Non-Trad Post-Bacc Applicant Requests Help

[hopefloats]

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Hi everyone,

I'm a first year M.A. student at The University of Chicago in a field completely unrelated to medicine and have had no work or volunteer experience in medicine whatsoever. As an undergrad, I worked very hard within my field, obtaining a 4.0 and though I originally had interests in medicine, decided to go hard and fast into the Humanities. A year into my M.A., I realize that en route to life as a PhD is not where I want to be, and have discovered my sincere interest in post-bacc pre-med studies, whether through an official program (looking at Loyola, specifically, being in Chicago), or informally through my undergrad institution. My questions are:

1. Is volunteer experience in the medical field necessary for application to an official post-bacc program, and if so, how much? I've recently started volunteering at our Medical Center, but realize that if I want to apply to begin studies at Loyola this summer, I'll have nothing really under my belt in time for the January deadline.

2. Will quitting a year into my M.A. hurt my chances of getting into a) a post bacc program and/or, further down the line b) medical school? I understand from my undergrad institution that I will be welcomed with open arms to re-matriculate as an undergrad to fulfill my pre-med requirements, but will med schools look unfavorably at my academic decisions?

Thanks sincerely for your time and responses. I could really use all the advice I can get on this one. I have several books on deciding to go to medical school, but all spend very little time discussing post-bacc-specific issues, and I assumed that any sort of clinical or volunteer experience I might need would come during the post-bacc, and not a prerequisite, but from my survey of other threads, it seems it might be otherwise.

 

[theseeker4]

Hi everyone,

I'm a first year M.A. student at The University of Chicago in a field completely unrelated to medicine and have had no work or volunteer experience in medicine whatsoever. As an undergrad, I worked very hard within my field, obtaining a 4.0 and though I originally had interests in medicine, decided to go hard and fast into the Humanities. A year into my M.A., I realize that en route to life as a PhD is not where I want to be, and have discovered my sincere interest in post-bacc pre-med studies, whether through an official program (looking at Loyola, specifically, being in Chicago), or informally through my undergrad institution. My questions are:

1. Is volunteer experience in the medical field necessary for application to an official post-bacc program, and if so, how much? I've recently started volunteering at our Medical Center, but realize that if I want to apply to begin studies at Loyola this summer, I'll have nothing really under my belt in time for the January deadline.

2. Will quitting a year into my M.A. hurt my chances of getting into a) a post bacc program and/or, further down the line b) medical school? I understand from my undergrad institution that I will be welcomed with open arms to re-matriculate as an undergrad to fulfill my pre-med requirements, but will med schools look unfavorably at my academic decisions?

Thanks sincerely for your time and responses. I could really use all the advice I can get on this one. I have several books on deciding to go to medical school, but all spend very little time discussing post-bacc-specific issues, and I assumed that any sort of clinical or volunteer experience I might need would come during the post-bacc, and not a prerequisite, but from my survey of other threads, it seems it might be otherwise.

Deciding whether to quit the MA would be a tough one. It generally looks a lot better to finish what you started, but I don't know that it is worth a full two years to avoid quitting. If you are taking on any significant debt in getting the MA, I would say definitely quit now. If you are not, it might be worth finishing, but I would probably quit and get started on my med school pre reqs if I were in your place.

You have a great GPA, so you do not have as much of a need for a formal program as some students. If getting into a formal program is difficult without jumping through a bunch of hoops, I would do the pre reqs informally. With your GPA and assuming you do well in the pre reqs, doing the post bac informally shouldn't hurt your chances at all.

Good luck, and feel free to ask any other questions you might have.