Official ranking thread?

[marsle85]

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I'm sure, that this has been asked before, but after scrolling through a few pages I haven't seen anything. Is there an official ranking thread regarding the majority/ or most popular post bacc programs?

Thanks in advance!

LM

 

[deleted248403]

No there isn't

 

[aSagacious]

No there isn't

+1, I suppose intuition might lead one to rank schools by % of graduates who get into med school (and you could do so if you felt so obliged), but applicants often have many other important considerations when choosing between programs.

 

[MedWonk]

Personally, I think the best post-bacc is the one closest to you. I'm not convinced that intro science courses have that much variation in quality from school to school.

Then again, if flying across the country to attend a post-bacc because you feel that the school will give you a better education, I can't really fault you.

I myself feel a small amount of pride at being able to take courses at Harvard with the same curriculum and with Harvard faculty, and that feeling drives to work just a bit harder.

I know there's probably very little difference between taking pre-med courses at Harvard X and, say, UMass-Boston, but there is a certain mental aspect to this that drives me to do more; and whatever school makes you feel like you could succeed in getting into med school would probably be just as valid a choice.

 

[smiley27]

Funny you should compare umass boston and HES science. I am taking calculus right now at umass boston and the prof. (phd@MIT) brought up an example related to physics and he asked the class if anyone took physics/mechanics and a girl I talked to a few days before said she said did. The prof. asked her if she knew what a pendulum was from physics and she said no. The prof. jokingly responded "then you should get a refund."

anyway this girl i talked to is in the umass postbac program and i know her grade in physics warranted that she wouldve known what a pendulum was had they covered in physics.

Coincidentally, I am on HES's email list and their latest email boasted of the "class in the spotlight" and it was Prof. Wolfgang Rueckner's physics/mechanics class. They linked a video of a pendulum that a team of Harvard physicists created specifically for HES physics labs. It was quite impressive.

We know that mechanics at HES is notoriously difficult and this example might suggest that taking science classes at HES will be more rigorous and consequently be better prep for the mcat.

So, i am going to respectfully disagree with you, medwonk and say that the variation of rigor might be more than you think.

The gist of this isolated example is that in my opinion, yes it does matter where you take science. Not in terms of applying to med school but in the quality of instruction.

By the the medwonk, i like your attitude in your posts. Congrats on your doing well in chem and hopefully we can meet in the future.

Edit: I am in no way trying to badmouth i'm just making an observation and forming an opinion.

Personally, I think the best post-bacc is the one closest to you. I'm not convinced that intro science courses have that much variation in quality from school to school.

Then again, if flying across the country to attend a post-bacc because you feel that the school will give you a better education, I can't really fault you.

I myself feel a small amount of pride at being able to take courses at Harvard with the same curriculum and with Harvard faculty, and that feeling drives to work just a bit harder.

I know there's probably very little difference between taking pre-med courses at Harvard X and, say, UMass-Boston, but there is a certain mental aspect to this that drives me to do more; and whatever school makes you feel like you could succeed in getting into med school would probably be just as valid a choice.

 

[MedWonk]

Funny you should compare umass boston and HES science. I am taking calculus right now at umass boston and the prof. (phd@MIT) brought up an example related to physics and he asked the class if anyone took physics/mechanics and a girl I talked to a few days before said she said did. The prof. asked her if she knew what a pendulum was from physics and she said no. The prof. jokingly responded "then you should get a refund."

anyway this girl i talked to is in the umass postbac program and i know her grade in physics warranted that she wouldve known what a pendulum was had they covered in physics.

Coincidentally, I am on HES's email list and their latest email boasted of the "class in the spotlight" and it was Prof. Wolfgang Rueckner's physics/mechanics class. They linked a video of a pendulum that a team of Harvard physicists created specifically for HES physics labs. It was quite impressive.

We know that mechanics at HES is notoriously difficult and this example might suggest that taking science classes at HES will be more rigorous and consequently be better prep for the mcat.

So, i am going to respectfully disagree with you, medwonk and say that the variation of rigor might be more than you think.

The gist of this isolated example is that in my opinion, yes it does matter where you take science. Not in terms of applying to med school but in the quality of instruction.

By the the medwonk, i like your attitude in your posts. Congrats on your doing well in chem and hopefully we can meet in the future.

Edit: I am in no way trying to badmouth i'm just making an observation and forming an opinion.

You may be right, but not having taken any courses at UMass-Boston, I didn't feel qualified to make any judgment. Although from your account, it's obvious there is a disparity in quality of education, at least in physics.

BTW, are doing your post-bacc at UMass, or just taking calc there?

 

[smiley27]

Just taking calc there, I'll be starting at HES next month.

To the OP, check out the stickied threads on top, i think one of them has a list of well-known programs (might be a little old) and use that as a guide as you search for school specific info on here and make your own ranking.

 

[DrMidlife]

Grumble grumble "postbac" grumble grumble effing useless word grumble grumble.