Georgetown U for post-bacc?

[seize the day]

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Hi all,

I'm a fourth year Univ student in Canada and am looking for post-bacc schools for pre-med/pre-dental/pre-opt in VA/DC. Georgetown U seems very attractive since it has a good reputation and beautiful campus..etc. Could anybody give me some insights about the school? Like how the courses (bio, chem, physics, calc..etc.) are like in terms of their workloads, intensity, difficulty..etc? Also, could anybody recommend any good schools in VA/DC?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DrHuang]

Hi all,

I'm a fourth year Univ student in Canada and am looking for post-bacc schools for pre-med/pre-dental/pre-opt in VA/DC. Georgetown U seems very attractive since it has a good reputation and beautiful campus..etc. Could anybody give me some insights about the school? Like how the courses (bio, chem, physics, calc..etc.) are like in terms of their workloads, intensity, difficulty..etc? Also, could anybody recommend any good schools in VA/DC?

Thanks in advance!

I just finished the GT SMP and in my opinion, its a great program. first off, the directors are great...theyre extremely supportive and really do all they can to help you out. course wise, its a heavy load but and if you very manageable...at any one time your taking 2 or 3 classes (its a block scheduel)...ususally 2 so its not bad at all. the classes are as follows:

1st semester
embryology - medical course, 2 units (lots of material in short amount of time)
cell molecular physiology - graduate course, 4 units
immunology and microbiology - graduate course, 2 units
histology - medical course, 4 units (hated this class because its extremely boring and you need to ID slides)
pathways - blow off class, 1 unit

2nd semester
physiology - medical course, 7 units (lots of material, most important class)
endocrinology - medical course, 3 units (fun class, not too bad)
biostatistics - medical course, 2 units (not very organized, bad class)
neuroscience - medical course, 5 units (difficult class, lots of material)
nutrition - graduate course, 2 units

the program is very doable as long as you put in the time. the top schools from the top of my head are Georgetown are University of Virginia

 

[tacrum43]

Hi all,

I'm a fourth year Univ student in Canada and am looking for post-bacc schools for pre-med/pre-dental/pre-opt in VA/DC. Georgetown U seems very attractive since it has a good reputation and beautiful campus..etc. Could anybody give me some insights about the school? Like how the courses (bio, chem, physics, calc..etc.) are like in terms of their workloads, intensity, difficulty..etc? Also, could anybody recommend any good schools in VA/DC?

Thanks in advance!

Are you looking for an SMP, or do you need a post-bacc to complete the pre-med requirements?

Georgetown has both, but the SMP is better know of the two.

You can check http://services.aamc.org/postbac/ to see what programs of each type are available around the DC area.

 

[seize the day]

Thank you very much for your info gintien! It certainly helped me to get to know the program better. Now the question is--how hard is it to get in? Is it really competitive? Also, do I need a science background to get into this program? What is the min. GPA required?
I'm currently doing a specialist in history and a minor in biology so I do not have much background in science. I have taken some of the pre-reqs but the gpa wasn't that great.

And Thank you very much for the great website, tacrum43! My primary purpose is to complete the pre-reqs and boost up my gpa-- ultimately raise my chance to get into opto/dental school. I just had a change of heart that I want to go into health-related field, so this whole thing is very new to me and I'm trying to gather as much information as possible.

I have a few more questions to ask...
Any ideas about Virginia Common Wealth univ, GeorgeMason, VTech?

Also, would it hurt to take one or two courses at CC?

Thank you again!

 

[tacrum43]

Thank you very much for your info gintien! It certainly helped me to get to know the program better. Now the question is--how hard is it to get in? Is it really competitive? Also, do I need a science background to get into this program? What is the min. GPA required?
I'm currently doing a specialist in history and a minor in biology so I do not have much background in science. I have taken some of the pre-reqs but the gpa wasn't that great.

And Thank you very much for the great website, tacrum43! My primary purpose is to complete the pre-reqs and boost up my gpa-- ultimately raise my chance to get into opto/dental school. I just had a change of heart that I want to go into health-related field, so this whole thing is very new to me and I'm trying to gather as much information as possible.

What about Virginia Common Wealth univ, GeorgeMason, VTech?

Also, would it hurt to take one or two courses at CC?

Thank you again!

The program that Gintien was describing so well (and that I am now enrolled in) is for those who have already completed all of the science pre-reqs for medical school, but didn't do as well as they would have liked for whatever reason, and so now need to show they can handle tough science classes at a medical school level. This is what SMPs do.

