- Joined
- May 16, 2004
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Okay, so the season of orientation is in the air, and I just want to ask you why I see eyes getting bigger whenever I tell people that I am a post bac student. From my hasty assumption, I guess that when traditional med students hear that someone is a postbac med student, you are either thinking that I didn't work hard enough to get into med school at the first try or didn't decide to go to med school early enough (as if I was supposed to). In my case, the answer is neither, so I have even more to say. I led a fine career in a field that is far far from science (that is social sciences and humanities) and arrived at the conclusion of becoming a doctor in a middle of my other successful career. So, whenever I see people who give me a surprised look on their face, it only leaves me much to explain, and I thought I'd clarify some stuff. I am so-called Type III post-bac.
Type I Post bac: people who were pre-med and finished taking all pre-req as an undergraduate. Their undergraduate major was some field of science, predominantly biology or chemistry. Their low GPA or low MCAT score force them to take further classes after finishing up their undergraduate degree
Type II Post bac: people who majored in some field of science such as neuroscience, chemical engineering, etc but never had a serious intention of going to medical school. Then, they decide to go to medical school so become post-bac students and finish up the rest of the pre-med requirement or re-take the required classes again because they took these classes too long ago as well as having to fulfill few more pre-req done.
Type III Post bac: people who come from a field that is totally different from science (i.e. music, art, history, communication, etc) They start from scratch as they declare themselves as pre-med. Often, many have led a successful career in other field and have found the field of medicine to be a more fulfilling career or to help them build more edge on their on-going career (i.e. refugee worker, social agency counselor, mental health coordinator, etc.)
To be honest, I literally have seen people who roll their eyes when I introduce myself as a post-bac student. I don't mean to offend any traditional med students who head out to med school straight from college, but I had a couple of 1Ms (all traditional med students) who were too brave enough to ask for my age and marriage status, as if they were implying, " aren't you old to start med school? Oh my gosh, when are you going to get married?" I also had a guy who told me,"oh, I am sorry. I guess you can't join us the cocktail tonight then," with an obvious blushing on his face. (I kinda look young and he did not know I already had a serious boyfriend. I am not interested in that kinda cocktail stuff anyways). I igonred them all thinking some people, who never had opportunities to taste the real world over the ivory tower, do not know how to interact with others with respect.
So, you get the idea why I am wondering about this topic. As a Type III post-bac student, I feel very offended whenever I run into this kind of mishaps. By now, I got over it, but it's still a lingering issue for many post-bac med students out there.
CP
Type I Post bac: people who were pre-med and finished taking all pre-req as an undergraduate. Their undergraduate major was some field of science, predominantly biology or chemistry. Their low GPA or low MCAT score force them to take further classes after finishing up their undergraduate degree
Type II Post bac: people who majored in some field of science such as neuroscience, chemical engineering, etc but never had a serious intention of going to medical school. Then, they decide to go to medical school so become post-bac students and finish up the rest of the pre-med requirement or re-take the required classes again because they took these classes too long ago as well as having to fulfill few more pre-req done.
Type III Post bac: people who come from a field that is totally different from science (i.e. music, art, history, communication, etc) They start from scratch as they declare themselves as pre-med. Often, many have led a successful career in other field and have found the field of medicine to be a more fulfilling career or to help them build more edge on their on-going career (i.e. refugee worker, social agency counselor, mental health coordinator, etc.)
To be honest, I literally have seen people who roll their eyes when I introduce myself as a post-bac student. I don't mean to offend any traditional med students who head out to med school straight from college, but I had a couple of 1Ms (all traditional med students) who were too brave enough to ask for my age and marriage status, as if they were implying, " aren't you old to start med school? Oh my gosh, when are you going to get married?" I also had a guy who told me,"oh, I am sorry. I guess you can't join us the cocktail tonight then," with an obvious blushing on his face. (I kinda look young and he did not know I already had a serious boyfriend. I am not interested in that kinda cocktail stuff anyways). I igonred them all thinking some people, who never had opportunities to taste the real world over the ivory tower, do not know how to interact with others with respect.
So, you get the idea why I am wondering about this topic. As a Type III post-bac student, I feel very offended whenever I run into this kind of mishaps. By now, I got over it, but it's still a lingering issue for many post-bac med students out there.
CP