Help! Second thoughgts about second degrees & SMPs

[eccles1214]

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Hi,

I went to college 23 years ago, and took science courses but was not premed at the time. I got a few As, a few more Bs, and five C's (Calc III, dreaded Ochem, intro to Genetics, intro to CS, and stats ). Last summer I started taking classes to redo my prereqs because I've been told that they are too old, to shore up my just over 3.00ish BCPM GPA (my all other GPA is 3.71), and to prepare for the MCAT. I thought about getting a second bachelor's along the way because some med schools wanted me to take upper division work, too.

I recently read that med schools would rather have students not repeat coursework that they did well in, because it gives a false sense of an applicant's aptitude. After all, the applicant is seeing the course the second time around (although I admit that the chemistry course that I am taking now is very different than the one that I took 23 years ago.).

Instead, the posting recommended a special masters post-bacc.

Should I do a second bachelor's degree or just do my prereqs, and then do a special masters's degree post-bacc?

Does one need to have upper division bio courses to do a special master's post-bacc?

 

[tacrum43]

Hi,

I went to college 23 years ago, and took science courses but was not premed at the time. I got a few As, a few more Bs, and five C's (Calc III, dreaded Ochem, intro to Genetics, intro to CS, and stats ). Last summer I started taking classes to redo my prereqs because I've been told that they are too old, to shore up my just over 3.00ish BCPM GPA (my all other GPA is 3.71), and to prepare for the MCAT. I thought about getting a second bachelor's along the way because some med schools wanted me to take upper division work, too.

I recently read that med schools would rather have students not repeat coursework that they did well in, because it gives a false sense of an applicant's aptitude. After all, the applicant is seeing the course the second time around (although I admit that the chemistry course that I am taking now is very different than the one that I took 23 years ago.).

Instead, the posting recommended a special masters post-bacc.

Should I do a second bachelor's degree or just do my prereqs, and then do a special masters's degree post-bacc?

Does one need to have upper division bio courses to do a special master's post-bacc?

You don't need anything but the pre-reqs for medical school for an SMP. Doing well in upper division science courses certainly wouldn't hurt, but you don't need it. I don't think I would worry about them seeing you as "cheating" or whatever by taking the same classes twice, because like you said it has been over 20 years.

I would like to compliment you for taking on such an ambitious and time consuming goal when you are significantly older than most other applicants. I think it's great to pursue your dreams, and there are several students here at Georgetown's SMP that are over 30.

Since you already have a Bachelor's degree, it seems like it would just be excess to do another whole one. With just pre-reqs plus an SMP, you could definitely shave a year or two off of the admissions process.

 

[eccles1214]

I would like to compliment you for taking on such an ambitious and time consuming goal when you are significantly older than most other applicants. I think it's great to pursue your dreams, and there are several students here at Georgetown's SMP that are over 30.

Thanks for your compliments. Do you know where I can get a list of SMP's?

 

[tacrum43]

Thanks for your compliments. Do you know where I can get a list of SMP's?

http://services.aamc.org/postbac/

You can search by the type of program, location, etc.

It lists 8 "SMP" type programs in the country, but they vary quite a bit, so read the details of course. It doesn't list Rosalind Franklin's AP for some reason though, so you might want to look into that too.