hunter post bacc question

[fahmed1855]

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Hello.
I am looking into the Formal Hunter post bacc program. I had a few questions:
How much of an advantage does a Premed Committee letter provide in terms of being a competitive med school applicant?
Can I still be a competitive med school applicant if I have all other stuff in order but do not have a committee letter? Secondly, does anyone know if their post bacc cost per credit is similar to the cost of being a second degree student at Hunter? Lastly, does anyone happen to know how competitive it is to get a Linkage with Cornell or Stonybrook (their post bacc website seems to suggest it is extremely rare).
If anyone has experience with Hunter and can offer any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks a lot!

 

[atomi]

Hello.
I am looking into the Formal Hunter post bacc program. I had a few questions:
How much of an advantage does a Premed Committee letter provide in terms of being a competitive med school applicant?
Can I still be a competitive med school applicant if I have all other stuff in order but do not have a committee letter? Secondly, does anyone know if their post bacc cost per credit is similar to the cost of being a second degree student at Hunter? Lastly, does anyone happen to know how competitive it is to get a Linkage with Cornell or Stonybrook (their post bacc website seems to suggest it is extremely rare).
If anyone has experience with Hunter and can offer any feedback, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks a lot!

Premed committee letter provides some advantage at a few schools. Most really don't care about it at all. If you're not currently an undergrad, then don't even worry about it. Yes, you can absolutely be a competitive applicant. I had no committee letter (even though my school had one) and got in pretty much everywhere I applied. It was never mentioned once as to why I didn't have one. I don't know anything about linkages, but I suspect they are things that postbacc programs use to sell themselves. Since such programs are usually money makers, take what they say with a grain-of-salt. Like I've said in other posts, a formal post-bacc is not worth it unless all of the following are true:

1. You are missing ALL of your pre-reqs
2. Your GPA is not currently competitive
3. You have no debt, good savings, and no financial obligations
4. You are coming from an unrelated career
5. You have a completely unrelated degree
6. You are a person who would prefer to pay for a pre-planned program rather than go through the trouble of organizing everything on your own
7. The post-bacc you are considering is established and reputable

 

[student1799]

Premed committee letter provides some advantage at a few schools. Most really don't care about it at all. If you're not currently an undergrad, then don't even worry about it. Yes, you can absolutely be a competitive applicant. I had no committee letter (even though my school had one) and got in pretty much everywhere I applied. It was never mentioned once as to why I didn't have one. I don't know anything about linkages, but I suspect they are things that postbacc programs use to sell themselves. Since such programs are usually money makers, take what they say with a grain-of-salt. Like I've said in other posts, a formal post-bacc is not worth it unless all of the following are true:

1. You are missing ALL of your pre-reqs
2. Your GPA is not currently competitive
3. You have no debt, good savings, and no financial obligations
4. You are coming from an unrelated career
5. You have a completely unrelated degree
6. You are a person who would prefer to pay for a pre-planned program rather than go through the trouble of organizing everything on your own
7. The post-bacc you are considering is established and reputable

I understand why atomi is skeptical of postbacc programs, but I'm not sure his reservations are totally relevant to Hunter. Most importantly, Hunter is not an expensive program, since it's a public school, so the overall reaction of "why spend all that money when you're not getting that much for it" isn't really justified. I DID go to a very expensive program in NYC, and if I had it to do over, I'd have gone with Hunter myself. It is very much established and reputable, and has a good success rate in getting students into med school.

Having said that, I'd add that you really get YOURSELF into med school--don't expect much hand-holding or real advising at any postbacc program. But doing a formal program does have its advantages, mainly access to committee letters (which med schools do look on favorably) and good volunteer opportunities. Another intangible, but potentially important, plus of a formal program is the chance to meet other postbaccs and form a community with them. Judging by their active forum on Yahoo Groups, the Hunter postbaccs seem like a very friendly and supportive community.

I don't know about the cost of Hunter postbacc vs. non-degree student, but there's one more thing you should keep in mind. I have heard from prospective students who spoke with the admissions office that non-degree students have the lowest priority in registering for classes (which can be a problem at a crowded school like Hunter), and thus might have trouble finishing them in a timely fashion. Postbaccs, on the other hand, have higher priority, ensuring that they can make it through the program in two years.

 

[BORNagainSTDENT]

I go to hunter as a non degree and will apply officially to the program once I bring my GPA up. I forgot the details of how the post bach program is different from a second degree, but I know it is somewhat cheaper than being a non degree.
If you have any other questions feel free to PM me, and I will see if I can help. I just started it myself.

 

[eedoctor]

hi,

i did hunter post-bacc (only bio & orgo), while working for a wall street investment bank.

i did not take advantage of the committee letter, and did everything on my own (slighly regret this).

i went to a public midwestern undergrad school & an ivy league grad school.

i am going to Duke med in the fall.

 

[ceng2doc]

hi,

i did hunter post-bacc (only bio & orgo), while working for a wall street investment bank.

i did not take advantage of the committee letter, and did everything on my own (slighly regret this).

i went to a public midwestern undergrad school & an ivy league grad school.

i am going to Duke med in the fall.

Was there an application for admission at Hunter, or have you just gone ahead yourself and registered to those classes by simply paying for the tuition?

