Non-trad: Postbacc vs. Do-it-yourself

[jalk]

Hi all!

I'm a non-traditional prospective medical school applicant looking for thoughts on different approaches to becoming application-ready.

Brief about me: 26-year-old Software engineer currently working for a tech company in Southern California (without naming the company it's a top-5 co. in the US). I am planning my career change into Medicine and getting M.D. / D.O. and plan to quit once my plan is set.

Undergrad: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, started as a Bioengineer, transferred into Computer Science (will save the story of why).
Graduated in '16 with GPA 3.20, BCPM GPA 3.48. Courseload included 1 year Chem, 1 sem Bio, 1 sem Advanced Phys (placed out of intro Phys with AP's), 1.5 years advanced Math (placed out of intro with AP Calc etc). So more science-heavy than many "career-changers". Few medical EC's as of now but working on that.

As of now I am debating between a) applying to Post-Bacc programs, vs. b) getting myself application ready by myself (DIY).

For DIY: I would take the prereqs I am missing (roughly ~.5-1yr year courses depending on which I want to retake) as a non-degree seeking student at a reputable local university, study for MCAT by myself, organize my EC's and experience etc.

For Post-bacc, ideally do well in a good program and take advantage of facilitated EC's, advising, and potentially linkages (though I can imagine with my GPA those may be tough). Obvious consideration is $$$ of many programs. Another thought here is that a doing well in a formal academic program can showcase academic ability more than ad-hoc courses.

Any other considerations when evaluating the two options?

Thanks and appreciate the help!

jalk

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Philly145]

You have a good general sense of the two paths available to you. I think the questions to ask yourself in your situation are:

1) Can you get things like shadowing, research, general medical exposure the DIY way?
2) Will you be able to get a pre-med committee letter the DIY route?
3) What can you afford?

I went with the structured route, but if you feel you can get good ECs and a committee letter t

 

[8YearsLate]

Agree with above poster. Look at your own self-starter-ness. I did DIY because I had no issues finding my own volunteering/shadowing/LORs etc. I also needed to do it this way to qualify for loans (at least in my situation, I qualified for loans as an undergrad student, but wouldn't have as a grad or post-bacc student. This probably works differently depending on the Uni). Whatever you decide, good luck!

 

[tinylegomumps]

You're about halfway there to having all the pre-med prereqs done already which would disqualify you or at least put you at a disadvantage from a lot of career-changer postbacs. I would just do a DIY postbac. The most important thing is doing well in your courses, much more so than where you take them. When I was considering a career change, a physician I worked with who had some knowledge of the admissions process recommended keeping my job and just taking prerequisites at a community college in the evenings. I enrolled in a formal postbac instead. I think the enforced discipline of a year-long program was a benefit; I could imagine myself dropping off the path if I had not been in a large group of other folks with the same goal. Linkages were a draw for me, but the bar for eligibility is very high (some programs required you had a certain undergrad GPA before the postbac) and acceptance is still kind of a gamble even if you do well in your courses. The advising was definitely a benefit to the program, but only because I had no idea how much of a dog-and-pony show the whole med school admissions thing is (having the committee letter taken care of was also a relief); if wherever you wind up taking your courses at does not have a pre-med advisor, you can find one through NAAHP -- there are a surprisingly large number of qualified folks volunteering to advise premeds on admissions for free. Your undergrad institution may also be willing to advise you and/or provide the committee letter also. Assuming I was more naturally ambitious, did not have the itch to explore a new part of the country, and had taken his advice, I would probably be in the same position or better in regards to medical school admissions without the ~40k debt.

 

[abluebird99]

I second the advice of the above poster--assuming you haven't already ruled this out--taking classes part-time if your company offers a tuition benefit is a great option. It showcases that you can manage competing responsibilities and be successful at time management, prioritization, academic rigor (having little time to manage a lot of course material).

The downside is that it will take longer than enrolling in a FT post-bacc program or quitting work and doing a DIY post-bacc. My workplace offered 6k for tuition per academic year, so it took me a good while to finish my courses while working FT but I have zero debt now.

Community college courses are also a great option to cut cost, but definitely check around to med schools you might apply to. Not every program accepts those as pre-reqs. That said, I had a great experience taking a community college A&P lab course and learned a lot, even if it's not formally recognized as a pre-req at several of the schools I applied to.

 

[Rapsidy]

I did a DIY post bac at my local community college. I took gen chem 1 and 2, orgo 1 and 2, physics 1 and 2, and anatomy. A lot of people here would say that it was stupid to do basically all of my science pre req courses at a community college but I’m sitting on a MD acceptance and likely a DO acceptance in the next month. I also did these far more removed from my graduation with a bachelors than you (graduated in 2012) but all courses combined cost me less than 6 grand.

I also didn’t have a committee letter but as a non trad it doesn’t matter as much since we can get letters from work and bring in years of experience in another career. Just make sure if you do it at a community college that it is reputable (not a degree mill) or you can also do it at a local university for more money if you are worried about the stigma of community college pre reqs.

Also I’ll say that the courses I did at my community college were the best ones I ever took and I’ve been to 4 separate colleges at this point working to my masters degree.

 

[Bloobury]

I did DIY - just taking classes as I could afford them. Had good letters of rec from my work experience and one from a graduate-level class I took. My UG institution doesn't even do committee letters anymore.