Best way going about postbac?

[bestpostbac]

What is the best way of going about doing a postbac? I probably cannot do a formal post bac because of financial reasons. I've looked at a few and they are quite expensive. I was thinking about taking courses at my local state school as a non-degree seeking applicant. Advantages/disadvantages? Do you know of any other formal postbacs that may not cost as much?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

I can speak from the informal post-bacc perspective.

Advantages:

-cheap, around $1,700 tuition per semester, fulltime
-as a corollary, less financial stress - if unsuccessful in gaining admission to med school, the "sunk cost" of premed classes was truly minimal, vs 30K per year or so for a formal program.
-didn't have to move (no formal programs were near me)
-flexible classes -- I took whatever & whenever I wanted, as the 4 yr school was pretty large, and could decide on the order of courses, which advanced courses to take, etc
-got to meet lots of other students ranging from future healthcare workers to future HS teachers.
-ultimately gained acceptance to med school.

Disadvantages:

-no one "told" me what & when to complete a class, how to prepare for the MCAT, how to fill out the med school apps; premed adviser OK but not great.
-no external pressure to do well; many peers were fine w/b's or so; motivation had to come from within.
-my post-bacc school is not well-known; no warm intro from my post-bacc school to any med school.

 

[orbiter104]

Of the formal programs that I've been looking into I came across Montana State (http://www.montana.edu/dhs/hpa/postbaccadvising.html) which can run you $10k/yr according to AAMC (http://services.aamc.org/postbac/) and is the cheapest by far. I'm not sure if there are other postbacs that are cheaper though as I've been digging through 5-8 programs that are geared towards career changers.

I am not leaning towards any postbac programs at the moment because they do not fit the goals of what I would like to accomplish. Continue to look into all of your options to be able to make the best decision as I am constantly looking and hoping for something better.

There are also some great suggestions and advice on this thread: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=576574

 

[Signaq]

What is the best way of going about doing a postbac? I probably cannot do a formal post bac because of financial reasons. I've looked at a few and they are quite expensive. I was thinking about taking courses at my local state school as a non-degree seeking applicant. Advantages/disadvantages? Do you know of any other formal postbacs that may not cost as much?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

A suggestion might be to enroll as a degree-seeking student rather than non-degree so you can register for classes early and be eligible for financial aid. Also, the major isn't important - you don't have to be a biology major, for example. Just take the sequence of prereq classes appropriate for premeds. My state school (which has been awesome so far!) has a list of recommended BCMP classes so students don't accidently wind up in the nursing department, taking classes that would not count for med school prereqs. Good luck and have fun