Bennington Class of 2018-2019

[Shades221]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone else on this site will be attending The Bennington Post Bac Pre Med program this coming June of 2018 with me!

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[2017MU2017]

Sending in an application very soon! I know it's late in the cycle, but hopefully everything works out!

 

[Shades221]

Awesome! Best of luck with everything and hopefully will be classmates soon! =D What made you want to apply to Bennington btw? =]

 

[2017MU2017]

I talked to a couple people who went there in the past and the had great things to say about it. Also, I know it's a relatively small program, so the people there are really close and just want to help each other succeed. Other programs can be rather cut-throat and overly-competitive and that's not what I want. Getting into med school is stressful enough as it is!

How about you?

 

[Shades221]

For the most part the same. As of right now there are only twelve applicants that have been accepted into the program and Liam, one of the programs mentors, has been excellent in answering my questions and making me feel really comfortable about how much effort they put into making sure you get into a med school after. Those features combined with the fact that they list there success rate of 95% right on the website gave me a lot of confidence in the program. Others that I also got into such as the Berkley Extension program wouldn't even tell me how successful there actual program is and after reading reviews it turned out to be somewhere in the 50% area I believe and it was also at a community college which they neglected to be forward about.

All in All I'm extremely excited to be in this program since we are in essence paying to get into med school but hey being a doctor will pay for that eventually and I'm all for working my hardest if it gives me the best shot at admittance. =D

 

[2017MU2017]

Oh yeah the 95% success rate really dragged me in too! So I'm assuming you're from California? What did you study/do for a career before?

 

[Shades221]

I'm from California originally but went to the University at Buffalo for College and been in New York ever since graduation. I always planned to go into medicine but during my sophomore year in college I qualified for Olympic trials in the 100 meter Breaststroke (Swimming) so I had to put everything on hold while I went after that. Thankfully I hadn't started any of the med school requirements yet so I was able to apply for Post Bac programs like Bennington still. In College I was a Sociology Major with a Minor in English.

After graduation though I got into sales since it was flexible with swimming and currently work as a revenue and relationship manager for a number of different books of business (Hearst Media in Connecticut, Pittsburgh-Post Gazette and Toledo Blade to name a few). What about yourself, whats your background? =D

 

[2017MU2017]

That's awesome! I actually swam throughout high school and was captain on a club team in college (I'm horrible at breaststroke though). I was an accounting and finance major and I spent some time working in assurance for a Big 4 firm. Besides AP courses (which don't really count), I don't have any of the pre reqs out of the way either, so I'm in the same boat as you!

 

[Shades221]

Nice! Did you swim in college at all as well since you were a captain? What made you want to go into medicine from finance?

 

[2017MU2017]

Yeah, it wasn't a very intense club but it was exactly what I wanted. I've always loved working with math and science and medicine in particular fascinates me. Even going into college I considered medicine, but ultimately decided on finance. About a couple years ago I started revisiting the thought of working in medicine and the thought has constantly grown. I already have a very promising start to a career, so I was pretty reluctant to want to give it up. I made sure to spend ample time shadowing physicians and after each shadow, I thought "crap, I actually can really see myself doing this." I'm sure I would find a way to help people working in finance, but not in as much of a direct or tangible of a way as I would in medicine and the content is much more fascinating to me.

What made you want to do medicine?

 

[Shades221]

Hey any update on your status to the college?!

I grew up around medicine and always found it to be a highly rewarding experience working with/helping people when they are at there most vulnerable state.

 

[2017MU2017]

Not yet! They're still reviewing the application as it was recently submitted. Btw, what was the interview like?

 

[Shades221]

Ah ok well best of luck! My interview was with Liam and it was very professional. The questions centered around my experience in the medical field, why I wanted to be in medicine and what I was passionate about specifically within medicine to pursue as a potential career. As long as you can answer those types of questions by knowing what you want out of the program you should be fine. =]

 

[2017MU2017]

Just got my acceptance this week!

 

[Shades221]

Congratulations that's awesome man!! You'll have a lot of forms to fill out now so have fun with that. haha Guess will probably be roommates now in little over a month!

 

[2017MU2017]

Thanks man! Did you do your interview in-person/visit campus? How'd you like it? I'm thinking about trying to visit next week before fully committing.

 

[Shades221]

No I did my interview over the phone but from what Ive seen online the campus looks great so I'm not to worried about that. I'm mostly excited about how small the class sizes are and the fact that the first classes will only have post bac students so the teachers will know why were there and everything that comes with that. =]