Unique post-bacc - class only on weekends - done in 8 months - my full review

[calimeds]

Introduction:

I'm on a study break right now so I thought i'd write up a full review of a very unique post-bacc program that I'm currently enrolled in. I've mentioned it before in other threads, but now that I've completed two classes (physics I and II) and I'm enrolled in my third (anatomy and physiology I) I feel I have enough perspective to make comments on the negatives and positives of the program. I think it is beneficial to many people, and not so good for others. This will probably be a multi-part review because I only have a few minutes before the timer goes off and it's back to anatomy, so here goes:

What it is:

The Integrated Science Program at the Southern California University of Health Sciences. www.integratedscienceprogram.com They offer full, four-credit-hour semester basic science classes in four weekends. Classes start at the beginning of each month and students may enroll each month. You are in class from 8:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is a 5 to 10 minute break each hour, and a 40 minute lunch. Lecture is in the morning and lab in the afternoons. All classes have integrated labs - lab is not optional and is not a separate class. Monday through Friday you have to yourself to study. As far as I can tell this is a for-profit operation. If you have a G.E.D. and can pay the tuition ($2,000 per 4-unit class) you are in. Financial aid is available and the program is WASC accredited.

Okay, back to studying. Will write more later tonight. This will be a long review. Feel free to post any specific questions about the program and I'll try to answer them. I'm going to write more about the classes I've been in, my opinion of the quality of the faculty, and the courses, the downsides of the program, etc.

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[Morsetlis]

Most importantly, tell us how hard it is and what the competition is like.

 

[calimeds]

Hey Mortsetlis - sorry, got caught up and didn't write any more yesterday. I'll answer your question before writing more.

Difficulty and competition - In my physics I class there were only two A's out of 15 students - I got one of them. The class was not graded on a curve, and I thought the prof was fair with grading. She didn't make up her own questions - the exams were multiple choice and created straight out of the textbook's exam bank. She was also very clear on what topics we needed to know for the exams - no guesswork. In my physics II class there were only 5 of us, and there were 3 A's. Most of the idiots dropped out after physics I.

There was no homework at all required - grading was simply an exam every week, plus a final, and lab reports.

I'm not sure what conclusions you can draw from this about difficulty and competition. I don't mind professors who put very difficult problems on exams (ours were reasonable - not crazy) - as long as the expectations are set clearly from the beginning so that you, the student, know what to prepare for and how to practice.

I am reasonably bright but I am 32, and my study habits and skills are much better than they were when I was a 20 year old idiot in undergrad. So I don't know if the classes are easy or I'm just studying now. But to put it in perspective, I put in a solid 3 - 6 hours per day, Monday through Friday. And I did tons of problems in physics. I also got a tutor when I needed it (I thought the prof did not know how to teach, so I made it my responsibility to teach myself the physics). When I was 20 I would doze off in lectures, procrastinate, read the textbooks instead of focusing on doing problems and learning the material, lose my lab reports, etc. etc. At the time I thought science classes were difficult - now I'm finding them easy. I did go to a top-5 liberal arts college. Was it harder there or did I just not know how to study? That's hard to say.

I did think many of my post-bacc classmates were clueless - though to be fair most of them were not pre-med so they weren't all gunning for A's.

There is no doubt that doing a year of any class in 8 weeks is intense. This is the hourly equivalent of a full time undergrad load. I am not working, but many of my classmates are. I simply do an hour in the morning, another hour in the afternoon, and a couple hours at night, and I find this to be a relaxing, manageable schedule.

There is absolutely NO time for procrastination with a schedule like this. Take a few days off to rest and you will get screwed because you have an exam every single week. Screw up one exam - there goes your grade.

But personally I like this schedule - only one class at a time to worry about - no schedule conflicts. And all week to study to myself. And by the time the final rolls around I don't need to review anything because the material is at most four weeks old. I find I'm learning and retaining a lot. Being in class 20 hours every weekend is challenging but you get used to it. I personally am mentally "zoned out" after two hours of lecture - doing 5 hours at a time is impossible for me to focus and retain everything. So I record the lectures and listen to them again later for things I missed. And the major upside is that after every weekend you've gotten another 25% of a semester class out of the way.

