Does it matter where you take post-bacc classes?

[Sharknad0]

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Does school prestige matter when it comes to postbacc classes? There's a few schools in my city but their rankings are pretty different (T10 vs. mid-private vs. public).

 

[Goro]

Nope

 

[chromaticscale]

I went to a state university for post-bacc. It has a pretty good success rate (at least 80% go into medical school if I remember correctly). Some of my classmates are attending or have graduated from top med schools like Vanderbilt, UCSF, UCSD, UCLA etc. Many others at VCU, midwest programs in Chicago, etc. I think those who went to top tiers went there because of their application (went to top college, killed the MCAT, ECs that are extraordinary). So if you do very well academically and are very interesting, then where you go for your post-bacc doesn't really matter for med school admissions.

 

[Sharknad0]

It’s the local branch of the State School, i.e. not the flagship

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Coursework at a local branch of state school will be respected. You may not get personalized advising, etc, but just do well in your courses and do the best you can on the MCAT, while doing EC's that help those less fortunate than yourself, and you should be fine. If you are aiming for T20 schools, however, I will say that some of the smaller, well-established, formal post-bacc programs (Bryn Mawr, UPENN) have very good records of T20 acceptances, though this is likely because of a heavy selection bias too. ADCOM's know these traditional post-bacc programs very well and also get to know and trust the program directors too, so their letters carry a lot of weight (these are smaller programs and the formal post-bacc program directors get to know the students on a personal level as well).