"Early" Career Changers

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RedVelvet13

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If I graduate from college with a degree in English and did not take any pre-med classes, can I apply for a post-bacc premed program as a career changer right after graduation, or do I actually have to have been out in the world with a real career first?

Sorry if this is a stupid question...

Thanks in advance!

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it's not a stupid question but I would be hesitant to call yourself a career changer. typically that's someone that went out and worked in a career field (military, teaching, business, whatever) and decided it wasn't what they wanted and now they want to take those experiences and use them towards a career in health.

if you do apply as this be prepared to answer questions on what career field you were in before and be able to substantiate the why's, what's and how's of your "change."
 
I assume the OP isn't calling him/her-self a career changer, but responding to the frequent usage of the term as a description for the types of people that post-bacs serve. If you're asking about whether you're eligible for a postbac straight out of college, the answer is certainly yes. I would call you a "late decider" rather than a career changer - I fall into the same category.

It will be helpful admissions-wise to have at least a little volunteer experience or something else to substantiate your interest in medicine, at least if you're looking at competitive programs. These experiences may not be as important for less competitive or open-enrollment programs. In either case, just make sure you have enough time before, after or during the postbac to squeeze in clinical experiences, as you will definitely need them for med school apps!

Good luck.
 
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I started a "career changer" postbac program right after undergrad, and many of my classmates did as well. We all fit into a certain mold... As Bubba3 said, it depends on the program. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you're looking into the competitive ones.
 
There's no need to call yourself a "career changer" - just say you're changing your field of study. This can even work quite well for you, assuming you do well in the post-bac... there's a trend towards preferring well-rounded people who are not totally pre-med tunnel vision. You could claim that you intentionally used your undergrad years to pursue a passion, purely for personal enrichment, because you would never again have that opportunity, and you are now pursuing another, more practical passion (or something like that.)

When you're right out of college, you feel like one big chapter in your life is behind you. But when you get older (I'm 34) those younger years - 18 to, say, 25, 26, or 27, all sort of blend... that all seems like one chapter. From an older person's perspective, it doesn't look weird to have studied one thing and then move on to study something else. I don't think any older person, other than maybe someone who has had total tunnel vision, and never dabbled outside of one field, would think it was odd that you spent "4 whole years" studying one thing, and then switched to something else. I think it's even less difficult to explain when your major area in college was something like English (which really isn't easily applicable to a career.) It really does look more like a personal passion, you wanted to be a well-read person, etc., and it's not necessarily what you always thought you'd do for a living, or anything like that. No one would wonder how you could switch fields when you haven't even worked in the "English field" yet.

I digress, a bit, but I thought I'd give that opinion.
 
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Kaleidoscope, I have a few questions on some and was wondering if I could PM you on that? Thanks
 
I'm an "early decider" too. I graduated from college this past May, applied to some local formal post-bacc programs and will begin in Fall '11. Right right I'm taking classes informally at a local CSU through open university.
 
I assume the OP isn't calling him/her-self a career changer, but responding to the frequent usage of the term as a description for the types of people that post-bacs serve. If you're asking about whether you're eligible for a postbac straight out of college, the answer is certainly yes. I would call you a "late decider" rather than a career changer - I fall into the same category.

It will be helpful admissions-wise to have at least a little volunteer experience or something else to substantiate your interest in medicine, at least if you're looking at competitive programs. These experiences may not be as important for less competitive or open-enrollment programs. In either case, just make sure you have enough time before, after or during the postbac to squeeze in clinical experiences, as you will definitely need them for med school apps!

Good luck.

you're right maybe the OP was asking in regards to postbac eligibility. I am a career changer, did 10 years in another career field, then postbac and now in an SMP. just trying to offer advice in the way of questions I've been asked by adcom's about "changing careers." good luck to everyone.
 
I started a "career changer" postbac program right after undergrad, and many of my classmates did as well. We all fit into a certain mold... As Bubba3 said, it depends on the program. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you're looking into the competitive ones.

may I ask which program you are attending?

thanks!
 
If I graduate from college with a degree in English and did not take any pre-med classes, can I apply for a post-bacc premed program as a career changer right after graduation, or do I actually have to have been out in the world with a real career first?

Sorry if this is a stupid question...

Thanks in advance!

I went to Goucher, which is generally classified as a formal 'career changer' program since it is for people with no previous science coursework under their belts. A significant number of my classmates came to the program straight out of undergrad. So yes, absolutely, you can apply to postbacc programs while you are still in undergrad.

One responder above said something about volunteer experience being 'helpful' when applying to formal postbacc programs. Although I can't speak to any other programs, I know that Goucher rarely considers an applicant who has zero experience in the medical field regardless of an otherwise-excellent application. Treat medical volunteer or shadowing experience as something that is just as necessary as a good GPA or high SAT scores rather than as something optional and you won't go wrong. As a bonus, you get the fun of seeing what you life could be like in a few short years. (Or, you get a reality check and save yourself a load of cash when you realize medicine isn't for you after all, which can also be bonus.)

It's true that not all people who get in have a ton of medical experience, but most do, and your chances go up if you have that on your resume.

There's a couple reasons formal postbaccs want to see that experience on your resume: 1) they want to know that you know what you're in for and that you aren't going to reconsider and drop out halfway through the program. 2) Just like a high ugrad GPA and standardized test scores are evidence that you're likely to do well enough to get into med school (and thus keep the program's acceptance stats up), they want evidence that you'll do well in an interview process. Having medical experience = a way to justify this career choice and also = something to talk about with an interviewer. It's just another way that formal postbaccs use for prescreening applicants.
 
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