please read...post bac w/o mcat?!

[doctito]

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hello all!

i graduated college with a biology degree and have taken all the prereqs for medical school. I am looking for a post bac that doesnt require an MCAT score.

I dont see the point on taking the MCAT to get into a post bac and then taking it again later on ( i mean a post bac is supposed to raise your UG gpa and help you take the MCAT)?! OR is there is no such thing and i am completely smoking...

please respond...with answers. you will cetainly make my day maybe even my week 😀

~m~

 

[DrMidlife]

As I see it, you're falling between the defined program types.

A post-bac, specifically if it's a structured premed program, is designed for people who didn't finish their prereqs yet. They usually majored in something other than bio/chem/etc. It's not typically for raising a GPA - some postbacs are quite competitive on GPA.

SMP's are designed for people who have finished their prereqs, and are thus prepared to take the MCAT, but who need to improve their GPA. Since the GPA is presumably low, these programs select on MCAT score: gotta select on something. SMP's are do-or-die: if you don't do EXTREMELY well, you gain nothing. I believe I've seen one or more SMP's that accept a GRE score instead of the MCAT. I believe one or more SMP's push you to retake and improve your MCAT.

You can always simply enroll at a university and take more classes. If you pursue a second bachelors degree, there are some benefits such as financial aid and advising, but you can also be a non-degree-seeking student. You could do MCAT prep concurrently.

Lastly, there are quite a few people on these forums who did a masters or PhD instead of going back to improve undergrad GPA. This puts you on the fringe for admissions, which typically screen on undergrad GPA, but I've certainly seen success stories.

Best of luck to you.

 

[doctito]

thanks perrotfish for responding..

1 & 2. technically i could take the mcat in august or whenever i feel ready but i certainly am still looking to apply for this fall. seems likes it impossible right cuz i havent found a program that exits?

3 & 4. i have taken a practice or two and seems to be doing okay..nothing more. i could use more time to study ams take the test later? My projected score is mid 20s to 30s at least for now. My UG gpa is a 2.65 and my BCPM is even lower.

what would you suggest?

Hi DrMidlife thanks for the response too...

So are you saying a post bac is strictly for those who are career changers and not for academic enhancers? So should I be looking to apply strictly only to SMP's then?

As a last resort...i thinking to enroll in a college/university as non degree student and take upper deicsion course to raise my gpa (UG gpa 3.65) and since i am not ready to take the mcat keep studying in the mean time?..should i be taking these classes at a community college or does it matter? hope to hear from you

~m~

 

[bds03]

There are some post-bacs and SMP programs that will let you substitute GRE for MCAT - you just have to do some research and find them. GRE is a good alternative if you don't feel prepared to take the MCAT yet - you can take it almost any day and it's not really that hard - a lot like the SAT (in my opinion, at least).

 

[postbacker]

thanks perrotfish for responding..

1 & 2. technically i could take the mcat in august or whenever i feel ready but i certainly am still looking to apply for this fall. seems likes it impossible right cuz i havent found a program that exits?

3 & 4. i have taken a practice or two and seems to be doing okay..nothing more. i could use more time to study ams take the test later? My projected score is mid 20s to 30s at least for now. My UG gpa is a 2.65 and my BCPM is even lower.

what would you suggest?

Hi DrMidlife thanks for the response too...

So are you saying a post bac is strictly for those who are career changers and not for academic enhancers? So should I be looking to apply strictly only to SMP's then?

As a last resort...i thinking to enroll in a college/university as non degree student and take upper deicsion course to raise my gpa (UG gpa 3.65) and since i am not ready to take the mcat keep studying in the mean time?..should i be taking these classes at a community college or does it matter? hope to hear from you

~m~

While there are some post bacs designed to enhance low UG GPAs, yours is very low - your best bet is probably an informal post bac, meaning you are not in a program, per se, but you are taking UG classes. My guess is most if not all formal post bac programs will reject your app because of your low GPA...

You may need to first do an informal post bac to raise your GPA to the 3.0 range, and THEN do an SMP and do spectacularly well in it - you have a very long (years?) and steep hill to climb...

 

[doctito]

thanks so much for all your reponses...🙂

i think ill do an informal post bac on my own to raise my UG gpa.

i was wondering can you take undergradute upper divison courses anywhere? a graduate school? community college? or does it matter or can i do both?

~m~

 

[stbxTechie]

There are some post-bacs and SMP programs that will let you substitute GRE for MCAT - you just have to do some research and find them. GRE is a good alternative if you don't feel prepared to take the MCAT yet - you can take it almost any day and it's not really that hard - a lot like the SAT (in my opinion, at least).

Not sure how the writing section is since I missed that, but the GRE (when I took it in 2001) was easier than the SAT (when I took it in 1993.) Much less higher math; a whole bunch of pretty self-explanatory statistics/graph analysis. The analytical section, now gone, was a royal pain in the neck, though.

thanks so much for all your reponses...🙂
i think ill do an informal post bac on my own to raise my UG gpa.
i was wondering can you take undergradute upper divison courses anywhere? a graduate school? community college? or does it matter or can i do both?

You can take them anywhere, although there's supposed to be a preference for 4-year schools over community colleges. Given that you'll be taking undergraduate courses, there's not much point to doing it through a graduate school.

Given how low your BCPM GPA is, you might consider retaking some of your prerequisites and shooting for an A this time, before tackling upper-division classes. This may help particularly with those osteopathic schools that use the AACOMAS as (if I've correctly understood what other people have said) they calculate GPA including only the most recent time repeated courses were taken.