Johns Hopkins Post-Bac Specifically

[DreamofClinical]

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Hello. I'd love to hear from current or past JHU post-bac students. I haven't seen much on these threads about what people thought of the program once in it. Also would love to hear peoples' linkage stories. Liza seems pretty great, but I wish they didn't require calculus and have most classes with undergrads. Thanks for your help!

 

[MrDrexler]

You may have trouble finding current or former students of this program on here. It is very selective, since they only take around 30 students each year, and they don't do a lot of self-promotion. That said, I interviewed there and took a tour and was very impressed. I don't really understand why it's not considered among the top-tier programs other than the fact that it is relatively new, and that it is a well-kept secret. The student I met with was very upfront about her experience thus far, and only had positive things to say (unless you think having to work extremely hard is a negative thing). Off the top of my head, two unique facets of the program are the required Intro to Clinical Medicine course, and the wide variety of research and volunteer opportunities you have to choose from.

 

[DreamofClinical]

I guess my hesitation is that the students on my tour seemed quite unhappy. They kept bringing up other programs, and seemed overwhelmed and insecure. That being said, I really loved Liza, the director. She seems so thoughtful and organized. I am somewhat undecided. Their links are quite impressive as well....

 

[PTO]

Does anyone know how selective the JHU program is in regard to GPA?

 

[shiya]

I applied to the post-bacc program at JHU, but haven't heard from them. Were you accepted ?

 

[PostBacKid]

I was accepted to the program and ultimately decided to not attend because the students I met there seemed quite unhappy. Initially I thought that maybe all post bacs were unhappy but then I visited Goucher and BM and the students there seemed 1000X more secure/satisfied with their program.

Liza was fantastic though...it was a difficult decision to not go but I think I made the right choice.

 

[upendo]

Bumping this thread back up. The JHU website has me pretty convinced, but I'm concerned that only one person here has a positive opinion about the program.

It seems the biggest drawback is that you have to take giant lecture classes with crazy competitive premed undergrads, but... I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing... I actually tend to do well in a competitive environment, so I'm not too concerned about that. The clinical and research opportunities seem pretty awesome, and it's also the only program I've seen so far with a linkage to University of Michigan (I'm from Michigan and want to go back home eventually after all these years of globetrotting and out-of-state schools).

On another note, they state that their med school acceptance rate is "close to 100%" -- do we think this means 98% or something like 88%? "close to" can mean a lot of things...

Really, I'm just really hoping someone else out there has something positive to say about this program... anyone?

 

[CalPep]

Here's my take, having interviewed for this program.

Pros
-Liza is nice and seems to be very knowledgeable and passionate about her job.
-Solid reputation, good linkages if that's what you're looking for
-Many great opportunities to volunteer/shadow
-Great in-house MCAT prep according to Liza)

Cons
-Courses teach above MCAT
-Expensive, but comparable to other top programs
-I don't like Baltimore, or the JHU campus for that matter
-Like others, competitiveness is a big detractor
-Even amongst post-bacs, there seemed to be lack of collegiality, esp when compared to schools like Bryn Mawr/Goucher

My take away was that those who succeed in the program are obviously highly motivated and willing to persevere. This seems to be especially important at JHU given the level of difficulty/competition and curving in the classes. Keep in mind these are just my observations. You should talk with admissions and/or current students and alumni to get a more accurate picture. Hope this helps!

 

[henge]

upendo,

The Hopkins post-bacc program has a Facebook page that 100 people claim to like (though the page seems dominated by program posts). I Googled Hopkins post-bacc and linkedin and a few names popped up. Maybe you could try contacting former participants thru one of those sites.

 

[lmesina]

It seems the biggest drawback is that you have to take giant lecture classes with crazy competitive premed undergrads, but... I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing...

I know that with the SFSU post bacc here in CA, although some classes are taken along with large undergrad classes, the post bacc "cohort" itself is graded upon it's own type of curve. I forgot the specifics, but you take classes with them, and are not subject to their curve. I should add that I am not a student there, but attended a very informative orientation session about the program. Could this be the case for JHU or any other school?

 

[Angulimala]

I went here for a postbac.

I worked my butt off, and now I'm where I want to be.

There are a couple of other threads on Hop's postbac, but I'll summarize:
Going to class with undergrads is generally viewed as a strength. It lets admissions committees know that you're in a real class, not just a watered down one for postbacs designed to prepare you for the MCAT (only) and inflate your grades so you look good on paper. Also, even though some hopkins pre-meds are legit, the majority are busy having the college experience (drinking, partying, etc.) and the postbacs pretty much set the curve in every class.

Not everyone was unhappy, although everyone worked super hard. You have to find balance in your life or you won't be happy, no matter what you're doing.

About the acceptance rate...it's only for people who successfully complete the program and then apply to med school. So it's inflated, because some people don't finish, and some don't apply.

Liza is great, and as long as you do well, she'll do as much as she can. She's a great adviser and will be frank with you.

PM me is you have any more specific questions I didn't address.

 

[kaleidoscopic]

Hi, I'm not a JHU postbac-- in fact, I'm finishing up at Bryn Mawr right now-- but just wanted to drop a line since there's little presence of JHU postbacs on this thread.

I didn't apply to Hopkins because I thought it was either a 2-year program or a SMP. Or maybe they required calculus, I can't remember. In any case, JHU and BM have a few linkage schools in common, notably Penn, Brown, and George Washington. Those schools just lump them in with BM people since JHU is so small, so we randomly saw 3-4 JHUers at those schools (among like 30 of us). So I chatted with a few of them, and they seemed really nice, interesting, accomplished-- pretty much the same type of people as BM postbacs.

