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Hi all -
Well, I took the plunge, and while retaining my 'high profile' gig in finance, I have started my post-bacc part time at Northwestern a few weeks ago. I have an unusually supportive boss, who also became a good friend throughout my current short career of ~2 years in the finance world, who allows me to leave early on days' of class and understands that school is important, albeit, the job needs to be done. Phew! My days are ridiculously long, but so far I am managing. My goal with this post is to sum of my experiences thus far and answer any questions that anyone might have about this program. If you are ever considering this program, then read on; sorry to bore the others 🙂
The classes are all at the Evanston campus, and they are taught by full time faculty members. The post-bacc route is broken up into a day program (full time) and a night program (part time). As a part-timer, I attend class with people who range from 22 to 45, and with very interesting backgrounds.
Some are already in nursing at a very well respected hospital, but enrolled in the program to hopefully take the MCATs one day and eventually go on to medical school. Some have never worked a 'real job' in their lives and are basically right out of college. Others are as rare as I am: a 33 year old ex-trader at Goldman Sachs on Wall St., a 28 year old ex-flight attendant for United, a 30 year old drug sales rep. for a leading pharmaceutical, and a 34 ex-corporate attorney. The majority are career changers who have never worked in healthcare (i.e., clinic, nursing, etc.). The spectrum is pretty broad in this respect, and it makes for a very unique, interesting, and pleasurable experience.
I've had 4 weeks of class and lab thus far and it's been great. My schedule consists of General Chem. and Physics for the first year, and Org. Chem. and Bio. for the second year. Again, the professor's are full time faculty members. My Physics prof. is the Chair of the Astronomy & Physics department, and my Chemistry prof. is equally well respected. They do a great job with presenting the material, they challenge the students with assignments and examples, and they are available to answer questions (office hours). The prof.'s do curve grades if applicable (TBD). I'd rate the professors with top grades thus far.
My lab experience has been mixed thus far. The labs are taught by T.A.'s who are all Ph.D. candidates at Northwestern in their respective departments. This makes for younger lab instructors, albeit busy ones as well who might not take lab as seriously. That's not to say we don't do quite a good deal of work. I had some pre-med friends tell me that they were surprised that after only a few weeks in we are using many instruments which usually don't come into play in Gen. Chem. (hood, vacuum filtration, etc). We do learn quite a bit, however, the busy lives' of the T.A.'s isn't the most conducive for the program. I've had 3 physics lab quizzes and 3 physics lab reports thus far, and I just got my grades a few days ago. The T.A. is swamped with his own studies as well as instructing 4 lab sessions that he doesn't get around to grading easily. The chem. lab T.A. doesn't offer reasonable office hours (mornings, but all us part timers are working!), and he doesn't do a great deal of explaining things in the lab - it's more of a come prepared with your prelab and get going, but we're not scientists here (yet), we need some explanations and a little hand holding in the beginning. Also, he gets easily frustrated with all the questions we tend to ask which as a lab section, we are quite disappointed with. My grade for the lab instructors is average right now, but the students have talked and we had someone speak with the director of the post-bacc program with our concerns about this.
As for what the school provides it's basically everything. The post-bacc program has med. school admission officers come in and speak at socials, they hold social events at local pubs & restaurants, and you have the entire Northwestern campus and facilities at your disposal as you are considered a Northwestern student. There are program coordinators who assist with getting a part-time job at a clinic, others who assist with volunteering opportunities (shadowing, 'regular' volunteering, international volunteer work, and alternative spring break). Overall, good support programs for the post-bacc students.
Finally, this is school, so some things don't change. People have already starting hooking up with others, things tend to get a little cliquey at times, and people do get catty and gossip a little. Not everyone participates in this, but if you really want to, then it's definitely there if that floats your boat. But seriously, I think many of the students are intelligent, driven, and genuine in their desire to go into medicine. There are a few who seem questionable - doing the medicine route because mom and dad are doctors, another who keeps quoting CSI and ER episodes, and there are some who are doing it for not the best reasons (i.e., I want to make money), but to each their own. We have had a few drop-outs as well, but that's expected everywhere.
Overall, I am pleased with my decision to do the post-bacc at Northwestern. I know I'm still early in the entire game, but I've enjoyed the program, and I have loved my coursework (tough part is juggling work which is so removed from what I am now learning). Feel free to ask any questions, but I hope that this might shed some light on what to expect here.
