Anyone have any first hand information on Tuft's Post Bac

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Flightmedic911

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Is there anyone out there who is an alumni or current student of Tuft's post bac program. If so any general information about the program and how you either liked it or hated it would be great.
 
Flightmedic911 said:
Is there anyone out there who is an alumni or current student of Tuft's post bac program. If so any general information about the program and how you either liked it or hated it would be great.

I did my undergrad at Tufts. When I was evaluating post-bacc programs, I briefly considered Tufts, but then quickly decided to go elsewhere because of the cost. I ended up going to UMass Boston, which cost a fraction of Tufts.

You are paying for the name and for the potential of getting a guaranteed interview at Tufts Med (which by no means guarantees you an acceptance). At Tufts, you sit in lectures with 200 undergrads, you compete with them for a finite number of A's, you compete for the limited time of the pre-med advisor, and aren't treated any differently. Interestingly, while at UMass, I encountered three students who started their post-bacc at Tufts, and then wound up at UMass. They had various gripes about the program, with many of their complaints being the ones I listed above.

Tufts may be good option for a lot of people - so I would encourage you to think about it. It just wasn't worth it to me to spend $30K when I could go to UMass and pay less than $10K. In my opinion (and speaking from my own experience), as long as you do well on your MCAT, it really doesn't matter where you do your post-bacc. Good luck.
 
Another thing about UMass-Boston that I liked, was the diversity in age. There were people who are going for their bachelors and they are in their late 20's , 30's and even 40+. If you are a post-bacc this may be an issue if you go to Tufts, or Brandeis where you will be surrounded by traditional undergrads. As Nick said what is important is getting those A's not where or how you got those A's. It doesn't matter whether a professor "spoonfed" you the info and got A's or the professor was really hard and got those A's go where you feel you will be comfortable and it is an environment where you can excel.

I met a woman at UMass that had gone to Cornell but for whatever reason had to drop out, and is now finishing up her degree at UMass-Boston after starting a family.
 
blankguy said:
I met a woman at UMass that had gone to Cornell but for whatever reason had to drop out, and is now finishing up her degree at UMass-Boston after starting a family.

another cornellian? blankguy how do you manage to find us? 😛 is this woman in orgo with us?

to the OP, i have found that the name of an institution means jack s*** if you don't get the grades and you don't learn anything. I'm also at UMB right now, and i'm very happy with my experience here. the profs actually care about you, and aren't trying to weed you out. The students i've encountered are, not only intelligent, but really willing to help each other learn and do better. There's no real sense of cutthroat competition at all, which is the biggest relief ever after my crappy undergrad experience at a university with a great name and enough gunners to start an army.

definitely check tufts out, but seriously consider umb as well if you are looking to the boston area for post-bacc.
 
jintonic5 said:
another cornellian? blankguy how do you manage to find us? 😛 is this woman in orgo with us?

to the OP, i have found that the name of an institution means jack s*** if you don't get the grades and you don't learn anything. I'm also at UMB right now, and i'm very happy with my experience here. the profs actually care about you, and aren't trying to weed you out. The students i've encountered are, not only intelligent, but really willing to help each other learn and do better. There's no real sense of cutthroat competition at all, which is the biggest relief ever after my crappy undergrad experience at a university with a great name and enough gunners to start an army.

definitely check tufts out, but seriously consider umb as well if you are looking to the boston area for post-bacc.

Nope, she is currently taking molecular biology. I don't remember her name but I know what she looks like.

Some people are inspired by cutthrout competition others are intimidated by it. I'll leave that to the OP to decide. The biggest hurdle for Tufts/Brandeis/BU is cost. If it's too steep for you(OP) consider UMB and Harvard.
 
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