Georgetown Post-bac??

[LEELLISAA]

Dear All!

I am from Africa, made in Ethiopia. I had an animal science background. When I arrived in US, I started planning towards a medical school. I took, Calculus I and II, Organic Chem I&II at a community college. Scored straight A's. But got a second thought; decided to attend Georgetown University post-bac just to strengthen my background. Now, the post-bac program advisor looked at my straight A's and said "I will accept you into the program if you can afford the money."

I know I can score the A's, but how worthy is it to go through such expensive program. I also feel my Animal science background is non- traditional.

Any thoughts or experiences from GT post-bac? Your help is highly appreciated..[/SIZE]

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[WiscoFan14]

I would do a more structured post-bacc program than Gtown. There are other programs that are the same amount of money...but you get much more advising and they have linkage programs with several medical schools. Gtown doesn't have any linkage programs that I know of. Plus, since you aren't getting the Gtown degree....the "name" issue doesn't matter as much. If I were you I would check out Goucher College in Maryland.

 

[VeganSoprano]

American has a much more structured post-bacc, and is somewhat less expensive. That's where I'm going in the fall.

 

[LEELLISAA]

Thanks a lot, really appreciate it. I really want to hear more form those who attended GU post-bac before.

Keep doing your thing, THE HELP!

 

[WiscoFan14]

I did the GU post-bacc program. It was fine....but in retrospect there are more "direct" routes to med school...like via Goucher, Bryn Mawr, etc. Its nothing against GU...they just don't have the same amount of structure as other more formalized programs. I chose GU cause it was close to home.

 

[LEELLISAA]

I did the GU post-bacc program. It was fine....but in retrospect there are more "direct" routes to med school...like via Goucher, Bryn Mawr, etc. Its nothing against GU...they just don't have the same amount of structure as other more formalized programs. I chose GU cause it was close to home.

WiscoFan14, thanks a lot!

Are you still in the program? I have a similar situation of being closer to GU. Also, since I'm running late to apply to schools like American University for their Post-bac, I don't know if I can wait until next season.

Do you have any idea of the success rate from GU post-bac?


Hey! I thank you again

 

[WiscoFan14]

No, I did the post-bacc program a few years ago. I'm in med school now. I have no idea what the success rates are or where any of my fellow students ended up. Thats my whole point...it isn't real a "program" so much as an opportunity to take science classes at Gtown. Nobody advised me. Nobody even talked to me after registration. You just go to class and thats that. Univ of Maryland at College Park runs a "Science in the Evenings" program that is cheaper than Gtown (even if you don't live in MD) so you might want to do that instead. I don't check these post-bacc forums much so PM me if you need more info.

 

[VeganSoprano]

American has rolling admissions - you're not too late. I haven't started classes yet but I've already had a meeting with Dr. Carson, the premed advisor. As a postbacc at American, you get all the advantages of a regular premed.

 

[LEELLISAA]

Thanks a lot, both VeganSoprano and WiscoFan14! You guys are truly friendly And to WiscoFan14, congradulations on you success at GU.

VeganSoprano, I emailed Dr. Carson today expressing my interest to join the program. I'm planning to met him by Wednesday if he replied back. What do I have to do to get admission? I hate those lengthy processes. One thing I like about GU post-bac is that it is a very short process.

Talk to ya all later

 

[VeganSoprano]

The process is very simple - they send you a simple application and you send it back and have your transcripts sent in as well. There isn't even a fee. It's about as hassle-free as it could possibly be!

 

[LEELLISAA]

American has a much more structured post-bacc, and is somewhat less expensive. That's where I'm going in the fall.

Hey, are you in the program now? How did you like it so far? Do you think it is worth attending? I will definitley have more q's if you are in.



