Anyone have info on Bryn Mawr/Tufts/brandeis?

[michaelf626]

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hi,
i am new to this site and am considering applying to a post-bac program (was a history major in college)...i was wondering if anyone could give me any information on the level of competition to get into bryn mawr, tufts and brandeis... also, are they known to send kids who have done well to decent med schools, and how structured the programs are....

also- i am looking to go in fall 05....how far in advance do people apply for these things?...

i did fine in college and graduated with a 3.8 gpa, and am now in a phd program for history but probably going to switch courses after a masters (am 22 now). in the 8 months between college and grad school i volunteered on an ambulance and worked as a mental health worker at a psychiatric hospital, both which started to make me think of this new path. my problem is that a) i am NOT very good at science, b) the one class i took in science in college -baby bio- i got a C, c) i did awful in high school science/math if any post-bacs require that

so if anyone can give me any more info on those 3 above programs (other than what they're websites say), and maybe from the small above blurb someone who knows about it can say if i have any chance or am wasting my time thinking about those places?

thanks a lot in advance, and good luck!!!!

michael

 

[sidewalkman]

Well, don't pick Brandeis! I did undergrad there, and looked into a post-bacc there. The only benefit I see is the few linkage programs. The big problem is that the post-bacc students aren't seperate from the undergrads, so you'd be taking bio with 150+ sophs, for example. Oh, and it's insanely expensive. Premed advising is average; none of my classmates raved or dismissed the advisors. And the hospital that was a block away from campus shut down. In short, it's a poor value.

Don't know about Tufts. There's lots about Bryn Mawr elsewhere in this section. Your GPA's very competitive.

Have you thought about giving Harvard, Penn, and Columbia a look? Harvard and Penn are much cheaper by comparison, and I believe Penn and Columbia have linkages.

 

[michaelf626]

Have you thought about giving Harvard, Penn, and Columbia a look? Harvard and Penn are much cheaper by comparison, and I believe Penn and Columbia have linkages.

hi thanks for the advice... i've thought about giving columbia a look, but i thought their application requires a high school transcript (basically in 11th and 12th grade i messed up in every math/science course i took). i hadnt thought about penn, and harvard i just assumed i would never get in?

re: brandeis..in a post bac, dont you always take the science courses with the other undergrads? i had no idea that at some schools it differed?

i couldnt find any info on bryn mawr on the site- maybe i am searching in the wrong place...but their website seems very attractive and along the lines of what i'm looking for, so i am curious to know more about it.
thanks again

 

[sidewalkman]

hi thanks for the advice... i've thought about giving columbia a look, but i thought their application requires a high school transcript (basically in 11th and 12th grade i messed up in every math/science course i took). i hadnt thought about penn, and harvard i just assumed i would never get in?

I know little about Columbia, other than that they have a program and have linkages... I chose not to apply there because I'm not the biggest NYC fan, and it's expensive, both in tuition and housing costs.

Penn has the Pre-med program and a post-bacc undergrad program. Web site: penncgs.org. All the classes are at night, and you're taking them with (mostly-read on) students who were also admitted to the evening programs. Penn day students can take (I think) a max of 2 courses in their major through CGS, so a few undergrads will be in the evening classes. Penn also has a BA program for evening students, so a faw of those will be in the classes, too. Mostly, however, it's older students. They say they look at the "whole applicant," but I think it really comes down to if you have over a 3.0. You don't have to submit your HS transcript, so you're safe there. Oh, if you have the $$, you can take day classes as well, but it's real expensive. They have pretty much everything you could want at night, though, so that's not an issue. Housing's cheap: you can get a decent studio in the University City section of Philly for as little as $400.

Finally, I'm typing all this b/c I was s'posed to have my fantasy football draft now, but half the players were too lazy to sign up immediately, so Yahoo now refuses to give us our draft time 😡

 

[sidewalkman]

and harvard i just assumed i would never get in?

Fantasy football draft still screwed up, so more responding....

Harvard has a "Health Careers Program" that you can formally apply to. Go to extension.harvard.edu for info. What's great is that even IF you don't get into this program, you can take all the classes you need a la carte - it's open enrollment! This is what I will be doing. Can't beat the tuition, and no limits on how many people can sign up for the core classes. A difference b/n the Program and just taking classes is that you get a fancy Harvard ID and a fancy, but useless, certificate at the end. Like Penn, there'll be some people getting their BA or MA through the Extension School, but mostly it's post-baccs. IMHO, another really good, affordable option.

 

[sidewalkman]

re: brandeis..in a post bac, dont you always take the science courses with the other undergrads? i had no idea that at some schools it differed?

i couldnt find any info on bryn mawr on the site- maybe i am searching in the wrong place...but their website seems very attractive and along the lines of what i'm looking for, so i am curious to know more about it.
thanks again

Yep, still don't know what the deal is with the fantasy football draft 😡

As you can see, it depends on the institution whether you take courses with undergrads or not. The Bryn Mawr website says some classes are with undergrads, some aren't. I'd call and get more info on this. IMHO, the program attracts top students b/c of the incredible stucture, its academic prestige, and (a huge factor) the crazy good linkages. I feel its only downfalls are a lack of exposure to research and the $$. In the end, it's whatever you feel most comfotable with (and can get accepted to!).

As for applying, schools have vastly different deadlines. It really depends on the program.

Finally, Goucher's post-bacc also has a good reputation on this site, and it seems to be similar to bryn mawr's.

