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- Thread starter suddy0613
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You listed a few Philadelphia schools, and I think you should add UPenn to the list.
From my perspective, it seems like one of those programs that is relatively easy to get into, with the caveat that many people drop out. Since you're looking for "realistic" places to apply, I think its worth considering as I believe many get accepted.
I had a terrible GPA in undergrad (albeit from an Ivy League school), with several C's D's and F's. I did have a more-or-less reasonable story behind my low grades, and a positive upward trend on my transcript. I had a LOT of volunteer work and hands-on clinical experience, which I assume balanced out the grades.
For what it's worth if it helps you, I was rejected from Tufts, Goucher, Georgetown, and Hopkins and accepted to Wash U, Jefferson, and UPenn. I did not apply to Bryn Mawr because pre-health advisors at my undergrad had personal relationships with the director of the Bryn Mawr program and told me that he placed a very large emphasis on grades/gpa.
I chose Penn mostly for the name and ultimately I've been extremely happy here. Time will tell if it ultimately pays off in getting me accepted to medical school.
From my perspective, it seems like one of those programs that is relatively easy to get into, with the caveat that many people drop out. Since you're looking for "realistic" places to apply, I think its worth considering as I believe many get accepted.
I had a terrible GPA in undergrad (albeit from an Ivy League school), with several C's D's and F's. I did have a more-or-less reasonable story behind my low grades, and a positive upward trend on my transcript. I had a LOT of volunteer work and hands-on clinical experience, which I assume balanced out the grades.
For what it's worth if it helps you, I was rejected from Tufts, Goucher, Georgetown, and Hopkins and accepted to Wash U, Jefferson, and UPenn. I did not apply to Bryn Mawr because pre-health advisors at my undergrad had personal relationships with the director of the Bryn Mawr program and told me that he placed a very large emphasis on grades/gpa.
I chose Penn mostly for the name and ultimately I've been extremely happy here. Time will tell if it ultimately pays off in getting me accepted to medical school.
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@Dobermann - Would you mind if I messaged you about your decision between Jeff and Penn?
Hi:Hi everyone,
First off I want to thank all of the forum posters who have taken the time to post replies to other peoples threads which has helped me through this process I'm about to describe. I've been a long time forum lurker but first time poster, as I hope to gain some advice about whether I have any remote chance of getting into any of the post-bacc's (and more importantly, be able to get into medical school) that I've been looking at.
I'm Canadian and hold US residency status. My undergraduate degree was in Accounting and I graduated with distinction (I guess a level below Honor Roll) with an UGPA of 3.64. Not sure if this matters at all, but I took some random electives when I was on a 1-semester exchange program in my third year of undergrad and received pretty terrible grades (I think I got 2 C's, 1 D, and a B or something like that). Mind you, those courses weren't at all related to my major and since they don't get factored into my UGPA at all, at the time I hadn't really paid much attention to those abroad courses, which I'm really regretting now that I feel that it may hinder my ability to report a good UGPA score. I also attended another university after my bachelors for a diploma in Accounting, where I got a GPA of 3.94, and I took these 5 courses because I needed them in order to advance onto take the national exam to obtain my CPA license (chartered professional accountant license).
Just this past summer I took the CPA exam, which in Canada is a 3-day exam that runs for a total of 13 hours. My results are to be released some time between November - January but for now, I'm pretty sure that I have passed.
I graduated undergrad back in 2017, and ever since have been working in one of the Big 4 accounting firms in the assurance practice. No issues there, have been doing well in this field and am on track to obtain my CPA license sometime in mid-2020 once I complete the 30-month work hour requirement. In the meantime, I've also been volunteering at a non-profit organization every week since January 2019. The volunteering involves me providing companionship to seniors who choose not to move to retirement homes but also don’t have any living family near them. From my volunteer work, I realized that I really find joy in helping others and having that human connection. I know that there are many other careers that can probably fulfill this, including nursing (which I have also considered), but I am also quite academically driven and have always held medical school as a challenge and high regard (not at all to belittle any other health care professions). I like the idea of learning about the human body and being informed enough and use that to help others, and have always thought of biology/chemistry as my favourite subjects (looking back). I also enjoy taking a leadership position. I've thought more seriously about switching to a career in health care and have also applied to work in two major hospitals in my area, and have received callbacks for both of them. But due to the amount of time it will take to onboard me as a volunteer AND the fact that I can only really volunteer in my spare time (aka the weekends), I'm limited to about 4-8 hours per week and can't find any clinical positions as those are usually during the weekdays. I have however been offered a position at Hospital A with inpatient care (basically socializing with patients) and at Hospital B in the ER room. I am not sure if this is relevant, but I also shadowed a cardiologist for nearly a year back in my 4th year of high school - though I presume that this is way too far long past to be even relevant to my application.
