Do Post Bacc Program or take classes on my own?

[TheMightyBoosh]

So here's my situation. I applied and got accepted into CSU East Bay's post bacc program for 2011-2012. I live in Socal and the program is located in Hayward. My plan was to do a post bacc program for a year and then do an SMP afterwards. Since my GPA is really low and my senior year grades especially were bad, I would want to raise my GPA and ensure that I get into a good SMP program.

I called the financial aid office today and inquired about how much money I would need to take out. The lady told me I would need 32,000 total to pay for tuition (around 15,000 with all the units I plan to take), off campus housing, food, books, etc. She then told me she highly recommended that I look into taking courses at a local university instead of doing their program, since it would save me a lot of money and it would essentially be the same thing.

Would it make a difference if I were to enroll at a local state university (probably CSULA) and take upper division courses through open U versus doing the post bacc program? As far as I know the main difference would be taking courses with other post bacc students only at East Bay and missing out on a committee letter if I take courses on my own (though I'm not even sure if CSU East Bay does a committee letter).

Again, this year spent would be the prerequisite to doing a SMP program the following year.

Help would be appreciated!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted248403]

Go to your local 4-year - dont pay the extra $$ to sit next to another post-bac, not worth it IMO

 

[AntonFreeman]

So here's my situation. I applied and got accepted into CSU East Bay's post bacc program for 2011-2012. I live in Socal and the program is located in Hayward. My plan was to do a post bacc program for a year and then do an SMP afterwards. Since my GPA is really low and my senior year grades especially were bad, I would want to raise my GPA and ensure that I get into a good SMP program.

I called the financial aid office today and inquired about how much money I would need to take out. The lady told me I would need 32,000 total to pay for tuition (around 15,000 with all the units I plan to take), off campus housing, food, books, etc. She then told me she highly recommended that I look into taking courses at a local university instead of doing their program, since it would save me a lot of money and it would essentially be the same thing.

Would it make a difference if I were to enroll at a local state university (probably CSULA) and take upper division courses through open U versus doing the post bacc program? As far as I know the main difference would be taking courses with other post bacc students only at East Bay and missing out on a committee letter if I take courses on my own (though I'm not even sure if CSU East Bay does a committee letter).

Again, this year spent would be the prerequisite to doing a SMP program the following year.

Help would be appreciated!

I am in similar situation as you. I will be going to csu eastbay from socal for postbac and planning on doing smp right after. I thought about not going as well because it would cost more money. But after trying to find classes through open u in csulb,csuf, and uci, it is not a easy thing to do. I need to take as many classes I can get to raise my grades and I did not want to risk not having a full course load. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[TheMightyBoosh]

I am in similar situation as you. I will be going to csu eastbay from socal for postbac and planning on doing smp right after. I thought about not going as well because it would cost more money. But after trying to find classes through open u in csulb,csuf, and uci, it is not a easy thing to do. I need to take as many classes I can get to raise my grades and I did not want to risk not having a full course load. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Yeah I definitely need to take as many courses as well for a GPA boost. What has been so hard about finding classes through those programs? Are they not offering enough classes or are they all filling up? I was going to look into CSULA's open U, but it seems really late right now and I have to take my MCAT in a few weeks so I hardly have any time.

 

[AntonFreeman]

Yeah I definitely need to take as many courses as well for a GPA boost. What has been so hard about finding classes through those programs? Are they not offering enough classes or are they all filling up? I was going to look into CSULA's open U, but it seems really late right now and I have to take my MCAT in a few weeks so I hardly have any time.

well ca has budget cut issues. so classes are going to be tight at any campus. you basically have to petition for every classes and will not know until first 2 weeks has passed. if you want to take at least 3 classes per quarter/semester, you are gonna have to try to at least 4 or 5 classes to make sure you get full load and you go through same process every term which could be really annoying.

I don't think you are too late for open u, you just have to go get forms from the school and go to classes that you are interested in. instructor or ta will tell you if they have rooms or not on first day. then you just have to wait for some people to drop.