Post bac vs taking required courses

[m-dmd]

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Hi all...I am a dentist, but I am here asking a ? for my hubby (his cable is down, hence why I am asking the ?). He has been on the fence for many years about going to medical school (b/c of impact on the family and the such) , and has recently made the decision to go. He has a 3.67 GPA in psych, but actually it is much higher but he received an F and 2 d's 17 years ago when he went to college for one semester before he joined the Marines. His GPA for the rest of his undergrad was 3.8-4 with his GPA at upper lever at 3.87.

Anyways, I digress. He still needs the required courses in chem, organic, and physics and when he went to see his counselor, he was told that it would look better to get a Post bac certificate versus just getting the required courses. That is a difference of about 25 credits. What do you all think? Is it really that beneficial to get the certificate (which requires 60 credits) or should he look into getting a second degree or should he just take the required courses?

Thanks all

 

[Meatwad]

If he has an excellent GPA already (3.67 or above is fine), and does well on the MCAT, there's no benefit or need to get a second bachelor's degree, or even a formal post-bacc. However, if he thinks he'd like the structure (and his wallet can handle the hit) then a formal post-bacc like UPenn Special Sciences, Goucher, Harvard Extension, are all excellent choices. A big advantage is that if you maintain a certain GPA for a certain amount of credits, the committee will sponsor you and help you get in. These programs also are well-known and respected by a good number of medical schools.

To sum it up: if financing is not a problem and he'd like to get a lot of guidance from the school he is doing post-bacc work at, a formal route is a good option. If he'd rather take classes a la carte because of financial or other reasons, there's no problem with that whatsoever. His GPA sounds fine. Focus on getting A's in the pre-reqs and doing well on the MCAT.

P.S. You didn't try to steer him to dentistry? A lot of doctor's these days advise pre-meds to get into dentistry...😉

 

[just thoughts]

i can't say with complete authority, but the nice thing about being in a certificate granting program is that you typically get some type of advising throughout your time in the program, as well as when it's time to apply. for some, that's a huge deal. for others, not so much.

there's also the plus of getting a committee letter written for you at the end (with some programs and within those programs, with certain rules about GPA) which means that you don't have to spend time tracking down science professors to write them for you.

from some of the big name programs, they don't want you to fail, and they do everything in their power to help you along the way. from small group TA sessions to individual ones, if necessary.

i'm not sure if the actual certificate really moves admission committees, but coming from a particular program may, depending on the program's history. that's just speculation.

getting a second degree - that doesn't seem very necessary.

just taking the required courses - that can definitely be nice since some post-bacc programs have additional requirements in order to get the certificate.

if money and time isn't an issue, go with the post-bacc, although it sounds as if your husband already has an advisor. if money and time are an issue, and your husband feels confident that he can get quality advising elsewhere and doesn't need all of the additions of a more formalized post-bacc (big name or otherwise), then just take the required courses.

 

[njbmd]

Hi all...I am a dentist, but I am here asking a ? for my hubby (his cable is down, hence why I am asking the ?). He has been on the fence for many years about going to medical school (b/c of impact on the family and the such) , and has recently made the decision to go. He has a 3.67 GPA in psych, but actually it is much higher but he received an F and 2 d's 17 years ago when he went to college for one semester before he joined the Marines. His GPA for the rest of his undergrad was 3.8-4 with his GPA at upper lever at 3.87.

Anyways, I digress. He still needs the required courses in chem, organic, and physics and when he went to see his counselor, he was told that it would look better to get a Post bac certificate versus just getting the required courses. That is a difference of about 25 credits. What do you all think? Is it really that beneficial to get the certificate (which requires 60 credits) or should he look into getting a second degree or should he just take the required courses?

Thanks all

Unfortunately, with those courses from 17 years ago, his total GPA is likely not as high as you state above. If he is set on attending an allopathic medical school, every course taken above secondary school counts no matter how far back. While the recent coursework is wonderful and there has been 17 years between the poor work and his recent excellent work, everything counts overall.