Thaks,
L

 

[toxin]

LEELLISAA,


G'town post bacc is the BESt program hands down. If you can get in there , DO IT, trust me. I really dont understand the advice you have been getting on this thread, they might be applying as well and want less competition. I will tell you that this program is the best in the nation. Over 90% of the people that attend the program enter medschool, out of those G'town med school accepts about 15-25 each year, which comes down to about 20%. The program has no "official" linkage, that is true, but the gtown med school has been traditionaly been accepting students from the program every year. The bottom line is if you are in the top 20% of the class then you will get in to gtown med, period. Good luck, if you have more questions you can msg me as well.

 

[LEELLISAA]

Hey! Tox, thanks a lot!

Actually, I got accepted to the program this fall but I had to defer the admsiion since I also got acceptance to the graduate program in Biochem and Mol.Bio at the schhol of Medicine. That'll difinitely help me strengthen my background. Are you in the post-bac program/or did you before?

BTW, I was trying to PM you but didn't go through for some reason.

Do you mind to post your email or write me at [email protected]?

Thanks,
L

LEELLISAA,


G'town post bacc is the BESt program hands down. If you can get in there , DO IT, trust me. I really dont understand the advice you have been getting on this thread, they might be applying as well and want less competition. I will tell you that this program is the best in the nation. Over 90% of the people that attend the program enter medschool, out of those G'town med school accepts about 15-25 each year, which comes down to about 20%. The program has no "official" linkage, that is true, but the gtown med school has been traditionaly been accepting students from the program every year. The bottom line is if you are in the top 20% of the class then you will get in to gtown med, period. Good luck, if you have more questions you can msg me as well.

 

[toxin]

Hey! Tox, thanks a lot!

Actually, I got accepted to the program this fall but I had to defer the admsiion since I also got acceptance to the graduate program in Biochem and Mol.Bio at the schhol of Medicine. That'll difinitely help me strengthen my background. Are you in the post-bac program/or did you before?

BTW, I was trying to PM you but didn't go through for some reason.

Do you mind to post your email or write me at [email protected]?

Thanks,
L

this is my email ( ahasandz @ tulane.edu )

email me if u have questions

 

[LEELLISAA]

LEELLISAA,


G'town post bacc is the BESt program hands down. If you can get in there , DO IT, trust me. I really dont understand the advice you have been getting on this thread, they might be applying as well and want less competition. I will tell you that this program is the best in the nation. Over 90% of the people that attend the program enter medschool, out of those G'town med school accepts about 15-25 each year, which comes down to about 20%. The program has no "official" linkage, that is true, but the gtown med school has been traditionaly been accepting students from the program every year. The bottom line is if you are in the top 20% of the class then you will get in to gtown med, period. Good luck, if you have more questions you can msg me as well.

Toxin,
I'm just wondering where did you find these acceptance rate figures. There is no where I didn't search for any sort of a report on the acceptance rate of pos-bacs from GU.

Thanks,
L

 

[docquaker]

i think toxin is talking about gtown's SMP (Special Masters Program in Physiology and Biophysics). this is a one year masters program where you take 10 graduate level science classes, six of which are actual first year medical school classes. the program is for students who have completed the pre-med requirements, but need to demonstrate that they can handle the academics of medical school. typically, the average gpa for smp is 3.3 and the avg. mcat is 27.

but since you haven't completed the premed requirements yet, you're probably talking about a traditional post-bacc program where you take the required premed courses at gtown, right? in that case, the stats toxin listed don't apply...

 

[LEELLISAA]

i think toxin is talking about gtown's SMP (Special Masters Program in Physiology and Biophysics). this is a one year masters program where you take 10 graduate level science classes, six of which are actual first year medical school classes. the program is for students who have completed the pre-med requirements, but need to demonstrate that they can handle the academics of medical school. typically, the average gpa for smp is 3.3 and the avg. mcat is 27.

but since you haven't completed the premed requirements yet, you're probably talking about a traditional post-bacc program where you take the required premed courses at gtown, right? in that case, the stats toxin listed don't apply...

Doc, thanks for the clarification. Would you recommend the GU post-bac pre-med if I am planning to get admission to the GU med? I'm in the Biochem grad program and I already like their med school since my classes are entirely in the Med Center. I just feel that they might pay attention to a student from their own post-bac pre-med program as comapared to an outsider. I could be totally wrong. What do you think?

