Goucher / Bryn Mawr / Hopkins / Help

[graduate_life]

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Hello,

I'm considering a one-year post-bac and was hoping for some feedback specifically from Goucher, Bryn Mawr, or Hopkins pre-health alumni. Perhaps others who were entirely smitten by their respective post-bac program and think that I'm making a big mistake here could also contribute their frank advice.

Here were my questions:

1) How was morale in your group? Optimistic? Competitive? Supportive?

2) Were undergrads and post-bacs placed together? Any tension?

3) Were professors supportive of post-bacs? Research opps? Good recs?

4) Were classes graded on a curve for post-bacs?

5) How fair do you think grading or evaluation practices were?

6) Was it possible or common for students to get an A in a course?

7) Was MCAT preparation adequate?

8) Was the application process for linkages/consorts fairly clear?

9) If you had to do it again, would you have chosen the same program?

For context, I graduated from a top-tier college with a high GPA and have high GRE scores, though no science or math coursework. The main appeal for me with these programs are (1) chance to work with a bright, motivated, supportive group that will force me to be successful and (2) opportunity to skip the glide-year with a linkage program. Should I be worried about mucking up my GPA? Would I be better off not going for a linkage program?

Thank you so much for your help!

I highly appreciate your thoughts.

All the best.

 

[Acabee]

Graduated from Hopkins post-bac and am at Stanford. As far as Gestalt goes, the people running the postbac program are awesome. You will get a fabulous letter and great support. Hopkins is sort of a tough place to do the premed classes, as you're on a curve with undergrads. Some people found this really tough for Chem and O-Chem and physics. You sound like a smarty, though, so you'll probably suck it up and do just fine. One upside of Hopkins, you can go do research with pretty much whoever will take you in the med school. Someone I know well got her "glide year" job and four publications out of a part-time research experience set up through the post-bac program. And, perhaps more importantly, she loved what she was doing. As for your questions:


. . . Hope this helps. Sorry to be so brief in the answers

Hello,

I'm considering a one-year post-bac and was hoping for some feedback specifically from Goucher, Bryn Mawr, or Hopkins pre-health alumni. Perhaps others who were entirely smitten by their respective post-bac program and think that I'm making a big mistake here could also contribute their frank advice.

Here were my questions:

1) How was morale in your group? Optimistic? Competitive? Supportive?
Overall pretty friendly and supportive. A couple of lame people, just like anywhere.
2) Were undergrads and post-bacs placed together? Any tension?
Yes. Not really.
3) Were professors supportive of post-bacs? Research opps? Good recs?
Yes. Yes.
4) Were classes graded on a curve for post-bacs?
No. Post-bacs had higher than average grades. (It's harder to get into post-bac than Hopkins undergrad)
5) How fair do you think grading or evaluation practices were?
Very fair.
6) Was it possible or common for students to get an A in a course?
Yes.
7) Was MCAT preparation adequate?
Most people take a prep course.
8) Was the application process for linkages/consorts fairly clear?
I didn't have any experiuence with this.
9) If you had to do it again, would you have chosen the same program?
Yes.

For context, I graduated from a top-tier college with a high GPA and have high GRE scores, though no science or math coursework. The main appeal for me with these programs are (1) chance to work with a bright, motivated, supportive group that will force me to be successful and (2) opportunity to skip the glide-year with a linkage program. Should I be worried about mucking up my GPA? Would I be better off not going for a linkage program?

Thank you so much for your help!

I highly appreciate your thoughts.

All the best.

 

[graduate_life]

Congrats on attending Stanford!

Thanks for the info on the JHU program.

Any Goucher or Bryn Mawr postbaccers out there?

Again, thanks for the advice!

 

[Pemulis]

Goucher alumni, at Brown med now.

I thought the program was awesome, and so did most of my classmates and other Goucher alum that I've met. I used to be pretty active on this forum; if you do a search for previous posts by me, you'll probably find answers to many of your questions. You can also PM me, but I may take some time to get back to you.

Quickly:

Morale was great, everyone was friendly. No curves, no undergrads in our courses--we had completely separate sections, which was a real strength of the program. It is absolutely possible to get an A in every course, and Goucher post-bacs tend to ROCK the MCAT, so the prep is good. Attrition rate is very, very, low (the few people who do leave usually do so because they decide they don't want to do it anymore, not because they fail out), and everybody gets accepted to med school, including a disproportionate number of very prestigous places (Hopkins, Yale, Harvard, UCSF, etc). The links tend to work out, with most people getting what they want (11/11 acceptance in my year). The instruction was great, and now that I'm in med school I really appreciate how well we were prepared to handle being med students. It was a tough year, but I learned a lot and really enjoyed it, and would absolutely go to Goucher if I had to do it all over again.

In short, I have almost nothing bad to say about the place. If you think it might be a good fit for you, definitely check it out.

 

[graduate_life]

Great to hear you're at Brown.

That would be my first choice school--Providence is my hometown.

Anyone out there completing/completed the Bryn Mawr program?

All the advice has been more than helpful.

Thanks!

 

[eurozo]

Goucher alumni, at Brown med now.

I thought the program was awesome, and so did most of my classmates and other Goucher alum that I've met. I used to be pretty active on this forum; if you do a search for previous posts by me, you'll probably find answers to many of your questions. You can also PM me, but I may take some time to get back to you.

Quickly:

Morale was great, everyone was friendly. No curves, no undergrads in our courses--we had completely separate sections, which was a real strength of the program. It is absolutely possible to get an A in every course, and Goucher post-bacs tend to ROCK the MCAT, so the prep is good. Attrition rate is very, very, low (the few people who do leave usually do so because they decide they don't want to do it anymore, not because they fail out), and everybody gets accepted to med school, including a disproportionate number of very prestigous places (Hopkins, Yale, Harvard, UCSF, etc). The links tend to work out, with most people getting what they want (11/11 acceptance in my year). The instruction was great, and now that I'm in med school I really appreciate how well we were prepared to handle being med students. It was a tough year, but I learned a lot and really enjoyed it, and would absolutely go to Goucher if I had to do it all over again.

In short, I have almost nothing bad to say about the place. If you think it might be a good fit for you, definitely check it out.

Pemulis, you old dog, you still lurking around this forum 🙂. I guess the Tigers helped free up your evenings this month... Hope all is well buddy!

To the OP: I was in Pemulis' class at Goucher, and I too have only good things to say about the program. If you search the forum, he and I discussed Goucher vs. Bryn Mawr almost two years ago, and he ended up selling me on Goucher (I was pretty torn at the time). I think it was the perfect choice for me, and I would make that decision again in a second. At the end of the day, I suggest you check out all 3 and make a decision based on your gut. Hopkins is a bit different than Bryn Mawr and Goucher (much bigger classes, 1 summer more of class) but Goucher and BM are fairly close in many ways.

I can give you more info on the program or my decision-making process if you want. Feel free to PM me. I'm currently in my glide year, applying to medical schools.

Best of luck.