post bac question - is this a bad idea?

[xyzdt]

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I've decided to do an informal post-bac at a local university to do some GPA repair (retake + take harder classes)as well get involved in research/volunteering to strengthen my application. A minimum of 30 credit hours seems to be suggested to show you're "serious", so I was thinking of doing either 15hrs/15hrs over two semesters or 12hrs/12hrs/6hrs over three semesters depending on the course offerings.

One of my concerns is financial - I won't be eligible for any sort of aid as a non-degree seeking student. I don't mind taking loans (it's about $1,000 per credit hour + various student fees/living expenses). but I was considering just telling them I wanted a second bachelor's in biology (my 1st is in neuro), getting the financial assistance and then changing my status after I get the coursework I need. Will this cause any problems?

 

[Forever Geebs]

No. It’s fine. The real question is how serious need of GPA repair and redemption do you need? If significant, you’ll likely need considerably more than 30 hours. What are your stats?


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[xyzdt]

I'm looking at DO:

Race: Asian (Indian)
cumulative undergraduate AMCAS GPA: 3.3 (it's 3.34 on my university transcripts though?)
cumulative undergrad AMCAS "all other" GPA: 3.87
cumulative undergrad BCPM "science" AMCAS GPA: 2.858 (yikes)
-factoring in planned post-bac work:
>with A's in 4x 3 credit BCPM classes, I can bring it up to a 3.01 (bare minimum)
>with A's in 10x 3 credit BCPM classes, I end up with a 3.18 sGPA + 3.43 cGPA

extra:
fluent in Spanish and Japanese (can communicate proficiently)
basic Chinese and Korean (willing to develop these maybe)

Planning to start my coursework in the coming summer (few weeks) or fall if I get the green light from the pre-health advisor
During the spring, I'm considering applying to a masters programs (focusing on the SMPs or anything with linkage) for the 2019 academic year.

 

[starbuck2]

I declared as seeking a 2nd bachelors and have had no problem getting loans. I might actually end up with that second degree inadvertently due to all the transfer credits I got and the overlap among prereqs/upper levels, and the degree requirements for bio haha.

 

[RNtoMD87]

As long as you haven't hit the maximum for undergraduate loans, it shouldn't matter.

Im not an expert but this is my understanding.

 

[FutureSurgical]

cumulative undergraduate AMCAS GPA: 3.3 (it's 3.34 on my university transcripts though?)

This is probably due to a retake in a course you got a D/F in? Your institution may take the grade off of their official transcript but when you add in your classes through AMCAS, it averages the two grades.

My transcript GPA is 3.4, but on AMCAS it is a 3.33. That is because I made a D in Bio II but retook for an A during the summer.