 

[docquaker]

i don't know anything about the GU post-bacc program, but i think gtown med tends to favor gtown undergrads. there were a lot of gtown undergrads at the med school when i did a masters there. i presume this would extend to the post-baccs as well. if you're already there, you might as well stay there...

but if you want to move, you might consider some post-bacc's that have unofficial linkages to med school. i've heard that if you do pretty well in bryn mawr's post-bacc, you have a good shot at the philly schools (temple, drexel, jefferson). good luck.

 

[MedApp05]

If you like Gtown, definitely stay. I just finished up the undergrad postbacc program last May. It is very laid back (which can be frustrating at times, but is a good thing overall). You get to decide how long you'd like to take, how you'd like to fit in the courses, etc. I started in Jan. '03 and finished May '04. I was able to work part-time the whole time I was in the program. I was also a TA for an undergrad lab, which was a great experience. All of the professors and other students are extremely nice and helpful. They also have a new director this year who is trying to make the program even stronger.

The only thing to consider is that they do not have any official linkage programs, as mentioned. I do think that Gtown Med would look favorably on it, though.

Good luck!

 

[LEELLISAA]

If you like Gtown, definitely stay. I just finished up the undergrad postbacc program last May. It is very laid back (which can be frustrating at times, but is a good thing overall). You get to decide how long you'd like to take, how you'd like to fit in the courses, etc. I started in Jan. '03 and finished May '04. I was able to work part-time the whole time I was in the program. I was also a TA for an undergrad lab, which was a great experience. All of the professors and other students are extremely nice and helpful. They also have a new director this year who is trying to make the program even stronger.

The only thing to consider is that they do not have any official linkage programs, as mentioned. I do think that Gtown Med would look favorably on it, though.

Good luck!

MedApp05 and Doc, thanks a lot!

That is what I have always wanted to hear. It is better to hear from people who went through the program than the coordinator. MedApp05, I did meet Dr. Esrick, the new coordinator for the program back in June. He seemed to be confused about how the program goes and at times he always run to the former coordinator, Dr Eagles for help. I don't really know if the program gets any better at all given the new coordinator. But, like you said the University might does some thing as far as the linkage thing if people continue to look for presence of linkages as a quality to select a post-bac pre-med program.

One more question MedApp, how did the advising for preping for MCAT and essays go? How about classes? Are you guaranteed a place in a given class or you just go ahead and register on a competition basis? Any info on the success rate of former students through the same program?

Thanks both!
L
Thanks

 

[MedApp05]

Sorry, I don't really check this much. I think the advising probably depends on how much you seek it out. I chose to go through the premed committee at my undergrad school, so didn't really rely upon Gtown for advising. Others go through Gtown, though. One thing to note is that Gtown's committee does not only write favorable letters. They meet with you and there is some type of process, then they will let you know what kind of letter they will write. For the MCAT, I took a Princeton Review class here at Gtown. My family and friends helped edit my essays. I am not sure if they have collected info on how former students have done, but I think many/most are now in med school somewhere. The professors/advisors are always willing to speak with anyone who approaches them, so if there's anything you need as far as advising, I'm sure they'd be happy to help. Overall, I really enjoyed the program. I'm applying now, so hopefully the results are good;-) Best of luck!

 

[LEELLISAA]

Hello! all,

I do really appreciate everyone's input.

I will be completing my M.Sc from Gtown the summer of 2005. But I'm caught between two things: one is just to go ahead and continue my Ph.D. The other one is enroll for the undergrad post-bac and take MCAT and then apply to the MD/Ph.D. The later is a very serious advice I recently got from one of my professors. He told me that he wish he could do that when he entered the Ph.D. He was very frank to tell me that these days a Ph.D. alone in a biomedical field is not rewarding. He thinks that with the M.Sc I will have in Biochemistry and Mol. Bio, I should do some pre-med undergrads for MCAT and go for the MD/Ph.D.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts or experience either with GTOWN or MD/Ph.D. routes?