He needs to take as much coursework (and do extremely well with no grade less than B+) as he can to offset those hours of D and F. My thoughts are that just the lacking pre-med courses might not be enough. He should do some grade calculations and figure out how many hours of A he needs for offset. That might be the reason why his counselor recommended getting the certificate. It's not the certificate but the credit hours of A that he actually needs.

 

[m-dmd]

Ok, so we physically calculated his GPA the way that AMCAS did and it came out to 3.49 with those poor grades. If he does well on the next 28 credits he can bring it up to a 3.58 (with bio II, chem I and II, org I and II, physics I and II).

So we are still wondering if he should take just the requirements, the post bacc, or a second degree? It kinda seems like a waste of money to get the post bacc cert, since his advisor said that these other science courses will help him in med school. I have a degree in micro and molecular bio and I can say that it didn't help me all that much in dental school...I still had to study!!! Also, if he is taking 1-2 classes a semester, will that look good enough? Is there a difference between taking those pre req's at community college or a university.

 

[Meatwad]

Ok, so we physically calculated his GPA the way that AMCAS did and it came out to 3.49 with those poor grades. If he does well on the next 28 credits he can bring it up to a 3.58 (with bio II, chem I and II, org I and II, physics I and II).

So we are still wondering if he should take just the requirements, the post bacc, or a second degree? It kinda seems like a waste of money to get the post bacc cert, since his advisor said that these other science courses will help him in med school. I have a degree in micro and molecular bio and I can say that it didn't help me all that much in dental school...I still had to study!!! Also, if he is taking 1-2 classes a semester, will that look good enough? Is there a difference between taking those pre req's at community college or a university.

Yeah; if at all possible (time constraints and finances certainly are to be respected), take them at a university. Graduating from a university, then taking science courses at a CC looks like you just want the easy A. Of course, since you husband is not a fresh-college grad, he'd probably get some slack due to the fact he has more responsibilities and doesn't have all the spare time in the world. Still, preparing for med school kind of takes over your life, and you want to show you are 110% dedicated; if that means making other sacrifices in your life (like switching to a more flexible job, etc.) then so be it.

So, university > CC, in my opinion.

 

[PTtoMD]

Ahhh, the great debate. I have done all of my post bacc pre-reqs at a CC. Only time will tell if this will be to my detriment. I have mentioned before that when i applied for my MSPT degree, my CC 3.9 science GPA was well received. Back then people said the CC classes might be looked at unfavorably. I did not find that at all and i applied at a very competetive time for PT (not comparable to med school i know but it gives me hope!).

I think if someone has proven themselves awith a high GPA at a solid university, then post bacc work at a CC isn't terrible. If one did poorly at a respected university then excelled at a CC that might be looked down upon.

I'll let you know in 4 years or so how my CC (science) 3.9 was received!

 

[montessori2md]

I went in between the CC vs the postbacc choices and applied as a UG transfer student for a "second BA" (though I have zero intention of ever completing a degree at my state university). It's more expensive than going to CC (at least double the cost per credit hour), but I thought I would be more likely to learn what I needed to know for MCAT and get decent letters of recommendation that way. My institution has a strong pre-health advisor and commitee, and as an undergrad, even a part-timer (but also as a post bacc if you go that way), I had full access to them, as well as all the other university services.

I didn't want to do a post-bacc because I already had completed some pre-reqs, and I wanted flexible scheduling, which, at a state university with 100's of science majors who have to take these classes, is a cinch.

I would really interrogate and research any institution before you start writing them checks, to make sure you'll get what you want.

 

[Meatwad]

If you take a full-time courseload at my state school, tuition is only about $500 more total than taking a full-time course-load at the local CC. So it doesn't make financial sense to do the CC route. I don't know how close the OP is to a state school, but I think it's the best bang for your buck.

 

[Old Grunt]

Nevermind