Well, where do I start? Not even sure if this is where I should address all the questions I have. If I'm wrong, please direct me the right way. In my search for getting into med school, I've come across good Postbacc programs but none that are really helping. I graduated from UCLA with 2.7 in Political Science and Spanish. As such, I did little to no work in science. The problem is, just about every Postbacc program I find has a prereq of having med school prereqs completed and of course I don't have them done. Have I not searched enough or am I utterly screwed here? Also, does anyone know if being an EMT helps at all in the process or can at least direct me to the thread where I can ask? ANY information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Help Finding a Postbacc Program in CA
- Thread starter EMTrooper
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I have heard of quite a few in CA for those without prereqs. I recently came across this one.
http://www.csufextension.org/Classes/HPPostback/programrequirements.asp
It's requires that you have a 3.0 though so maybe you could take a few classes through UCLA ext just to bring your overall gpa up? I know this is very common in most postbac programs. It would get started on that, just to get past the initial screenings. CS Fullerton also has a linkage for some DO schools if that's something you're interested in.
There are also these:
http://www.ce.csueastbay.edu/certificate/PreHealth/admissions.shtml
http://www.cdrewu.edu/cosh/programs/graduate/pre-medicine (this one might be good for you since you're familiar with UCLA)
http://chem.usc.edu/postbacc/
http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/pmc_gr/
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/preprof/
http://online.sfsu.edu/~brothman/formalindex.html
http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/index.php
http://extension.berkeley.edu/spos/premed.html
I don't really know much about these besides the fact that they are for career changers/those who have little to no science. The only thing that I think you would have to do is get your gpa up into the 3.0 range, since some of these programs require that.
Anyway, hope this helps!
http://www.csufextension.org/Classes/HPPostback/programrequirements.asp
It's requires that you have a 3.0 though so maybe you could take a few classes through UCLA ext just to bring your overall gpa up? I know this is very common in most postbac programs. It would get started on that, just to get past the initial screenings. CS Fullerton also has a linkage for some DO schools if that's something you're interested in.
There are also these:
http://www.ce.csueastbay.edu/certificate/PreHealth/admissions.shtml
http://www.cdrewu.edu/cosh/programs/graduate/pre-medicine (this one might be good for you since you're familiar with UCLA)
http://chem.usc.edu/postbacc/
http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/pmc_gr/
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/preprof/
http://online.sfsu.edu/~brothman/formalindex.html
http://www.scrippscollege.edu/academics/postbac/index.php
http://extension.berkeley.edu/spos/premed.html
I don't really know much about these besides the fact that they are for career changers/those who have little to no science. The only thing that I think you would have to do is get your gpa up into the 3.0 range, since some of these programs require that.
Anyway, hope this helps!
Mzeep!... Thank you so much, this really really helps. I looked at the reqs and the 3.0 is for the last 60 units which I'm pretty sure I did well in. I kinda screwed up the first 2 years. Not all that interested in a DO school but thanks for the heads up. You did bring up a good point, is not having a 3.0 going to end it for me then?
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Well, I think it would be best just because most schools when they say "minimum 2.5 or 3.0" many people are applying with stats above that, so just to be safe.
You could always email the individual schools and ask them, I'm sure they would give you a better answer lol. I think having the EMT experience will help you a lot since you have some exposure to the field. Then again, I am by no means an expert on this, so I would recommend you emailing them to find out more info.
Also, if you go onto the AAMC website there is a link for postbac programs and you can see all the postbac programs in the U.S. for practically anything (i.e. career changer, academic enhancer etc etc). I know there are a lot of good ones outside of CA too.
Edit: Link to AAMC postbac list
http://services.aamc.org/postbac/
You could always email the individual schools and ask them, I'm sure they would give you a better answer lol. I think having the EMT experience will help you a lot since you have some exposure to the field. Then again, I am by no means an expert on this, so I would recommend you emailing them to find out more info.
Also, if you go onto the AAMC website there is a link for postbac programs and you can see all the postbac programs in the U.S. for practically anything (i.e. career changer, academic enhancer etc etc). I know there are a lot of good ones outside of CA too.
Edit: Link to AAMC postbac list
http://services.aamc.org/postbac/
D
deleted248403
Forget the AAMC website - its junk. Half the programs there don't exist and it doesn't capture programs that do exist
Look at Midlife's thread at the top
Look at Midlife's thread at the top
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I'm not too pleased with the AAMC list, but mine's getting out of date too. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=640302
EMTrooper, I want to encourage you to look at a few of the issues you're up against. Forewarned->forearmed.
1. California is the *most* competitive state for med school admissions. You may want to consider moving to a less competitive state, where you'd need to work for a year to establish residency before starting your postbac. Ohio is the only one I know of that allows you to set up residency by being a student.
2. With a low GPA in non-science classes, fear of science classes is healthy. Before you dive into the prereqs, find out if your study skills are up to the task. Take a difficult math or science class at night at a community college. If you get an A and you like it, that's great. If you don't get an A and you don't like it, you'll want to regroup. You're in for a minimum of 3 years of full time science coursework with the prereqs and the first two years of med school. Thats a lot of suck to survive, if you hate it.
3. Find out *now* how ready you are for the verbal section of the MCAT. There's no science on it. Verbal is the hardest score to improve - you need years to get more points. Take a free practice test (just verbal) on www.e-mcat.com. A 10 or better at this point is "safe." Less than 10 means trouble.
4. Get a recommendation letter now from your poli sci degree, before your professors have any more time to forget you. A lot of med schools want a non-science faculty letter.
