Informal Post-Bac Question

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starseeker

starseeker

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15+ Year Member
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what classes to take during an informal post-bac. I have already taken all of the pre-reqs for med school as well as some upper level science classes such as Biochem, Microbiology, Med Micro, etc. My goal is to raise my BCBM GPA b/c it was low my first two years of undergrad although I do have an upward trend. When I graduated my BCPM was a 3.1.I'm not sure that re-taking undergrad science classes would be benificial to me since I made A's in all the upper level classes. Does anyone have any advice on what kind of classes to take?
 
That's a bit tough since you seemed to have already taken so many of the upper level classes. I hear Histology and Genetics are useful, maybe even some Physio if you haven't taken it just to get an idea of what the material is like. I don't think repeating classes is prudent or a good use of your time in general. If you have access to an advisor, I would get some ideas from him/her. A current BCPM of 3.1 is a bit on the low side in my opinion, and I am not sure what an advisor would "advise" to help you increase that, especially when you have already taken a good chunk of upper level science courses.
 
starseeker said:
I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what classes to take during an informal post-bac. I have already taken all of the pre-reqs for med school as well as some upper level science classes such as Biochem, Microbiology, Med Micro, etc. My goal is to raise my BCBM GPA b/c it was low my first two years of undergrad although I do have an upward trend. When I graduated my BCPM was a 3.1.I'm not sure that re-taking undergrad science classes would be benificial to me since I made A's in all the upper level classes. Does anyone have any advice on what kind of classes to take?
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Before you spend any more time or money in undergrad, make sure you know what your maximum possible improvement can be. There's no such thing as "fixing" a GPA. If you've taken ~3 years of science to get a 3.1 BCMP, then you could need 3 more years just to get to a 3.5 BCMP. Have you spreadsheeted it out?

My opinion is that you'd do better in an SMP.
 
I've actually applied to some SMP's Dr. M and plan on attending one this summer. My goal really wasn't to increase my GPA a whole lot b/c I've talked to some admission counselors who've told me not to focus to much on the overall since I have a dramatic upward trend. (2.9 BCPM first 3 semesters to around 3.5 avg the last 5 semesters of undergrad). I was planning on taking some classes though to keep myself busy while applying to med school for next year. I'm not really using it to try to improve my current application per se since the classes won't be on my AMCAS anyway. I was just trying to take something that would keep me from slacking in the year off.
 
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