I've been out of school for a year now receiving a Finance degree from a pretty decent business school. For the last year (shortly before I graduated up until now) I've been telling myself if I could do it all over again I would definitely go pre-med instead of Finance (not happy with what I'm doing). I ended up graduating with a 3.25gpa (very strong upward trend) and haven't taken any of the pre-required courses. I'm wondering what the best way to knock out these requirements would be and if I would have any shot at getting into med school given my low gpa. I like the idea of a structured program but have my doubts that I could get into one with my gpa. Obviously I'm prepared to work very hard hopefully receiving a 4.0 in most if not all of the pre-required courses. Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Looking for some advice regarding post bacc
- Thread starter jay11
- Start date
I've been out of school for a year now receiving a Finance degree from a pretty decent business school. For the last year (shortly before I graduated up until now) I've been telling myself if I could do it all over again I would definitely go pre-med instead of Finance (not happy with what I'm doing). I ended up graduating with a 3.25gpa (very strong upward trend) and haven't taken any of the pre-required courses. I'm wondering what the best way to knock out these requirements would be and if I would have any shot at getting into med school given my low gpa. I like the idea of a structured program but have my doubts that I could get into one with my gpa. Obviously I'm prepared to work very hard hopefully receiving a 4.0 in most if not all of the pre-required courses. Thanks in advance for any advice.
You should be able to get into a undergrad post-bacc with your GPA. There are many programs for career-changers. Look through the stickies that are posted and I'm sure you'll find something that will work for you. Based on your background sounds like you'll have to start working on what all pre-meds do...pre-reqs, mcat, volunteering experience, etc... Devise a plan on what you have to do and how you are going to do it and go for it! Getting into a post-bacc will probably help you a lot since you'll have way more guidance on what to do than trying to take courses outside a formal program.
You should be able to get into a undergrad post-bacc with your GPA. There are many programs for career-changers. Look through the stickies that are posted and I'm sure you'll find something that will work for you. Based on your background sounds like you'll have to start working on what all pre-meds do...pre-reqs, mcat, volunteering experience, etc... Devise a plan on what you have to do and how you are going to do it and go for it! Getting into a post-bacc will probably help you a lot since you'll have way more guidance on what to do than trying to take courses outside a formal program.
Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I called a few schools today and I'm actually able to get into a university for the winter semester starting in about 1 month. Obviously if I went this route it would be an unstructured program but I've always been very independent and am thinking it might not be a problem. The only reason I bring this up is that it would be nice to start right away. Assuming I can 4.0 most of the classes and labs, would this work out as well? Also regarding course load, I'm guessing it might be a bit much to take General Chem I, Physics I and Biology I with their respective labs at the same time? I've always been good at math (was required to take math all the way through applied calculus for finance and got a 4.0 in every math course but 1 statistics course which I got a 3.5 in) but it's been awhile since I've taken a science course although I've always been fascinated with the sciences (might make learning a bit easier). Any recommendations as to what courses to take first? I'm assuming general chem is a prerequisite for organic chem? Thanks again for the help and any additional advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I called a few schools today and I'm actually able to get into a university for the winter semester starting in about 1 month. Obviously if I went this route it would be an unstructured program but I've always been very independent and am thinking it might not be a problem. The only reason I bring this up is that it would be nice to start right away. Assuming I can 4.0 most of the classes and labs, would this work out as well? Also regarding course load, I'm guessing it might be a bit much to take General Chem I, Physics I and Biology I with their respective labs at the same time? I've always been good at math (was required to take math all the way through applied calculus for finance and got a 4.0 in every math course but 1 statistics course which I got a 3.5 in) but it's been awhile since I've taken a science course although I've always been fascinated with the sciences (might make learning a bit easier). Any recommendations as to what courses to take first? I'm assuming general chem is a prerequisite for organic chem? Thanks again for the help and any additional advice is greatly appreciated.
Not sure what kind of workload you are used to...everybody is different. I was a pre-med all the way through so I took my courses with a different strategy...didn't overload on the sciences since I was taking GE's at the same time. I can't really comment on how much you should take since I came from a school based on the quarter system (our lectures and labs were all structured differently), so I don't have much experience with the workload of the semester system. Perhaps someone else here can comment on that.
If you are at a structured program, generally they tell you what to take and when to take them...so you really don't have a choice. I would check out some programs and find out their course schedule. If you go into a less formal program, then I would suggest testing the waters in the first semester/quarter to see what works for you before packing on the classes.
Generally, people take G-chem before taking O-chem. But if you don't really enjoy O-chem then I would try to take a lighter load with it. I dreaded it so I tried to give myself a lot of time to practice it.
Also, I would suggest looking at post-baccs that have linkages to med schools.
Not sure what kind of workload you are used to...everybody is different. I was a pre-med all the way through so I took my courses with a different strategy...didn't overload on the sciences since I was taking GE's at the same time. I can't really comment on how much you should take since I came from a school based on the quarter system (our lectures and labs were all structured differently), so I don't have much experience with the workload of the semester system. Perhaps someone else here can comment on that.
If you are at a structured program, generally they tell you what to take and when to take them...so you really don't have a choice. I would check out some programs and find out their course schedule. If you go into a less formal program, then I would suggest testing the waters in the first semester/quarter to see what works for you before packing on the classes.
Generally, people take G-chem before taking O-chem. But if you don't really enjoy O-chem then I would try to take a lighter load with it. I dreaded it so I tried to give myself a lot of time to practice it.
Also, I would suggest looking at post-baccs that have linkages to med schools.
I'm gonna set up some appointments with the schools around my area and then call some of the other structured post baccs tomorrow. Sounds like I'm on the right track though. Thanks again for all the great advice.
I've been out of school for a year now receiving a Finance degree from a pretty decent business school. For the last year (shortly before I graduated up until now) I've been telling myself if I could do it all over again I would definitely go pre-med instead of Finance (not happy with what I'm doing). I ended up graduating with a 3.25gpa (very strong upward trend) and haven't taken any of the pre-required courses. I'm wondering what the best way to knock out these requirements would be and if I would have any shot at getting into med school given my low gpa. I like the idea of a structured program but have my doubts that I could get into one with my gpa. Obviously I'm prepared to work very hard hopefully receiving a 4.0 in most if not all of the pre-required courses. Thanks in advance for any advice.
I went through a post-bac program and regretted it. Please learn from my mistake: the best thing you can do regarding postbacs is make SURE they have a hardline standard to funnel you into medschool. Look for something where both you and the school can hold each other accountable ie. all students with above a 3.5 in the program will be accepted. My postbac program did not do this. In the end they just made up their mind based off your original stats anyway so there was no point.
I went through a post-bac program and regretted it. Please learn from my mistake: the best thing you can do regarding postbacs is make SURE they have a hardline standard to funnel you into medschool. Look for something where both you and the school can hold each other accountable ie. all students with above a 3.5 in the program will be accepted. My postbac program did not do this. In the end they just made up their mind based off your original stats anyway so there was no point.
Thanks for the information. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.
