Non-Trad Student career changer 28 yrs old - just accepted into Fordham Post-Bacc program. What is the reputation?

[mapNYCLA]

I realize Fordham may be less expensive relatively than other post-baccs like Columbia, but I'd like to know what the reputation and quality of the professors are. From my perspective, it sounds pretty great. For background, I have a humanities degree from 2014, haven't taken a science class in 5 years and am starting fresh. GPA undergrad was pretty good, this isn't a GPA fixer move - its to get the pre-med coursework done.

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[GreenDuck12]

Any program you attend will be fine. With 2000+ institutions of higher education, very few have a reputation that will be recognized as valuable and much less so for postbac programs. It seems Fordham has many folks who work in / are from the area around the school. It is likely that med schools in the NE have had some students attend the program before.

 

[MangiaMangia]

I got accepted on Friday too!
I'm looking at Columbia and some programs in some other cities, as well as the CUNY/Stony Brook/Adelphi options.

From all of the research I've done so far, I believe it matters more that you do well in whatever program you are in - and Fordham has been around for a long time and though not prestigious, I believe it will be good. So far my experience with them has been very positive, and it sounds like a small and close-knit community (which I think is mentally better than a program where you are competing against your peers).

Happy to chat further if it helps!

 

[MedictoDoctor]

From my understanding and research, where you GO as far as a postbac doesn't matter or have any weight on an application. It's what you DO there that is the upmost important.

 

[medaspire1]

Is this a cohort program or one where you sit with UG classes ?

 

[yojack]

Is this a cohort program or one where you sit with UG classes ?

a cohort program.

 

[deleted988749]

why don't you just do something like the CUNYs? they would probably be a lot cheaper

 

[MangiaMangia]

CUNYs seem great too. I think the biggest difference seems to be class size, priority registration, class times and cohort. Depends on what you're looking for.

 

[Hiree44]

I would caution against some of the things said in this post. While it really does matter what you DO in you post-bacc, WHERE you do your post-bacc also matters. If you can get into the 4 or 5 big name ones then you are kind of set as far as going to medical school. That is not to say that you cannot also do that at any other post-bacc, you can. However, not all post-baccs are created equally. There are hundreds of post-bacc programs, and they are not well regulated. Many of them accept students, throw them unprepared into a massive workload, and then watch idly as they drop out. You need to be careful going into a post-bacc as this is not an uncommon scenario. If you are not aware of a program's reputation then I would attempt to get in touch with some alumni and see (1) where they ended up (2) what their experience was like. It also wouldn't hurt to get a hold of some stats. Anything below an 80% acceptance rate to US medical schools is a red flag. I can't speak to Fordham specifically, but this is a good rule of thumb no matter where you go.

 

[MangiaMangia]

I would caution against some of the things said in this post. While it really does matter what you DO in you post-bacc, WHERE you do your post-bacc also matters. If you can get into the 4 or 5 big name ones then you are kind of set as far as going to medical school. That is not to say that you cannot also do that at any other post-bacc, you can. However, not all post-baccs are created equally. There are hundreds of post-bacc programs, and they are not well regulated. Many of them accept students, throw them unprepared into a massive workload, and then watch idly as they drop out. You need to be careful going into a post-bacc as this is not an uncommon scenario. If you are not aware of a program's reputation then I would attempt to get in touch with some alumni and see (1) where they ended up (2) what their experience was like. It also wouldn't hurt to get a hold of some stats. Anything below an 80% acceptance rate to US medical schools is a red flag. I can't speak to Fordham specifically, but this is a good rule of thumb no matter where you go.

I'm also definitely under the impression that where you go does not, in fact, matter. It's what you do with the location you're in. And I have also heard that these top name programs (like Columbia) have an intensely high drop out rate and also idly watch their students drop out, and that it's only the students left over that have a high chance of medical school, and you're looking at the possibility of some classes that can bring down your GPA significantly (plus the insane cost).

Just my take and what I've gathered from (it seems) an overwhelming majority of student posts on the topic.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I would caution against some of the things said in this post. While it really does matter what you DO in you post-bacc, WHERE you do your post-bacc also matters. If you can get into the 4 or 5 big name ones then you are kind of set as far as going to medical school. That is not to say that you cannot also do that at any other post-bacc, you can. However, not all post-baccs are created equally. There are hundreds of post-bacc programs, and they are not well regulated. Many of them accept students, throw them unprepared into a massive workload, and then watch idly as they drop out. You need to be careful going into a post-bacc as this is not an uncommon scenario. If you are not aware of a program's reputation then I would attempt to get in touch with some alumni and see (1) where they ended up (2) what their experience was like. It also wouldn't hurt to get a hold of some stats. Anything below an 80% acceptance rate to US medical schools is a red flag. I can't speak to Fordham specifically, but this is a good rule of thumb no matter where you go.