BTW, I love to attend Gtown be it for medical or Ph.D. It is such a lovely and well-qualified school and located in the hottest!part of DC

L

 

[LEELLISAA]

Hello! all,

I do really appreciate everyone's input.

I will be completing my M.Sc from Gtown the summer of 2005. But I'm caught between two things: one is just to go ahead and continue my Ph.D. The other one is enroll for the undergrad post-bac and take MCAT and then apply to the MD/Ph.D. The later is a very serious advice I recently got from one of my professors. He told me that he wish he could do that when he entered the Ph.D. He was very frank to tell me that these days a Ph.D. alone in a biomedical field is not rewarding. He thinks that with the M.Sc I will have in Biochemistry and Mol. Bio, I should do some pre-med undergrads for MCAT and go for the MD/Ph.D.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts or experience either with GTOWN or MD/Ph.D. routes?

BTW, I love to attend Gtown be it for medical or Ph.D. It is such a lovely and well-qualified school and located in the hottest!part of DC

L

 

[dbpatto]

Hello! all,

I do really appreciate everyone's input.

I will be completing my M.Sc from Gtown the summer of 2005. But I'm caught between two things: one is just to go ahead and continue my Ph.D. The other one is enroll for the undergrad post-bac and take MCAT and then apply to the MD/Ph.D. The later is a very serious advice I recently got from one of my professors. He told me that he wish he could do that when he entered the Ph.D. He was very frank to tell me that these days a Ph.D. alone in a biomedical field is not rewarding. He thinks that with the M.Sc I will have in Biochemistry and Mol. Bio, I should do some pre-med undergrads for MCAT and go for the MD/Ph.D.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts or experience either with GTOWN or MD/Ph.D. routes?

BTW, I love to attend Gtown be it for medical or Ph.D. It is such a lovely and well-qualified school and located in the hottest!part of DC

L

Do you mean that the SMP program at Georgetown is what you'll be completing? If that's the case I could answer any questions you have about that masters program. Let me know.

 

[jintonic5]

Hello! all,

I do really appreciate everyone's input.

I will be completing my M.Sc from Gtown the summer of 2005. But I'm caught between two things: one is just to go ahead and continue my Ph.D. The other one is enroll for the undergrad post-bac and take MCAT and then apply to the MD/Ph.D. The later is a very serious advice I recently got from one of my professors. He told me that he wish he could do that when he entered the Ph.D. He was very frank to tell me that these days a Ph.D. alone in a biomedical field is not rewarding. He thinks that with the M.Sc I will have in Biochemistry and Mol. Bio, I should do some pre-med undergrads for MCAT and go for the MD/Ph.D.

What do you guys think? Any thoughts or experience either with GTOWN or MD/Ph.D. routes?

BTW, I love to attend Gtown be it for medical or Ph.D. It is such a lovely and well-qualified school and located in the hottest!part of DC

L

if you have serious interest in research, particularly in clinical applications, then by all means go for md/phd. keep in mind that this route is longer, but heck- 2 highly prestigious degrees essentially for free, doesn't get much better than that. i worked for an md/phd 2 years ago and the breadth of his research was really incredible. he had projects ranging from gene therapy, designer immune cell responses, working with AIDS patients that had particular viral strains that immune-suppressed peopel are especially prone to... the list goes on for seemingly forever. and he LOVES IT. he gets oodles of funding, has lots of latitude in terms of where he wants to take the research, plus his dual degree status allows him to work with a broad range of colleagues. his lab had both phd students AND md students working there. plus in terms of office politics, it's hard to turn down the candidate with md/phd for chair of a department when compared to those with just one or the other.

it takes longer, but having both degrees opens all sorts of doors. that's my take on it, g'luck!

 

[LEELLISAA]

Do you mean that the SMP program at Georgetown is what you'll be completing? If that's the case I could answer any questions you have about that masters program. Let me know.

Hey! Thanks all for your inputs.

dbpatto, the SMP is in Physio. I'm in the plain Biochemistry and Molecualr Bio program for an M.Sc.