didn't have a 3.2 GPA as one of their requirements to get into the program, that my chances were slim. However she spoke with the person in charge of the program and said that there are ways around the GPA requirement, being work experience in the health field. I worked for a plastic surgeon for a year as a surgical tech, and I just finished a summer internship for one of the leading psychiatrist practices in the area. I did a lot of research and have a letter of recommendation waiting for me as well from the both doctors. One attended Georgetown Medical school and the other graduated from George Washington Med and also conducts lectures at Georgetown Med as well. Oh, I go to American University btw and I know of UMD, Georgetown, Hopkins, and UVA that also have post bacc programs as well. How do you think my chances are for getting into any of these programs? Anyone who has been enrolled in one of these programs and can help with any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

Informal post-bac is the way to go. Just enroll at a cheap local school(not community college) as a part-time/non-degree student and take the courses you want/need. The schools you listed will probably be on the expensive side IMO, but if money is not an issue then just take classes at the most convenient place. You end up with the same result as a formal post-bac, improved GPA. You can also get LOR's from the science professors of the classes in place of the committee letter. Schools prefer the committee but if you can't get into a pre-med program then you can't get into a pre-med program..just do the best you can.

 

[thlaxer]

Finding a post-bac program that'll accept you with a 3.0 GPA isn't hard. Finding a med school that's willing to do the same thing though is a whole other story.. Even if you do very well in all of your pre-reqs, you still may need to take additional upper division coursework in order to improve your GPA. A friend in my post-bac program came in with a GPA similar to yours and he did well in his classes here. He applied broadly but has only had one MD interview thus far. Not trying to discourage you from taking the leap as there are success stories on here from people with low GPAs. But it is something to keep in mind when planning out the next few years. I'm not familiar with the post-bac programs you listed, hopefully someone more knowledgeable can come and talk about them. Good luck!

 

[infoinquire]

In a similar situation. Where did you end up going/getting accepted?

 

[hwirth19]

Hey everybody, I'm in my last semester of undegrad and am hopefully one day praying to get into med school. I have a 3.0 GPA and am looking into pre med post bacc programs in order to complete my med school pre req classes. I spoke with my advisor about enrolling in my universities pre med program (which I just found out they had) and she told me that since I didn't have a 3.2 GPA as one of their requirements to get into the program, that my chances were slim. However she spoke with the person in charge of the program and said that there are ways around the GPA requirement, being work experience in the health field. I worked for a plastic surgeon for a year as a surgical tech, and I just finished a summer internship for one of the leading psychiatrist practices in the area. I did a lot of research and have a letter of recommendation waiting for me as well from the both doctors. One attended Georgetown Medical school and the other graduated from George Washington Med and also conducts lectures at Georgetown Med as well. Oh, I go to American University btw and I know of UMD, Georgetown, Hopkins, and UVA that also have post bacc programs as well. How do you think my chances are for getting into any of these programs? Anyone who has been enrolled in one of these programs and can help with any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

I don't know what your thoughts are on evening courses. I have been doing the Science in the Evening Program at UMD for 3 years now and I think it is great. I do it because I work 40+ hours a week in a non-medical industry. I've completed 2 bio semesters and 2 organic chemistry semesters and am now enrolled in Biochem and Physiology for the upcoming year. You can see that I have taken it slowly because i've only wanted to commit 2 nights a week, but the program is excellent and fully comprehensive and well-respected.

There is no real admission process except for I think signing up, going to an orientation, and gettin registered. This would be termed an "informal postbac". But if you are in the DC area, I DEFINITELY recommend it. The good thing also about this program is that they adopt you as their pre-med student, meaning that your med school application would be run through them, they would give you a committee letter, etc.

The drawback would be that it would take more than one year. But if you haven't done any types of extracurriculars, you will probably need more than a year anyway to make yourself an excellent candidate.