Hi there!
I was a member of the Meredith Post-Bacc cohort for 2023-2024. I had applied around March 1st and received admissions decision on April 11th. I was in a similar situation, non-traditional career changer and had to complete all my pre-reqs during this program. I had selected this program due to the small cohort sizes and structure MCAT guidance.
Program/Coursework:
I really enjoyed this program and I feel as though they genuinely care about the success of their post-bacc students. The classes were smaller in size (partly due to the overall size of the undegrad population) and the professors took many steps to ensure that no one fell behind. They offered really flexible office hours and various opportunities for extra credit/make-up work. As someone who was terrified of Chemistry (and had failed it before) they really want us to be successful. I managed a 3.9 post-bacc GPA and I am what I consider a non-science minded person. Many of us were non-traditional students and forming a GroupMe to facilitate study groups was a big help.
Faculty:
Overall, I think they have a great faculty and they remained dedicated to our individual success and were incredibly accessable. I think the program director can be difficult to get ahold of and can fall behind on his emails but in-person is responsive, engaging, and very kind. I experienced a personal hardship during the final semester which caused difficulties with academics and many of my professors/faculty members not only reached out to check on me but also allowed me extensions on deadlines and even a couple exams which was incredible.
Volunteering/Shadowing:
As far as volunteer hours go, I would say this was the programs weakest point. They really only provided a list of places which would be open to volunteers and it was our job to find and schedule them ourselves. I used VolunteerMatch.org and found some good opportunities that way. We had some big group volunteering we organized ourselves (using the groupme) which was helpful. There was minimal, if not none, in the ways assistance in arranging shadowing that I recall, other than a couple "virtual shadowing" with WVU faculty as a part of the pathways program.
MCAT/Application Prep:
This was, I feel, slightly overstated on the Program website. We had a couple MCAT meetings over the course of the year and UWorld was discounted but there was not an additonal structured "MCAT Course". I did most of my MCAT prep independently using Kaplan and Jack Westin. There was a few Q&A opportunities from previous Meredith students who did well on the MCAT, as well as from WVU which is a part of a pathways program. I would have appreciated more structured group settings for MCAT prep, as well as some on-campus, test day scenario full-length practice exams.
My most frustrating experience with this program was delays in the program director submitting my required materals such as my comittee letter. Part of this was my fault as I submitted later in the cycle than I should have but there was some miscommunications between him and another professor and I really had to bother both of them for a couple weeks to get everything in. This could have been avoided if I had been more prompt from the get-go. I would just recommend using May to get everything together. The program director will try to tell you it's not the end of the world to submit July/August but I would generally ignore that advice and still push to get it done ASAP.
I really did enjoy this program and would recommendit. If you have any questions or would like more specifics, please feel free to DM me! Good luck!!
