Need Advice for Fall 2011

[ead11]

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Hello,

I am a young professional one year out of college and have spent the past year working in the corporate world. I applied to a post baccalaureate program for the fall and just found out that I did not get accepted. Does anyone have any advice for how I can get started on my own for the fall? Or, any tips on how I can improve my resume to get into a program in NYC for a spring start? I graduated from undergrad with a 3.18, Psychology major GPA 3.49, an internship with a nonprofit, a year's experience volunteering with children with developmental disorders, a semester volunteering teaching English (while studying abroad), and a 2-week service trip to a 3rd world country volunteering with children with mental & physical disabilities. I am happy to start taking the med school prereqs on my own, but I'm looking for some feedback about other's experiences doing the same. Thanks for your help!

 

[PTWOB02]

I applied to a post baccalaureate program for the fall and just found out that I did not get accepted. Does anyone have any advice for how I can get started on my own for the fall? Or, any tips on how I can improve my resume to get into a program in NYC for a spring start?

If you didn't get accepted to a formal Post Bacc program, you can always enroll as a 2nd Bachelor (degree seeking) student and take same classes informally. I'm assuming you don't have the required pre-req classes like 1-year of Physics, Bio, Gen Chemistry and Orgo? My advice would be to take classes in the Fall, either informally at the University (if you can get admitted this late in the game), or at the Community College (and get all "A"s there), then apply for the Spring term at your school of choice.

 

[ead11]

Thanks for your response- you're right, I have not taken the science prereqs or the Calc/Stats courses. If I can get admitted for the fall to start working towards a second bachelor's, do you think it would be worth spending the money on the courses at a school like NYU with its own respected Post Bacc program or taking the classes at a state school? Either way, I will be taking out loans, but since I was willing to do it for Post Bacc, what I'm interested is in whether or not taking the classes at a school with its own program will carry the same weight to a med school adcom as if I were in the program there, or if it will mean the same at a (cheaper) state school. Does that make sense? Thanks for your help!

 

[ead11]

"My advice would be to take classes in the Fall, either informally at the University (if you can get admitted this late in the game), or at the Community College (and get all "A"s there), then apply for the Spring term at your school of choice."

My concern here is that some Post Bacc programs don't accept you if you have a certain number of the prereqs, so if I'm going to start anyways, would it be worth it to start the second bachelor's at a school that has the program?

 

[OBK]

i did my own post bacc. it was a hodgepodge of cc. and courses from my under grad.

however, it is important to have a post bacc. committee

my undergrad health professions office would still interview me, write committee letter, etc even though i took some courses elsewhere (because i graduated from there). your ec's sound awesome...if you take classes on your own, you could throw in some psych classes or alt. classes to show a continued commitment to psych. i took my pre reqs. concurrent to some german classes and rotc classes

 

[PTWOB02]

My concern here is that some Post Bacc programs don't accept you if you have a certain number of the prereqs, so if I'm going to start anyways, would it be worth it to start the second bachelor's at a school that has the program?

Well, that certainly is true that some Post Bacc program will not accept you if you reach a certain number of pre-reqs somewhere else. I mean, it depends on the program you are interested in applying. Some programs allow you into their Post Bacc after you took some community college classes, or informal classes at their university, but some Post Bacc programs don't.

Case in point: I am taking classes at the Post Bacc program at UT Dallas, but I could turn around and just as easily enroll as a 2nd degree seeking student there (in fact, I'm in the process of doing just that in order to qualify for federal aid). Then, you can request a letter of recommendation from the health advising committee upon completion of pre-reqs, either as a Post Bacc student or informal degree-seeking student. So for my school, your student status doesn't make any difference. Other schools might not be as lenient as mine. I guess my point is you have to call the admission office/health advising office of each school you are interested in applying and ask them how the process works of transferring classes into their Post Bacc program.

 

[isoquin]

I believe Harvard Extension has an informal program that allows you to take courses to hit your post-bac requirements, without a formal curriculum. I believe you should still be able to enroll? Look into it.

 

[ead11]

Thanks for the feedback- I'm going to move forward and start on my own, and then decide whether or not I want to apply to an official Post Bacc or continue by myself. I appreciate your help!

 

[sharmi]

I believe Harvard Extension has an informal program that allows you to take courses to hit your post-bac requirements, without a formal curriculum. I believe you should still be able to enroll? Look into it.

Same goes for Berkeley extn - if you are in CA

 

[Acyl chloride]

Hello,
Does anyone have any advice for how I can get started on my own for the fall? Or, any tips on how I can improve my resume to get into a program in NYC for a spring start?

Have you considered taking classes at Hunter? It's much cheaper than either NYU or Columbia. You are too late to apply as either a transfer student or official pre-health postbacc for the Fall, but you could still register as a Non-Matriculated student and take whatever classes you can get a seat for. If you decided you liked it, you could then apply to the actual program for Fall 2012 admission while continuing to take classes there or apply to the program of your choice at that point.