5. Sigh. 2.7 is a really hard place to start. You could go get a 2nd bachelors degree, with a 4.0, and that would only bring you up to about a 3.1. You need to make friends with the idea that your GPA is simply never going to be competitive. I do *not* recommend pursuing med school admissions with a cumulative overall GPA lower than 3.0, which means I'm recommending you take more undergrad until you're at least at 3.0 overall. Yes, a strong science GPA helps. Yes, a strong MCAT helps. But a sub-3.0 overall GPA is a big fat debilitating red flag.
6. Assume you'll need an SMP regardless of how well you do in the prereqs, in order to compensate for your overall undergrad GPA. With a close-to-3.0 GPA, you need the SMP to be complete before you are ready to apply (except for schools like EVMS or Temple with strong linkage).
It looks to me like you're in for 3 more years of school with nearly perfect grades, and probably $50k to $100k in student debt, before you're ready to apply to med school. Make sure you know what you're getting into and make sure you really, really want it.
Best of luck to you.
EMTrooper, I want to encourage you to look at a few of the issues you're up against. Forewarned->forearmed.
1. California is the *most* competitive state for med school admissions. You may want to consider moving to a less competitive state, where you'd need to work for a year to establish residency before starting your postbac. Ohio is the only one I know of that allows you to set up residency by being a student.
2. With a low GPA in non-science classes, fear of science classes is healthy. Before you dive into the prereqs, find out if your study skills are up to the task. Take a difficult math or science class at night at a community college. If you get an A and you like it, that's great. If you don't get an A and you don't like it, you'll want to regroup. You're in for a minimum of 3 years of full time science coursework with the prereqs and the first two years of med school. Thats a lot of suck to survive, if you hate it.
3. Find out *now* how ready you are for the verbal section of the MCAT. There's no science on it. Verbal is the hardest score to improve - you need years to get more points. Take a free practice test (just verbal) on www.e-mcat.com. A 10 or better at this point is "safe." Less than 10 means trouble.
4. Get a recommendation letter now from your poli sci degree, before your professors have any more time to forget you. A lot of med schools want a non-science faculty letter.
5. Sigh. 2.7 is a really hard place to start. You could go get a 2nd bachelors degree, with a 4.0, and that would only bring you up to about a 3.1. You need to make friends with the idea that your GPA is simply never going to be competitive. I do *not* recommend pursuing med school admissions with a cumulative overall GPA lower than 3.0, which means I'm recommending you take more undergrad until you're at least at 3.0 overall. Yes, a strong science GPA helps. Yes, a strong MCAT helps. But a sub-3.0 overall GPA is a big fat debilitating red flag.
6. Assume you'll need an SMP regardless of how well you do in the prereqs, in order to compensate for your overall undergrad GPA. With a close-to-3.0 GPA, you need the SMP to be complete before you are ready to apply (except for schools like EVMS or Temple with strong linkage).
It looks to me like you're in for 3 more years of school with nearly perfect grades, and probably $50k to $100k in student debt, before you're ready to apply to med school. Make sure you know what you're getting into and make sure you really, really want it.
Best of luck to you.
Thanks a lot for the help and honesty DrMidlife. At this point, I'm hoping to be one of the low GPA success stories. If you don't mind, I have a question. Suppose I do get into a Postbacc and do well. Will that in any way raise my GPA or make me more competitive?
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Yes; A is for average. If you add new undergrad coursework with higher grades into your average, then the average goes up. Unfortunately not by much. I encourage you to start a spreadsheet to figure out your possibilities.
Competitive GPA isn't within reach for you. The best you can hope for is barely adequate. The way people get into med school with barely adequate undergrad GPAs is to compensate with:
1. the highest MCAT score you can get
2. a strong SMP performance
3. strong everything else (letters, activities, essays etc.)
Best of luck to you.
Man, what happened with polic sci!
Hey, are you any good with Spanish, do you still live in LA?
You can try out to be a medical interpreter if you want at UCLA medical center if you are good enough with medical terms.
I took my postbac classes at CSUN. I like it. I was a comm stds and global stds major. North campus too.
You are going to have a hard time getting into a program like Scripps, I really recommend a CSU that accepts 2nd bac students and do that, I was accepted more than a year ago, but the budget have since been slashed, I don't know of CSUn still accepts 2nd bach students.
apparently CSUN still takes 2nd bachelor "http://www.csun.edu/anr/grad/secondba.html"
also, UCLA extension is kind of crappy unless you are an UCLA employee and get the 25% discount to be worth it.
Hey, are you any good with Spanish, do you still live in LA?
You can try out to be a medical interpreter if you want at UCLA medical center if you are good enough with medical terms.
I took my postbac classes at CSUN. I like it. I was a comm stds and global stds major. North campus too.
You are going to have a hard time getting into a program like Scripps, I really recommend a CSU that accepts 2nd bac students and do that, I was accepted more than a year ago, but the budget have since been slashed, I don't know of CSUn still accepts 2nd bach students.
apparently CSUN still takes 2nd bachelor "http://www.csun.edu/anr/grad/secondba.html"
also, UCLA extension is kind of crappy unless you are an UCLA employee and get the 25% discount to be worth it.
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Fullerton has one that is okay, but it's a lot more expensive than regular CSU tuition.
CSULA has one too that's pretty good. You have to call CSULA to find out though. their website is pretty lame.. like from the 90's.
CSULA has one too that's pretty good. You have to call CSULA to find out though. their website is pretty lame.. like from the 90's.