Well, I took the plunge, and while retaining my 'high profile' gig in finance, I have started my post-bacc part time at Northwestern a few weeks ago. I have an unusually supportive boss, who also became a good friend throughout my current short career of ~2 years in the finance world, who allows me to leave early on days' of class and understands that school is important, albeit, the job needs to be done. Phew! My days are ridiculously long, but so far I am managing. My goal with this post is to sum of my experiences thus far and answer any questions that anyone might have about this program. If you are ever considering this program, then read on; sorry to bore the others 🙂
The classes are all at the Evanston campus, and they are taught by full time faculty members. The post-bacc route is broken up into a day program (full time) and a night program (part time). As a part-timer, I attend class with people who range from 22 to 45, and with very interesting backgrounds.
Some are already in nursing at a very well respected hospital, but enrolled in the program to hopefully take the MCATs one day and eventually go on to medical school. Some have never worked a 'real job' in their lives and are basically right out of college. Others are as rare as I am: a 33 year old ex-trader at Goldman Sachs on Wall St., a 28 year old ex-flight attendant for United, a 30 year old drug sales rep. for a leading pharmaceutical, and a 34 ex-corporate attorney. The majority are career changers who have never worked in healthcare (i.e., clinic, nursing, etc.). The spectrum is pretty broad in this respect, and it makes for a very unique, interesting, and pleasurable experience.
I've had 4 weeks of class and lab thus far and it's been great. My schedule consists of General Chem. and Physics for the first year, and Org. Chem. and Bio. for the second year. Again, the professor's are full time faculty members. My Physics prof. is the Chair of the Astronomy & Physics department, and my Chemistry prof. is equally well respected. They do a great job with presenting the material, they challenge the students with assignments and examples, and they are available to answer questions (office hours). The prof.'s do curve grades if applicable (TBD). I'd rate the professors with top grades thus far.
My lab experience has been mixed thus far. The labs are taught by T.A.'s who are all Ph.D. candidates at Northwestern in their respective departments. This makes for younger lab instructors, albeit busy ones as well who might not take lab as seriously. That's not to say we don't do quite a good deal of work. I had some pre-med friends tell me that they were surprised that after only a few weeks in we are using many instruments which usually don't come into play in Gen. Chem. (hood, vacuum filtration, etc). We do learn quite a bit, however, the busy lives' of the T.A.'s isn't the most conducive for the program. I've had 3 physics lab quizzes and 3 physics lab reports thus far, and I just got my grades a few days ago. The T.A. is swamped with his own studies as well as instructing 4 lab sessions that he doesn't get around to grading easily. The chem. lab T.A. doesn't offer reasonable office hours (mornings, but all us part timers are working!), and he doesn't do a great deal of explaining things in the lab - it's more of a come prepared with your prelab and get going, but we're not scientists here (yet), we need some explanations and a little hand holding in the beginning. Also, he gets easily frustrated with all the questions we tend to ask which as a lab section, we are quite disappointed with. My grade for the lab instructors is average right now, but the students have talked and we had someone speak with the director of the post-bacc program with our concerns about this.
As for what the school provides it's basically everything. The post-bacc program has med. school admission officers come in and speak at socials, they hold social events at local pubs & restaurants, and you have the entire Northwestern campus and facilities at your disposal as you are considered a Northwestern student. There are program coordinators who assist with getting a part-time job at a clinic, others who assist with volunteering opportunities (shadowing, 'regular' volunteering, international volunteer work, and alternative spring break). Overall, good support programs for the post-bacc students.
Finally, this is school, so some things don't change. People have already starting hooking up with others, things tend to get a little cliquey at times, and people do get catty and gossip a little. Not everyone participates in this, but if you really want to, then it's definitely there if that floats your boat. But seriously, I think many of the students are intelligent, driven, and genuine in their desire to go into medicine. There are a few who seem questionable - doing the medicine route because mom and dad are doctors, another who keeps quoting CSI and ER episodes, and there are some who are doing it for not the best reasons (i.e., I want to make money), but to each their own. We have had a few drop-outs as well, but that's expected everywhere.
Overall, I am pleased with my decision to do the post-bacc at Northwestern. I know I'm still early in the entire game, but I've enjoyed the program, and I have loved my coursework (tough part is juggling work which is so removed from what I am now learning). Feel free to ask any questions, but I hope that this might shed some light on what to expect here.
