Harvard Extension post-bac

[peabody]

Does any one have any experience with/knowledge of this program? Is it do-able for someone with little previous study in the sciences? Do students have much success with their applications? I live in the Boston area and it seems like it might be an ideal program for me, but I was wondering what the general opinion is. Thanks very much.

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[E'01]

Hi Jaray - I did the program from 2/99-1/01 (it took me two year P/T since I also worked several jobs at the same time, although my last semester I worked and went to school F/T which surprisingly was quite doable). It's a tough program academically, but the support is there - mainly in the form of your peers (i.e. study groups etc). The advisor is realistic but encouraging about the whole medical school prcoess and was quite accessible. I liked the cheap tuition (it was $485 per 4-credit lab course) but that was ofset by the tremendously high cost of living in Boston/Cambridge. At the time, I was struggling to decide between a no-name post-bac program in NYC since I'd get to live at home, or Harvard post-bac and be peniless for a couple of years. I'm glad I chose the latter. Also, I went to a good undergrad school, and I didn't want admissions officers to think I was copping out academically during my post-bac years so I wanted a program that would be academically challenging. I think we (my friends and I) at first thought how hard can it be - particularly bio which most people take as their first class. Well it was like taking a graduate level genetics course since the instructor (also the pre-med advisor) is a geneticist. It was tough! But we learned over and above what we needed to know for the MCAT. Each course (with the exception of bio which met twice a week) meets once a week, yet you have to come in weekly for lab and discussion section. It wasn't uncommon to attend more than one discussion section (to get different viewpoints) AND to attend office hours like crazy. Whatreally pulled people through was study groups - I had one for each subject and we met weekly - not just before exams - they helped tremendously. I'm not sure why, but it seems that a lot of people do not complete the post-bac program or if they do, they go into another field - not that there's anything wrong with that. But out of my close circle of friends, 2 went off to do an MPH 1, did her MEd and is teaching in Cali, and another is unsure of what she wants to do. Another good friend of mine applied last year like me and unfortunately only received one interview this year and is now waitlisted.
Overall I have been very satisfied with the program. If you're thinking abot doing it, call up Dr. Fixsen or Dr. peterson (their numbers should be on <a href="http://www.dce.harvard.edu)" target="_blank">www.dce.harvard.edu)</a> and talk to them about your plans. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!

 

[E'01]

OOps to answer your question specifically - you would be a great candidate regardless of your science background. A lot of people were career changers and were successful. My background was a little different in that I had taken some of the intro classes in undergrad and done poorly, so I took them again in the post-bac and some upper-level courses. And yes, luckily, I am happy to say that I have been successful this year (went on 8/13 interviews, 4 acceptances with a half-tuition scholarship at one, 1 "high-priority" waitlist, and currently waiting on one more school) with my med school applications My undergrad advisor and per-med dean never believed in me (they were always telling me to think about plan B i.e. anything but med school) but I got total support from the post-bac program. So it can be done!!!