bennington 2009?

[ilivefreeordie]

is anyone else on here going to bennington's postbac this summer?

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[DPDPD]

Hey Mr. Willis,

I just received my acceptance letter the other day for the Summer start but I'm still up in the air about what to do! I really do like the small class sizes, etc. but I was wondering how to deal with the gap year.

Actually, maybe someone out there could help answer this question: I don't have much health care work experience, so would it be better to get some BEFORE doing a postbac so that it will clearly be on any med school app, or is it feasible to do it after the program...at the risk of it not showing as strongly on your application.

Thanks for the help. And congrats Livefree!

 

[grouse]

What do you know about the program? I am aware of the small classes which sounds good. What success in getting in to med school? What credentials to get in? Does it take 2 years?

 

[ilivefreeordie]

i am also lacking related work experience, but have accepted that as a weakness. during the field work term i will get about a month of service work in, and then plan to get patient care experience during the glide year. i hear that it's much MUCH better to go into postbac with health care work experience.

i'm doing the program in one year. i know someone from the 05-06 class, and he said that all of them have gotten into med school, except for one person who decided not to apply. as for credentials... just a bachelor's degree, i think.

 

[DPDPD]

Hey Livefree, yeah I am in the same boat of thinking I should just go for it. I wrote to an admissions board at my undergrad med school about if it was better to go to a postbac with experience, or get it after, considering I have already been accepted to some places and their reply was that since I have been accepted to a program that I should go ahead with it as opposed to waiting.

I didn't really expect that answer, but I guess they would know better than I, eh? Anyways, to the point of my post: Have you looked up Bennington in the search function yet, because I found a post that just tore it to bits and its making me wonder b/c the person who posted it still got into med school so it's not exactly some kind of rejected persons rant...

Search for "a few words of caution..." with the posters name kkbmd2b

I would love it if one of those Bennington people who supposedly come to the boards could give a rebuttal to this.

I know many of you are considering enrolling in post-bacc programs, so I want to offer my $0.02 here, in case you're considering Bennington College.

I attended Bennington's program a few years ago. As a liberal arts student, I chose it because the program advertised itself as the ideal place for students with no prior math or science background, as they offer an "innovative" curriculum that includes small classes, take-home exams, and extensive projects. Unfortunately, however, the reality of Bennington's program differed extensively from its advertised description.

While one or two of the professors I encountered there proved to be excellent teachers, the majority were not. They were bright, interesting people--but they were more interested in teaching advanced science (and/or going bar-hopping with their students) than the science we needed to know in order to learn the fundamental concepts necessary to perform well on the MCAT. Additionally, the majority of the classes were poorly organized. Comment forms attached to transcripts quickly became a liability if one had a professor, such as my animal physiology professor, who (literally) replied to a student's (benign) question in class by saying "f*ck you." Take-home exams were complicated--it was not uncommon to spend 30+ hours on one--and did not prepare me well for the "real world" of science courses that use multiple choice exams to evaluate student progress. Projects were overblown--again, extending well beyond the scope and depth needed to provide students with fundamental knowledge. The only students who ended up performing well in the classes were those who had already taken the classes before (funny, since they advertised this as a non-science student program) or who were simply very good at teaching themselves from textbooks on their own.

My experiences since Bennington have included classes at both private and public universities. These classes have been straightforward, prepared me well for MCAT passages, and were, in general, much less complicated. They were also considerably cheaper. The contrast between these pre-med classes, as compared to Bennington's, underscored my sense that Bennington's classes proved to be of poor quality.

These comments represent my sole opinion--undoubtedly, there will be others who have different thoughts regarding their experience at the school--but I would hate to see anyone else waste their time and money on Bennington's program, and this is the best way I could think of to speak up about it. Consider this, then, as a consumer warning of sorts. Please feel free to email me if you have specific questions.