sunnyjohn said:
1. Which is better, 2nd bachelor's or post-bac?
I think either is a reasonable choice.
An informal postbac may give you more freedom. Examples would be Harvard Extension, U Chicago's Graduate Student-At-Large program, and I'm pretty sure Northwestern has something similar too.
A formal postbac enrichment program typically consists of a bunch of upper division bio courses. However, some (perhaps most) of these are quite expensive.
Some schools give non-degree seeking students last priority for registration (personal experience
). One advantage of the 2nd bachelor's (I'm assuming you'd do it in something science related) is that you would be a degree-seeking student with a bunch of credit hours (especially since you already have a bachelor's) so you may have first dibs on classes. This would make it easier to make the schedule you'd like. I don't know how long you're stretching out your postbac plan, but if it's more than a year, a second bachelor's could also give you a lot of summer research opportunities. There's a lot of summer undergraduate research programs that require that you're in a bachelor's science program. These programs can have stipends of about $4,000 or $3,000 + housing/room and board accomodations. Even if I wanted to, I would be ineligible for these programs, but someone pursuing a second bachelor's (and doing postbac studies for more than a year) would have these opportunities. If you're in the Chicagoland area, I'm pretty sure you could find some of these summer research opportunities there. I know Loyola has an Immunology undergraduate research program.
sunnyjohn said:
2. Theoretically if you haven't graduated (finished req's but never applied for or got degree) can't you just take undegrad classes and improve your GPA?
Regardless if you've graduated or not, you can take undergrad classes to improve your GPA.
sunnyjohn said:
3. How can a post-bac improve you undergrad GPA? These are classes after graduation, right? (I read the AMCAS brochure on how to fill out the application and I noticed that you are required to list post-bac courses separately)
Yes, the postbac grades include all undergrad coursework after your first bachelor's degree. The postbac section of AMCAS counts toward your undergrad cumulative and BCPM GPAs. AMCAS includes Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Postbac, and Graduate sections. All of these, except for Graduate, will contribute to your undergrad GPA.
sunnyjohn said:
4. Does anyone recommend I take classes of the AMCAS course classification list in the Bio, Chem, Math and Physics list just to improve my BCPM GPA?
Well don't take courses
just to improve your bcpm. I would take courses that allow you to improve your bcpm and will help you in your pursuit to be a physician.
I wouldn't just go down AMCAS' list and see what AMCAS recommends. For example, AMCAS places Kinesiology outside of the BCPM, but my current school offers Kinesiology through the biology department. If I took the course (which requires physics and several biology prerequisites), I could reasonably classify it under my bcpm. My relative that graduated from Notre Dame took upper division bio courses like AIDS that counted toward his bcpm. Depending on the school you might even be able to find something interesting like DNA Recombination or Tumor Biology.
I think the best idea and most helpful way to prepare for med school would be to take upper division bio courses relevant to the basic sciences (physiology, anatomy, neuroscience, embryology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, etc.).
sunnyjohn said:
5. I spotted a bunch of Biotechnology classes at a cc on Saturdays. Since Biotech classes are on that course classification list in the Biology group, should I take these just to improve my BCPM gpa? They are cheap, they won't take up much of my time, I like working in the lab. (Yeah yeah I know community college, most adcom's pooh-pooh them, but I am trying to bump up a really bad GPA. CC would only be a first step.)
If you're pretty sure that the courses will go on your BCPM, I don't see how it would hurt as long as it's a first step. It might even add some uniqueness to your application. But make sure you do well--you should not accept less than an A if you're taking CC courses.
sunnyjohn said:
4. What is applied Mathematics?
According to some old stuff I saved from way back in the day...
Applied Mathematics emphasizes a career working (often in a team) with engineers, physicists, or programmers on problems to improve quality, design, productivity, or to decrease costs.
sunnyjohn said:
5. What other "easy" science class do you guys recommend? (Aside from Astronomy, which I know counts as physics)
I always thought math was pretty easy, but I haven't taken too many of those in college. What's easy is going to depend on your strengths, but I'd say look into psych departments and see if any courses with "neuro" or "bio" in the titles are fairly science oriented. In my experience, psych courses are cake.
You self-designate your bcpm courses on AMCAS. You could even take courses outside traditional deptartments (bio/chem/phys/math) to increase your BCPM provided these courses contain considerable bio/chem/physics/math. For example, you could include something like Neuroscience of the Brain/Brain and Behavior/Sensation and Perception in a psychology department or Epidemiology/Biostatistics from a public health department.
sunnyjohn said:
6. Am I shooting myself in the foot and possibly looking at grade inflation?
Yes I know many adcoms won't look at those cc grades, but I am desperate. I would of course take classes at a university as soon as I could get a few things in order (READ, Money).
I think I have become obsessed with the idea of improving my BCPM...
Agape.
If your transcript is obviously just a bunch of grade padding courses, that could be bad. If economic factors make it hard to take courses elsewhere, I don't think any adcom would fault you for taking cc classes. But I think you risk making your transcript look like simple grade inflation if you do not pursue further postbac studies at a 4-year school after taking the CC courses. I have a friend in New York (career changer) who was specifically told by some of the New York med schools to not take prereqs at a community college. And if she did, they would expect to see her take more advanced biology courses after. So like you said, adcoms will tend to frown on CC coursework if you do not pursue premedical coursework at a 4-yr school later.
You mentioned you were in South Bend. If I remember correctly, I'm quite certain Indiana University has a branch in South Bend. Honestly, I don't know much about it and in my many trips to South Bend I still have no idea where the IU campus is! But if you're an IN resident trying to avoid the price tags of Notre Dame and Northwestern, IU should be able to provide you with a good, low-cost education and would allow you to avoid the potential community college problem. You might want to look into that.
Good luck