never withdrew from classes: a post-bacc situation

[Teuni]

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Hallo all!

I've been lurking and reading as many past posts as I could on the pre-dental (my goal in the short term), pre-med (because I know the classes that apply to one will apply to both), and the post-bacc forums. My situation feels kind of precarious, but I am willing to go far to get into dental school.

I will be graduating this May with a BA in English at CUNY Hunter College. Altogether it took me five years to graduate, because not only did I transfer after my sophomore year, I also took a semester off in Fall of 2007, due to family and financial issues combined. My overall gpa is most likely going to come out to be in the low 3.3. I HAVE taken science classes and calculus 1:

Note: I can only approximate that I've gotten what I did for Physics and Chemistry, since my records are not with me and I cannot check my grades online anymore at the website of the college that I transferred from.
2004-2005 @ Adelphi University
Physics - D, C
Calculus 1 - C

2005-2006
Chemistry - B, C
Biology - B+ (I think), A

2006-2007 (I transferred this time to Hunter College. This is also when my family situation was heading to its worst.)
Cell Biology 1 - C
Cell Biology 2 - D
Organic Chemistry 1 Lecture only - F

I was actually in Cell Biology for my major at the time, which was Biology. After that semester with Cell Bio 2 and Orgo 1, I took that time off. Then I came back in the Spring of 2008 and have been going straight through my major and other required classes of the school. My overall GPA at Hunter was horrible because of the Cell Bio classes but even more so because of that F I never bothered to correct or retake, especially since they decided to renovate their labs and do not offer the labs on campus.

As far as inquiries have gone for post-bacc, I have contacted Columbia and though they told me that I am welcome to apply for their program if my grades are older than five years, at this time I am not eligible.

I'd like to know--from anyone interested in replying to this--if they at Columbia are wrong and I should keep pursuing after their post-bacc program, which seems like a trustworthy program (I will find out more after going to their info meeting on 15 April), and also, whether if I should bother on getting into a post-bacc program and just retake classes at either a 4 year college or at a CC.

Thanks anyone and everyone for reading and making some time for this post.

 

[NJ BK]

Why can't you apply to your soon to be alma mater's post bacc program? Is it solely because they don't offer labs on campus? I think NYU has a post bacc program too.

 

[student1799]

Idon't think it would be wise to go to Columbia (where I did postbacc). For one thing, it costs $1200 per credit, which is a huge amount of money. And for another, you really get very little for all that $; the advising is nonexistent, the classes are extremely demanding (so your GPA could go down), and the facilities are nothing to write home about (old drafty lecture halls with no technology, labs with equipment as much as 50 years old).

If you want to do postbacc, just stick with Hunter. They have a very good rep, and provide (or fail to provide) all the same services that Columbia does--i.e. they write you a committee letter.

Retake the classes you got D's and F's in, but be aware that your GPA for med school purposes will always include the old grades also, no matter how old they are. The only exception is if you apply to DO school, which uses "grade replacement" for retakes. (If going DO, it would make sense to retake the C's also.) If Hunter doesn't offer the labs you need, you should be able to take them at another CUNY school (CCNY?).

You don't have much hope of getting into med school unless you get that GPA up, so get to work taking more courses and getting A's. Good luck.

 

[Teuni]

Why can't you apply to your soon to be alma mater's post bacc program? Is it solely because they don't offer labs on campus? I think NYU has a post bacc program too.

It's kind of funny, but my alma mater's just rejected me for a 2nd degree application. So, I don't really have a say in this by now. They offer labs on campus, but it seems like there's some weird construction thing going on with them. Whatever.

NYU does have a post-bacc program, but the costs are kind of just as bad.

 

[Teuni]

Idon't think it would be wise to go to Columbia (where I did postbacc). For one thing, it costs $1200 per credit, which is a huge amount of money. And for another, you really get very little for all that $; the advising is nonexistent, the classes are extremely demanding (so your GPA could go down), and the facilities are nothing to write home about (old drafty lecture halls with no technology, labs with equipment as much as 50 years old).

If you want to do postbacc, just stick with Hunter. They have a very good rep, and provide (or fail to provide) all the same services that Columbia does--i.e. they write you a committee letter.

Retake the classes you got D's and F's in, but be aware that your GPA for med school purposes will always include the old grades also, no matter how old they are. The only exception is if you apply to DO school, which uses "grade replacement" for retakes. (If going DO, it would make sense to retake the C's also.) If Hunter doesn't offer the labs you need, you should be able to take them at another CUNY school (CCNY?).

You don't have much hope of getting into med school unless you get that GPA up, so get to work taking more courses and getting A's. Good luck.

Seriously, thanks for your (and the other person too!) words on this. I thought about Columbia and decided that in the long run, their cost would be crazy. DO sounds like a good thing to do, but I'm also thinking about Dental school at this time. Thanks much for the reply.