Assuming that you worked in day time, when were the classes held, and how could you manage to not miss the schedules after work?

 

[atomi]

-

 

[HUSU]

i noticed that you can apply to the hunter post bacc program as a 2nd degree undergrad or a non degree seeking student. benefit of the 2nd degree undergrad is 1) cheaper $ per credit and 2) eligibility for student health insurance. however, what are the cons associated with being a 2nd degree undergrad? does this decrease your chances of getting accepted into a med school if your first undergraduate degree is from a private university?

 

[2010houston]

Do also consider that your undergrad might do a committee letter for you - even if you've been out LOTS of years. You might want to ask them if they will do them for alums. Usually it involves having an interview, giving them your essays, PS, etc. Not so bad 🙂

 

[eedoctor]

Was there an application for admission at Hunter, or have you just gone ahead yourself and registered to those classes by simply paying for the tuition?

Assuming that you worked in day time, when were the classes held, and how could you manage to not miss the schedules after work?

hi, hunter is good & cheap, but very overcrowded...

Read this post for more info.

http://more.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=359175

yes, I worked & took all my classes in the evening. I went to circa 25% of bio classes (~5:30PM) and 95% of orgo classes (~6:00PM).

 

[InquisitiveDoc]

i'm happy that you got into Duke Med..CONGRATULATIONS!!!

what were your stats prior to attending Hunter? like uGPA? MCAT score?

i'm looking into attending hunter at night as well, while working full time at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Can you give me your honest opinion of the program? What you liked versus what you didn't like. Structure or lack of structure of the program.

I would really appreciate the insider view of the program. thnx

 

[eedoctor]

i'm happy that you got into Duke Med..CONGRATULATIONS!!!

what were your stats prior to attending Hunter? like uGPA? MCAT score?

i'm looking into attending hunter at night as well, while working full time at Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Can you give me your honest opinion of the program? What you liked versus what you didn't like. Structure or lack of structure of the program.

I would really appreciate the insider view of the program. thnx

At Hunter, you'll have to fight to get into the classes that you want. There are some good students there, but most are not. The bio class is noisy & the teacher is always telling the class to be quiet. For me, it just seemed like a cheap way to take bio, continue to work/live in NYC. The organic chemistry class was very good, though.

However, I just could not convince myself to shell out the cash to take freshman bio @ columbia. If I had expendable cash at the time, I probably would have gone to columbia to take the courses, though. You could look for a job @ columbia or nyu, which would involve tuition reimbursement.

The Dean of Admissions at Columbia P&S said something like this to me: "Why did you go to Hunter? Was it financial reasons? Because the Columbia program is quite good."

I had an undergrad gpa of 3.6, a master's degree gpa of 4.0, and a 34 MCAT. If I was you, I would start studying for the MCAT now. Try to get your Verbal score at 12 and above. Either get a subscription to The Economist or The New Yorker and read each magazine cover-to-cover as fast as you can, retaining all the information. Also pick up some practice test books for the Verbal section. For the Bio & Chem sections, you'll learn the material that you need as you take the classes. Although, it would not hurt to pick up a practice book, as well. Your MCAT score is a golden ticket to med school, but you'll have to supplement it with the other stuff, as well. Soundz like you are volunteering at a hospital. Keep it up. You may want to look for part-time work in a laboratory in the city, also.

 

[InquisitiveDoc]

thanks for all of the information. it was quite informative. i'm actually working for a research center here at Mt. Sinai and am in the process of volunteering with the american red cross over the weekends. i figured if i could find a doctor that is working during the evenings in my desired departments, i hope to either shadow them for an hour twice a week during work or shadow them after work hours.

i started studying for the mcat in january ( i graduated in december) and took the mcats in may but found out very soon in the exam that i wasn't thoroughly prepared for it so i voided my exam. i had statistics questions on there that i didnt have any knowledge of how to answer and realized that i didnt practice with the exam enough because i didnt have the mental stamina to withstand the full five hours for the exam. but i consider it lesson learned.

i have started reading and will take your suggestions of subscribing to those magazines as gold and will do so in the next couple of weeks. because i did find myself struggling a bit on the verbal section, so thanks. also, i've decided to take a class. i know people have polarized feelings about it--they either hate the idea or think its a great one--but i feel that the structure of it might do more good than harm. so keeping my fingers crossed, my MCAT score will be 30+.

my undergraduate gpa was no where near that. i am actually going to hunter because of the cost as well as the opportunity to perform "damage repair." during undergrad, i completely lost my focus and became very nonchalant and lazy. so needless to say, it has come to bite me in the rear now that i'm fully determined and focused.

i was considering getting a masters, through an SMP, but that is quite an expensive route as well and since i'm funding my own education, it isn't a realistic option at this point.

again, thanks!!! 🙂

 

[Zakley]

Hi, I was about to send an application to Hunter, but am wondering if it's worth it if I wouldn't be able to even get into the classes I need. "Fighting to get into class" isn't something I want to have to do and according to this thread that seems the norm at Hunter. Although, I know they changed the program in the last couple of years. Additionally I read on their website that people who are accepted but submitted their application after 8/31 are not guaranteed a seat. Does that create a serious roadblock, or could I easily take another class?