Okay, I'll write more sections later.

 

[jslo85]

Hmm clicked the link and looked around as I'm a bit curious.

Thoughts: Definitely unique in it's time frame in completing courses (only on weekends too X_X). Claims (supported by the OP) to complete semester long courses in a month. The AnP seems to be a new offering, same with biochemistry and microbio. Allows a student to complete all pre-reqs and 2-3 upper division biology courses within a year for medicine and dentistry. 400 dollars per unit + 300 for lab fee if the course requires. Class sizes are between 13-30 which is a big plus personally, coming from a UC for undergrad where my classes were 400+ at times for the core sciences. I think the real strength of this program is how it's accelerated pace and work favorable class schedule appeals to many working adults who can't afford to quit their job to take medical pre-reqs. The cost isn't very expensive either and the program seems to be flexible towards non-traditionals.

Concerns: The faculty is my main concern and the reputation of the program. I understand it's new and relatively unknown but I think I can draw pretty safe comparisons between this and a CC. The two M.D.s in the anatomy and physiology department that they just added are foreign degrees and are not lisenced to practice in the U.S. The main biology lecturer is a new faculty PhD for UCLA in its nutrition department and lectures here only as a side job, the other lecturer has a masters and is currently pursuing her own MPH for education. Some of the chemistry lecturers only hold a bachelors of science and one of these is from a philippine university. The ones teaching orgo are also holding only bachelors of science. Not trying to sound overly negative, but frankly this troubles me quite a bit. I have no doubts that each one of them is a great educator but it just seems sketchy to me.

If the OP would expand on his experiences and his personal take on the program strengths/weaknesses, that would be great.

 

[calimeds]

jslo85 - your concerns are valid. Not sure if you read my reply that I just posted to the other poster, but it goes over my experience in physics. I'll reply to your concerns also - I think they're real. Also, I will not be staying in this program (probably) after A&P. I'm most likely going to transition to a four-year university for the remainder of my classes. I'll expand on my experiences tomorrow.

 

[Ultimeaciax]

Calimeds, is this program for career changers, or is it for academic enhancement also? Can someone who had already finished their premed prerequisites enroll in this program? I took a look at it, and it seems like they just have the basic sciences for prehealth professions.

 

[jslo85]

career changers very primarily. The only courses suitable for AE would be their AnP, Biochem and Microbiology courses. It's flexible if you live around there and want to blaze through 3 upper division courses in the course of 1-2 months but other than that, I don't see much use for AE.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I was reading the course descriptions on the biochem class and it seems my univeristy uses the same text, albeit the 5th edition instead of 4th. I think the best route with this place is what the OP is doing, that is taking a few courses and then transferring to a 4 year university.

 

[deleted248403]

good analysis jlo - confirmed what i feared

I wouldnt go near this place if you paid me to.

Calimeds - wasnt there some issue of whether it was accredited or not as well? did you figure it out?

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Also, how does fitting a semester of material into 4 weeks work? Summer classes usually arent even that short. Do you feel you get a good grasp of the material?

 

[Talisa3636]

I am also interested in this program... if I could stomach 6 months of rigorous classes in LA I am down.

 

[Talisa3636]

Are there any quality apartments in the area?

 

[DieTrying]

I heard about this program about 9 months ago. After a lot of consideration I decided to apply to a post bac program and play it safe.

= )

 

[tkim13]

i took their bio course and A&P course recently and yeah, you can pretty much learn the material.. for the tests. they do try to keep it easy by teaching only human bio, and skipping some parts in anatomy but it helped me a lot in preparation for my DAT, no joke.

the teachers are really helpful and are all about pro-students.

and it's accredited. if it wasn't i wouldn't even dare approach it.

 

[sara19]

I heard about ISP and what I really like about it is the time consuming.so I can finish all my pre-req courses and after that DAT and apply to any dental school.that's sounds great.but the only concern I have is the acceptance of their credits! does anyone know which dental school would accept the credit?