Right now I'm trying to compile a list of places and requirements at each university and I've tried to be realistic - I've come up with University of Virginia, Jefferson College of Life Sciences, University of Vermont, and Bennington.
I didn't add the more difficult places like Bryn Mawr/Goucher/Temple as I felt that maybe those were a bit too out of reach for me based on what I've seen in this forum. I also thought maybe I'll just have a go at these all since trying is better than not. Please if anyone has feedback on my application + recommendations, I'm all ears. Right now there's pretty much rolling admissions for all of these schools, so I've also thought of whether I should apply now to enter the program next year or should I wait until I've received more volunteer training.
It's been pretty hard to think about all this career switching. To be honest, my current job isn't terrible and if I made the right moves and took the "easy" path, I could probably live a pretty decent life (right now I don't have any debt and am living comfortably and modestly enough), but I also have had this feeling that I've wanted to pursue medicine for the past 4 years in the back of my head and want to give it a try. To be completely honest, I had entered into university as a science major, aced my chemistry and calculus classes (I had come from a very science-focused high school and taken and received AP scholar status in courses in biology, chemistry, and calculus). However, I had switched into business in my second semester of college as I wanted to explore different areas and felt that accounting suited my detail-oriented nature. And at the time, even though I had always played with the idea of going to medical school, I wasn't sure if the long journey of medical school was a commitment that I could blindly walk into (time-wise or financially). However, having become relatively successful at my career in business, I've come to realize that I'm ready to make those commitments - albeit a bit late of a realization.
I know this will put me into a lot of debt, as I don't want to rely on my parents as a result of my own career indecisiveness, and there's a lot of uncertainty as to whether this whole thing will succeed in helping me become a physician. So that's been kind of the struggle in the back of my mind as well.
Anyways, sorry for the long ramble. Any kind of feedback is so appreciatedWhat kind of place do you think I stand as a candidate?
I graduated from BA with major in Accounting, have the CPA but I did premed. I didn’t know of other accountants changing careers too. Premed while working in public accounting is really challenging.
I commend you for making a career change. I did the same and met someone in medical school who did the same thing. We were both older students with a 10 year career in corporation. I was able to do without any financial help from family as they did not have any money. I lived very modestly through school, accumulated roughly 200K in debt (including interest). Now I can easily pay it off. I enjoy my career as a physician much more now and don't have any regrets.
as far as choice for post-bac schools. It's more important that you find one that has a smaller program. I don't know now but when I was doing post bac, I got a very good book, forgot the name but there are many you can choose from. The recommendation was to choose a smaller program. I chose a state university program where I was able to find good faculty to give me research jobs and good letters of rec. I was able to get accepted to a couple of allopathic programs. If you opt for more competative/well-known programs, the competition may be too high and you may not be able to get the grades or find the support you need for a strong application. I'm not the strongest student so any additional resources I could get was a boost to me.
That is unless the post bac program you're interested in guarantee you a spot in their medical school if you maintain a certain GPA then go for it but keep in mind the competition may be such that you won't be able to maintain the grades.
as far as choice for post-bac schools. It's more important that you find one that has a smaller program. I don't know now but when I was doing post bac, I got a very good book, forgot the name but there are many you can choose from. The recommendation was to choose a smaller program. I chose a state university program where I was able to find good faculty to give me research jobs and good letters of rec. I was able to get accepted to a couple of allopathic programs. If you opt for more competative/well-known programs, the competition may be too high and you may not be able to get the grades or find the support you need for a strong application. I'm not the strongest student so any additional resources I could get was a boost to me.
That is unless the post bac program you're interested in guarantee you a spot in their medical school if you maintain a certain GPA then go for it but keep in mind the competition may be such that you won't be able to maintain the grades.