And the draft was rescheduled... thankfully. 🙂

 

[BobA]

I just finished the Bryn Mawr program. For the last couple of years 100% of the Bryn Mawr applicants have been accepted. About half the classes are with undergrads. It's pretty easy to get into a school w/out taking a glide year (something like 12 linkages! Including an incredibly easy one to Jefferson - 3.3GPA, all 9's). Of course, I opted not to consort for a number of personal reasons, but I'm still getting a lot of interviews. . . we'll see.

As a program, Bryn Mawr could not have been better. . . but it is expensive (I'm 35 K in debt from it), as all private universities are.

 

[ockhamsRzr]

I also closely checked out the BM program. I think of all the programs in the country it has the greatets number of linkages (consortial agreements) with med schools. I was particulary interested in the linkage with Brown, a school that until this year filled its med school seats with post-bacc linkages from only three schools: Goucher, BM, and (either) JH or columbia (can't quite recall).

As the other posters mentioned, BM is up front about the fact that some classes will be with undergrads while others may be mostly comprised of post-bacc'ers. If I was closer to philly i would have given it more consideration, but it IS expensive!

Good luck,

Ock

 

[scooter31]

I can give you a taste of the Tufts prgram, from what I remember about it while I was in grad school there:

Insanely expensive (like the rest of Tufts)

Linkage prgram(s), where I cant remember totally. I'm sure they're set up with Tufts and I think UNECOM as well.

Classes at main campus with undergrads. Unlike a lot of the postbac prgrams, not real nontrad friendly, in that classes are set up as in undergrad, with classes throughout the day. So if you have a job (or need one), it will take some juggling to be successful. I also want to say it's a fulltime endeavour, like Columbia's. You'll be taking 3-4 classes/semster, so the workload is insane.

Like I said, my info is second and third hand, so this info may not be as thorough as it should be to make a solid decision, but hopefully it'll get you started in the right direction. 👍

 

[Crake]

I don't think the Columbia admissions staff looks at the highschool transcript at all in making an admissions decision. When I met with my post-bacc advisor, he opened my file, looked at my highschool transcript and remarked that since I'd taken honors physics in highschool, Calculus in highschool and undergrad--that I was ready for general physics. I think they only use the highschool transcript to see how much exposure you've had to the sciences, not how you've done in them. They do this just to see if you're ready for physics or general chemistry (for which you must take a placement exam), etc.

All I can say, since I haven't started yet, is that the Columbia program is marketed as very very intense. If you don't do well in the sciences and don't have a strong math background, the program may not be for you. You're "competing" for A's with Columbia College undergrads who are almost all highly motivated and highly intelligent (or they wouldn't be there!) The other post-baccs (who you're not competing against really, because we don't make up the majority of a class we just have a reputation for breaking the curve for the undergrads) are all highly motivated as well--Columbia requires a huge monetary investment so we have to be!

Columbia has good linkage programs, but some are highly specific. For example, the linkage with Brown is specifically for URM's and persons who have been out of school for a while and have worked in the healthcare field (e.g. older post-baccs). Also, there is no linkage with Columbia P&S--although I've heard that several do get accepted. At the same time, many in the program are also Columbia College graduates, come from other prestigious undergrad institutions (Yale, Harvard, Tufts, Princeton, U. Chicago, etc--these are the one's I've met), and others have advanced degrees already (e.g. a MS in Nutrition, or some such) so that may explain the high matriculation rate into P&S.

There is also a high attrition rate and there is no "hand-holding" from the advisors. I personally like this, but some like to meet with their advisor more than once or twice a year and get constant feedback. On the bright side, there are excellent volunteer opportunitites in NYC, and the program makes them available to you. Overall, from what I've seen of the other students in the program, I would say this is for highly motivated people that already have decent GPAs (e.g. above a 3.5), not people with a 2.9 trying to improve their undergrad GPA. There are better places to do that than CU because A's are notoriously hard to come by here (from what I've heard from 2nd year students, et. al.)

 

[Febrifuge]

If you're looking for someplace where they understand what an MA in History is, and how it can help to make you a better physician than the next guy, you should check out Bennington as well.

 

[mma]

Hi!

Your story is remarkably similar to mine, although I was in a Classics PhD program instead ot History...

I went to Tufts Post-Bacc Pre-Med program in 1999-2000. (I wanted to live freely at home, so looked only at programs in the Boston area.) Brandeis required seven courses completed at Brandeis for a committee letter (I only needed six). Harvard's program did not seem to have much in the way of advising (and Harvard extension courses are taught by Harvard faculty, but are not really "Harvard" classes--the extension school is a little more laid back than the college, as the classes are primarily meant for community education). Tufts required 6 courses and had lots of hands-on advising (you meet several times during your stay with the pre-med advisor and your application to medical school is scrutinized by her in the same way as those of undergrads). You do take your classes with the undergrads, which I thought was helpful--they will make up the bulk of your colleagues in medical school. Admissions to the Tufts program does not require a high school transcript, but it is competitive (i.e., not everyone who applies gets in). Also, placement rates are very high--along the lines of 90+%. Linkage is to Tufts Med, where very few post-bacc grads actually end up. (You can apply jointly to the post-bacc program and Tufts Med, thereby eliminating the glide year, if you want to do primary care.) From my year, most of us went to or could have gone to our #1 choices for school (HMS, Baylor, UVA, UCLA, etc.).

Remember, however, that it is also extremely important to spend your glide year (or years) wisely and productively. Getting into med school, contrary to how it may appear in student fora, is not just about GPAs and MCAT scores. Always ask yourself, "Sure, my numbers are really good, but what have I actually done?"

Let me know if you have any questions!

🙂