Unfortunately, I think it's true that the classes are cutthroat. JHUers weren't particularly eager to talk about their classes. During the George Washington visit, one JHU alum even said she was pleasantly surprised by the collaborative atmosphere at GW because that's not what she was not used to... and she added that JHU postbacs probably know what she was talking about.

I'm guessing Liza is the blonde lady I saw at GW-- she didn't come to the other schools. Jodi was present at virtually every school though. She definitely has tight connections with all the schools and is clutch when it comes to linking (you have to do your part, of course). Admittedly I was pretty jeaous when I found JHU has linkage to Cornell, but it was added to BM's list this year. I was also somewhat jealous of the cool research opportunities at Hopkins, though how the postbacs find the time to get involved, I do not know.

As someone said earlier, it probably looks good that the Hopkins postbacs put themselves through the pain of studying among Hopkins undergrads. I think adcoms are impressed by the fact we pulled off this sheer madness (on top of our unique background). The cutthroat undergrad classes bit is pretty minor compared to that, and I'm personally glad to have avoided it. But I can definitely see how Hopkins would be attractive to people who want to be in a smaller program within a cutting-edge environment.

Oof, didn't mean to ramble so much, but hope that helps!

 

[prolixity29]

I was a post-bacc this past year at the Hopkins program and the experience has been fantastic. I am extremely happy with my choice. I wanted to address this issue of curving in undergraduate courses at Hopkins. This seems to be a perceived drawback that causes a lot of firepower to be volleyed at JHU by people who do not have direct experience with this school (not necessarily the posters on this thread, just in general).

I took all the main sciences here, and the competition among undergraduates and post-bacc students did not seem overwhelmingly intense. There were many instances where students helped one another. The only comparison I can really make it with is my undergraduate institution, which was very intense. Relative to that, nothing here seemed out of the ordinary. If anything, the undergraduate students seemed more open and friendly to meeting new people. Generally speaking, the undergraduate body is largely comprised of bookish and relatively quiet students, so I think that this notion of intense competition might actually stem from a misreading of the student body and the academic culture. I have found that people are quiet but friendly and willing to help.

And as for the curve? It is actually quite generous, in my honest opinion. Approximately 30-40% of the grades in every course appear to be A's of some sort. In at least one course, the post-baccs are not actually factored in when setting the curve. The cutoffs are set by the undergrads and the post-baccs simply fall into place, typically at the top. Trust me, this works out to everyone's benefit. The test medians and averages for the postbaccs, as a whole, would blow the undergraduates out of the water.

My advice would be that if you are used to working hard and are strongly committed to becoming not just a doctor, but the best doctor you can be, you should come to this program. This is not a program for people who want to coast through the requirements before enrolling in a med school. You will work hard, but you will learn a tremendous amount, and you will meet stellar students and faculty along the way.

 

[pagoda]

First post here so please be kind. 🙂 I have a question for prolixity29 and others who did the Johns Hopkins program, could you tell the age range of the post-baccs in your class? I am an older non-trad (32) and I am married with a 9month old. My impression from lurking here is that some programs seem more open to late carreer-changers like me than others. When I look at the profiles on the JH site, they seem like students who graduated just a year or two before to starting the post-bacc programm. Is that what you have found? Do you think the admissions leaders are open to older students? Since the classses are with the college students, I didn't know if they would shy away from applicans who are in a later different stage of life. Thank you in advance for your advise.

 

[prolixity29]

First post here so please be kind. 🙂 I have a question for prolixity29 and others who did the Johns Hopkins program, could you tell the age range of the post-baccs in your class? I am an older non-trad (32) and I am married with a 9month old. My impression from lurking here is that some programs seem more open to late carreer-changers like me than others. When I look at the profiles on the JH site, they seem like students who graduated just a year or two before to starting the post-bacc programm. Is that what you have found? Do you think the admissions leaders are open to older students? Since the classses are with the college students, I didn't know if they would shy away from applicans who are in a later different stage of life. Thank you in advance for your advise.

Most of the students this year were relatively young. The vast majority of students fell into the 22-28 age range. We did have a few older students in their 30's (some with kids), however, and the post-bacc office definitely seems to be seeking out older students. My unofficial impression is that you would certainly not be penalized or looked-down-upon in any sort of way for being older. If anything, it would make you a stronger applicant, at least to this program. And University professors generally seem to appreciate the wisdom and sense of humor that older students bring to the classroom.

If you come as an older student, I would recommend taking advantage of the university's larger resource pool - esp. those for grad students. The grad community at Hopkins puts on a fair number of mixers/events, so you would be able to mix with people closer to your own age.

This assumes of course that you find the company of 20-somethings lacking! 🙂

 

[azso314x]

Hello everyone! (first-post awkward silence)...

Anyways, my name is Jeff and I am currently working on my PhD in Gerontology, but I am thinking about changing directions after I finish my dissertation. The JHU post-bac seems like a great program that I would love to try for, but I am a bit concerned about paying for the program. On the website, it say's that tuition alone is nearly $32,000 and when you factor in living expenses, I assume that the total cost of attendance for 1 year is nearly $50,000 (is this even close to accurate?). If I read the website right (which I would like to think I did 😕), students are only eligible for about $12,000 in Stafford Loans, leaving an approximate $38,000 gap! How did you JHU post-bac grads make this happen?

-Troubled PhD student