Does it matter which school for Post-Bacc Degree?

[hayashik1]

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I am going to be doing post-bacc work to repair my grades by earning another degree.

I live in Texas. I have a choice between small private university which, I was told, has good reputation with medical schools in the state and University of Texas at Austin which is well know in the nation.

Does it make a difference which school I receive my post-bacc degree from?

Also, I graduated with pretty low GPA 15 years ago from engineering school from small private university in California. How much effect does that have on my admission to med school, especially if I am planning on getting another degree?

I would appreciate your input.

 

[Nasem]

you know... i've heard some texas schools give you an option of clearing out your entire undergrad GPA (if its 10 years or older) and get you to start a brand new GPA.... maybe you want to look into that

 

[hayashik1]

Thanks for the information. I would look into that.

If that is true, how does grades from previous course work get reported in med school appllication?

 

[Nasem]

thats the thing.... somebody from the pre-dental forums talked about it a long time back, I don't remember the details too much, but its basically like this: they erase your entire old record...

so when you apply to medical schools, the only GPA that shows are for the classes taken AFTER your GPA was erased..... Again, I don't know the full details of this, so you might want to check with some pre-professional advisors from your college

 

[drizzt3117]

It doesn't work that way for med schools. They ask for transcripts from every school you attended. If you want to try to lie and not put the previous school you attended, you might be able to get away with it, but if you do and they ever find out, you could get dropped from med school even in your fourth year, have your degree or medical license recinded, etc.

 

[hayashik1]

I found what Nasem is referring to which is called Academic Fresh Start on University of Texas at Austin Admissions website. It says that it is an option established as a part of Texas Education Code.

Here is what it says about addmissions to master's, doctoral, or other professional degree programs based on Academic Fresh Start on College For Texans Website.

What effect does this have on you if you enroll under the Academic Fresh Start option, earn an undergraduate degree, and then apply to a postgraduate or professional program at a public university?

Admissions staff for master's, doctoral, or other professional degree programs at public universities shall consider only the grade point average of the applicant established by the course work completed after enrollment under Academic Fresh Start, along with any other criteria the institution uses in evaluating applicants for admission into the postgraduate or professional program.

Credits and G.P.A. earned prior to the student's Academic Fresh Start will not be used to evaluate applicants for admission into the postgraduate or professional program.

Note: nothing in the law prohibits a public university from applying standard admissions requirements.

I think that all your previous academic record must be reported as a part of med school application. But how I read this is that postgraduate or professional program at public universities in Texas must use the GPA after Academic Fresh Start for addmission purposes.

This does not apply to med schools outside of Texas. However, this actually make sense after reviewing websites of Texas public med schools. They all seems to indicate the impact candidates may have on Texas as part of addmission consideration; and this is a way for them to keep md or do candidates in Texas that went through public universities which is funded by Texas tax payers.

To me, Academic Fresh Start shows the attitude of true Texans. 🙂 (I will help you by giving you a second chance if you are willing to help us here in Texas.)

Now, this also does not apply to Baylor College of Medicine which is private.

I will have to call around on Monday to find out what the scoop is on this. I will keep you posted.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

How much of an issue is money, and which school do you think you'll do better at? If money is a non-issue and if you're worried about performance, the small school might be a better deal because you'll probably get more help and personalized attention. UT's cheap and a great school, but classes will be huge, which makes it hard for some people to succeed. I wouldn't be too surprised if the premed classes at UT are sort of weed out classes, too, just because that's normally how it goes at the huge schools.

It sounds like both have strong reputations at Texas medical schools.

 

[cheezer]

when i was exploring postbacc possibilities (second bachelors) i considered two factors

1. cost
2. where i could excel and get good grades


*small class size was bonus for me.

hence i chose a local state school and have been plugging away ever since.

 

[drizzt3117]

That texas thing might only be for TMDSAS?

 

[hayashik1]

That texas thing might only be for TMDSAS?

I would imagine that you are correct

According to AMCAS website, Texas public med schools, for the most part, use TMDSAS for application and not AMCAS. 👍

 

[gman33]

I think the postbac school can make a difference depending on where you plan on applying. If you are applying to top-tier schools (I hate that term), then try to go to a school that is similar in nature.

If not, then just pick a school with a strong science program, and make sure you can excel in your classes there.

I started out doing some postbac at Penn and I didn't like the night classes and mostly the cost. I finished up at Temple and I will be starting at Temple med next Fall. That's where I wanted to go all along.

Don't let anyone tell you where you need to go. Just go somewhere that you can excel at, and that do really well on the MCAT.

With a high GPA and a high MCAT, you will get in somewhere if you have good activitites, essays and LORs.

 

[hayashik1]

That texas thing might only be for TMDSAS?

Here's informiation I found regarding Texas Academic Fresh Start on TMDSAS website.

I also spoke to someone from TMDSAS. She told me that, when a transcipt indicate that a person opted for academic fresh start, all course work older than 10 years from that particular semester is removed by TMDSAS prior to application submission to med schools and is transparent to the med schools.

As it is indicated in the website above, academic fresh start option is chosen prior to evaluation of your academic records for admission into undergrad school. So I do not have any current academic record for transfer admission since my academic record only include coursework older than 10 years. I will have to come up with 30 semester credits in another institution to be considered for transfer admission into University of Texas at Austin.

I know that this only applies to those that live in Texas. But I hope this helps people like me who decided to pursue a career in medicine as a physician later in life and who regrets receiving bad gpa in college the first time.

Best Wishes to all of us who have commited our lives to practice of medicine and being a physician!!

 

[Frida13]

All I know is a friend of mine did the U of PEnn Post Bacc program and not only did he spend A LOT OF MONEY TO GO....but the Head of the program was COMPLETELY not helpful and absent most of the time. In fact my friend and a couple of other people in the program still have not gotten interviews...these are ALL students with very High GPAs for Ivy league undergrad. The Penn PROGRAM WOULD BE A MAJOR MISTAKE FOR ANYONE>