What premed program in the country has an 80% acceptance rate? With only 40% of applicants matriculating in a given year, you’re ruling out every undergraduate institution in the country, including the ivies, MIT, and Stanford. I get that you’re talking about postbac programs but honestly this position is indefensible. There are very few programs that have that level of success, Goucher and Bryan Mawr come to mind, but they accept fewer than 60 students between them with GPAs of 3.7+ and high standardized test scores. Basically, they are selecting from among students that are predisposed to have a high likelihood of success regardless of the program they attend. They do this to maintain their high rates of matriculation and to justify very high program costs. I’m not saying it isn’t worth it if you have the resources but to paint this as the only reasonable option is misguided.

Also I don’t understand your point about post bac programs being unregulated. Undergraduate institutions reviewed by regional accreditation bodies. There is not a special board that oversees post bac programs as the underlying programs are already reviewed and receive accreditation attesting the programs ability to meet minimum requirements.

 

[Hiree44]

What premed program in the country has an 80% acceptance rate? With only 40% of applicants matriculating in a given year, you’re ruling out every undergraduate institution in the country, including the ivies, MIT, and Stanford. I get that you’re talking about postbac programs but honestly this position is indefensible. There are very few programs that have that level of success, Goucher and Bryan Mawr come to mind, but they accept fewer than 60 students between them with GPAs of 3.7+ and high standardized test scores. Basically, they are selecting from among students that are predisposed to have a high likelihood of success regardless of the program they attend. They do this to maintain their high rates of matriculation and to justify very high program costs. I’m not saying it isn’t worth it if you have the resources but to paint this as the only reasonable option is misguided.

Also I don’t understand your point about post bac programs being unregulated. Undergraduate institutions reviewed by regional accreditation bodies. There is not a special board that oversees post bac programs as the underlying programs are already reviewed and receive accreditation attesting the programs ability to meet minimum requirements.

I think that is the point... Most post-bacc programs aren't good and have ridiculous dropout rates. The ones that don't (those programs you just mentioned) have good reputations. Thus, they are the safe options and the one's with good reputations. Anything POST-BACC program with an advertised acceptance rate of under 80% is not a good program and should raise red flags. You can't use undergraduate logic when looking at post-baccs, they're a different beast.

 

[Hiree44]

I'm also definitely under the impression that where you go does not, in fact, matter. It's what you do with the location you're in. And I have also heard that these top name programs (like Columbia) have an intensely high drop out rate and also idly watch their students drop out, and that it's only the students left over that have a high chance of medical school, and you're looking at the possibility of some classes that can bring down your GPA significantly (plus the insane cost).

Just my take and what I've gathered from (it seems) an overwhelming majority of student posts on the topic.

Columbia is not a big name program. It's dropout rate is infamous. Their admission requirements are practically nonexistent.

 

[medaspire1]

I attended the Columbia post bacc Q&A today , the cost to attend is 19XX$ per credit , and course is 43 credits if you want to take the full courses its approx 80k for 2 years. They have a total of 330 students in their cohort ( all years combined ) and classes will be with UG students . 40 students took advantage of the linkage . You could take extra credits to make the postbacc into an MS like MPH , Bioethics etc ( more $) will make it the 3rd year . Student community programs such as Premed association , specialized workshops ( interview mocks , personal stmt ) adcom meetings are available . Volunteering opportunities are plenty . If money is not a concern , this seems a good way to go if you can do fulltime and courses with competitive ug students

 

[validfor12hours]

I got accepted on Friday too!
I'm looking at Columbia and some programs in some other cities, as well as the CUNY/Stony Brook/Adelphi options.

From all of the research I've done so far, I believe it matters more that you do well in whatever program you are in - and Fordham has been around for a long time and though not prestigious, I believe it will be good. So far my experience with them has been very positive, and it sounds like a small and close-knit community (which I think is mentally better than a program where you are competing against your peers).

Happy to chat further if it helps!

Hi! Did you end up going to Fordham's program? I was just accepted today and I'm curious what your experience has been so far.