From what you just said, you need a post-bacc, not an SMP. Well, you don't really NEED one, you could just finish the courses by yourself at any school (preferably a 4 year school), but enrolling in a formal program like Goucher (http://www.goucher.edu/postbac/) has some advantages. They are more expensive, but they sometimes have linkages with certain medical schools, which means that if you do well you are guaranteed an acceptance. Sometimes these programs are only for under represented minorities though. Also, you mentioned you wanted to go to dental or optometry school, which I'm not sure if these programs would prepare you for. The AAMC site would naturally only list programs that have to do with medical school admissions.

 

[seize the day]

The program that Gintien was describing so well (and that I am now enrolled in) is for those who have already completed all of the science pre-reqs for medical school, but didn't do as well as they would have liked for whatever reason, and so now need to show they can handle tough science classes at a medical school level. This is what SMPs do.

From what you just said, you need a post-bacc, not an SMP. Well, you don't really NEED one, you could just finish the courses by yourself at any school (preferably a 4 year school), but enrolling in a formal program like Goucher (http://www.goucher.edu/postbac/) has some advantages. They are more expensive, but they sometimes have linkages with certain medical schools, which means that if you do well you are guaranteed an acceptance. Sometimes these programs are only for under represented minorities though. Also, you mentioned you wanted to go to dental or optometry school, which I'm not sure if these programs would prepare you for. The AAMC site would naturally only list programs that have to do with medical school admissions.

I have thought of just completing the courses at schools that are relatively "easy" to get a good gpa. (But then again, I don't live in the States so I don't really know which ones are easy, which are not.) Then someone has suggested me to look into post-bacc or SMP programs, which could take sometime but would look better on my apps.
My relatives live in VA so it'd save a lot of money if I can find a good school in VA/DC. I had a very good impression when I first visited Georgetown but then again, I only saw the "crust" of the school so I have very limited knowledge about their academic programs. I prefer small-sized classes and less-competitive atmosphere among students. I go to a huge univ where ppl are dying to kill each other to get better grades. Hopefully Georgetown isnt the killing-each-other type of a school.🙂
Anyhoo, thank you again tacrum43, for sucha informative insight!

 

[blee]

I went through the Georgetown pre-med post-bac program (not SMP). I really liked Georgetown, and the program worked well for me. You take the regular undergrad science classes with everyone else, which gives your grades the sort of validity they would have if you were a traditional undergrad. I became good friends with a number of my fellow post-bacs as well as some regular students. The professors are all accessible, and if you do well, GU's pre-med committee will give you a great LOR. It was expensive, but it helped me achieve the desired result, so it was worth at least part of the money. 😉

 

[seize the day]

I went through the Georgetown pre-med post-bac program (not SMP). I really liked Georgetown, and the program worked well for me. You take the regular undergrad science classes with everyone else, which gives your grades the sort of validity they would have if you were a traditional undergrad. I became good friends with a number of my fellow post-bacs as well as some regular students. The professors are all accessible, and if you do well, GU's pre-med committee will give you a great LOR. It was expensive, but it helped me achieve the desired result, so it was worth at least part of the money. 😉

Thanks blee! I have a few more questions if you don't mind me asking.. 🙂
Could you elaborate a little more about classes? (class size, workload, difficulty, class mean avg, competitiveness..etc.) Also, is it hard to get into the pre-med post-bac program? And how long is the program (1/2yr?) As I mentioned above, I dont have a strong sicence background and I want to retake some of pre-req courses. Coming from Canadian school, it is pretty hard to get a grip of what the schools are like in the states.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[blee]

Thanks blee! I have a few more questions if you don't mind me asking.. 🙂
Could you elaborate a little more about classes? (class size, workload, difficulty, class mean avg, competitiveness..etc.) Also, is it hard to get into the pre-med post-bac program? And how long is the program (1/2yr?) As I mentioned above, I dont have a strong sicence background and I want to retake some of pre-req courses. Coming from Canadian school, it is pretty hard to get a grip of what the schools are like in the states.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!

You'll want to go through this:

http://college.georgetown.edu/programs/premed/pbpm.html

As for the science courses...they're your typical undergrad science classes; not easy, but very doable if you work hard. Class size for the pre-reqs is in the 100-150 range. Grading depends on the prof, but for the most part there isn't a lot of curving going on.

 

[burrito]

You'll want to go through this:

http://college.georgetown.edu/programs/premed/pbpm.html

As for the science courses...they're your typical undergrad science classes; not easy, but very doable if you work hard. Class size for the pre-reqs is in the 100-150 range. Grading depends on the prof, but for the most part there isn't a lot of curving going on.

anyone have a link to the smp program at GT? i cant find it there..

 

[imrep1972]

anyone have a link to the smp program at GT? i cant find it there..

http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/physiology/physios/

Enjoy...