Columbia University Post-Bacc DIY

[SixStringPsych]

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Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone has taken courses at Columbia informally/Unmatriculated. I am looking more for those who have taken advanced upper level Bio post Bacc courses without actually being in the post Bacc program...just as a grade enhancer. I am looking to do that in the Fall.

Or even input from people who have done the formal post Bacc...just wondering how competitive the upper level classes are in general. Thanks

 

[Melomare17]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone has taken courses at Columbia informally/Unmatriculated. I am looking more for those who have taken advanced upper level Bio post Bacc courses without actually being in the post Bacc program...just as a grade enhancer. I am looking to do that in the Fall.

Or even input from people who have done the formal post Bacc...just wondering how competitive the upper level classes are in general. Thanks

bump since im interested in knowing this as well

 

[SixStringPsych]

Hey Melomare17, I actually realized there is a real application for the Post-Baccalaureate Studies program in the school of Continuing Education...here is the link: http://ce.columbia.edu/Postbaccalaureate-Studies/Apply-Program

It doesn't require any letters of recommendation or anything just SAT/ACT, unofficial transcript, personal statement, and the online app. To be honest, it seems pretty non-competitive, it is a Post-Bacc program for any student looking for more study in any area, you specify on the app what department you want to study in and what classes you are looking to take.

I applied a few weeks ago and got an acceptance a week and a half later. If you are looking into Post-Bacc study next year this seems like a good option with an easy app. I'm guessing it will be rigorous, but hey, thats why I'm doing this post-bacc year...and what better way than to get A's in courses at an ivy league school.

 

[Melomare17]

awesome thanks!

 

[pietachok]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone has taken courses at Columbia informally/Unmatriculated. I am looking more for those who have taken advanced upper level Bio post Bacc courses without actually being in the post Bacc program...just as a grade enhancer. I am looking to do that in the Fall.

Or even input from people who have done the formal post Bacc...just wondering how competitive the upper level classes are in general. Thanks

Don't do it. You don't get anything more from the $, regardless of what they tell you. In some cases the advisers give out blantantly wrong info & try to dissuade some students from applying to med school. They put false information, wrong names, outright mistakes into committee letters--it took me 3 yes to have a Med school Dean tell me to ditch the letter b/c the content was not consistent with me, another classmate had someone else's credentials given in her committee letter. After ditching my committee letter, I went from 2 years of zero interviews to over a dozen interviews & several admissions. They use the committee letter as a big selling point, but I and many other alumni agree it was of no help. Often, your undergrad Alma mater can do that for you. Also, the biology course at Columbia is unnecessarily demanding & then you are graded on a curve only against other highly.motivated post-baccs...Voila: generally OK scores become a C...in Bio....which everybody presumes is an easy class, & you have to waste space in your apps explaining what happened. Take whatever reasonable education you can get cheapest, whether or not it's in a post Bacc program. Seriously, now that I'm 3 yrs into Med school, I just feel foolish for believing I needed CU's program, especially since they cost me several $k in apps they screwed up.

 

[UNCDOC]

I was recently accepted into the post bacc pre med at Columbia for Fall 2013. I was wondering if there is anyone that had either recently started or recently graduated that can shed some light on whether it was worth it? and the validity of the negative reviews on this site?

I have yet to apply to another school for a post bacc program, but feel that before going a few k$ into debt, I should I at the very least find out why the student reviews from Columbia are so poor.

My background is rather unique in that I already have tons of science classes ( although I have yet to find out if they will give me credits for those).

Thank you