Post-Bacc Applicants

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LoveDoc

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Is anyone returning to pursue a medical career OR reinforcing their GPA and had to submit AMCAS to apply to post-bacc programs? If so, which ones did you apply to? What factors are you going to use to decide which to attend (location, cost, alliance w/ med schools, etc)? When did you submit? Have you gotten feedback from adcoms yet?

I truly appreciate your responses.

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I am a 4th year in an allopathic med school in Ohio. I went to a post-bacc program for 2 years after undergrad and before I went to med school. I went to help augment my grades, take the MCAT, and make me a more attractive/non-traditional candiate for schools. It was a somewhat shady program. I think it would have changed tremendously by now. I didnot have to submit an AMCAS for it. It was a direct application. It was at Duquesne U. in Pittsburgh, PA.

My advice to you would be to really look at the programs before you apply. If your grades are really far from what US med schools are looking at, then one or 2 years in a post-bacc wont help. Consider another health care field. If your close, then consider what your trying to accomplish by going to the program. Is it something you can do on your own outside a program and avoid paying the really high tuition? Could you take continuing ed classes on your own instead of part of the program?

There is a huge variety of programs. My experience is they mostly target "disadvantaged" students, which I was not. Your pre-med advisor at University should have a list. If not, try the library and look for something called Peterson's Guide to Graduate Schools. They have comprehensive listing for all universities and programs offered grouped by field of study.

Be cautious about the post-bacc programs. A lot of them just want your money.
 
I am about to start med school after completing a post bac program at Temple. My pre req coursework was over 10 years old (and terrible at that). I found that Temple was less expensive than other area programs and has a linkage to their medical school (which I could not take advantage of because of my terrible grades as an undergrad, but I got in anyway)! I applied to the program directly and not through AMCAS, I didn't even know that one did that through AMCAS.
 
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I am not sure about postbacc work but I am completing a Master's degree in Neurobiology, it takes two years and no matter what you get a Master's degree. I am 27 and did this because my undergraduate degree was not a science degree. Furthermore, I'm doing this on the advice from several deans of admissions locally.
 
I am completing a Master's degree in Neurobiology, it takes two years and no matter what you get a Master's degree. I am 27 and did this because my undergraduate degree was not a science degree. Furthermore, I'm doing this on the advice from several deans of admissions locally.

I'm in a similar situation. I spoke with a local admissions dean about a year and a half ago and am currently in a Biology Masters program on his advise. Every situation is different. I know some people advocate post-bacc work instead.
 
I'm finishing my prereq's through the Harvard Extension School program, mostly because of the cost, the fact that the classes are at night, and I wanted to stay in Boston (I just graduated from college in the area). I didn't need to apply, though.
 
>Is anyone returning to pursue a medical career OR >reinforcing their GPA and had to submit AMCAS to >apply to post-bacc programs? If so, which ones >did you apply to? What factors are you going to >use to decide which to attend (location, cost, >alliance w/ med schools, etc)? When did you >submit? Have you gotten feedback from adcoms yet?

I moved from a graduate program in the social sciences into medicine. I checked out a few different postbac programs in Southern California, but all of the formal ones were seriously expensive. I ended up taking classes through UCLA Extension, which was not all that cheap either (but a lot less than the $22k USC was asking!). Downside was that Extension students moved directly to the bottom of the food chain, and it was a pain to get into all of those impacted pre-med classes I never took as an undergrad.

If you can afford it, I guess some of them are pretty good. I heard (unsubstantiated) that the one at Columbia University is quite good and connected with Brown Univ. SOM, but also very expensive. Plus you get to pay rent in NYC ($$$). If you haven't guessed already, my #1 deciding factor was cost.

In my opinion, postbac programs are very handy if you can pay. If not, you can do everything at your local State University if you have the time, patience, and stamina. Happy Hunting.
 
I have just finished post-bac and am now applying to med schools- if you had a specific question I'll try to answer it.
 
I created my own post-bac program at my state university where tuition was incredibly inexpensive. Although I had already taken many basic sciences (bio, chem, some physics) and earned a 2.8 GPA upon graduation, I retook ALL of the undergraduate first-year science courses (bio, chem, phys) along with organic and biochem the second year. After spending two years and earning a very high GPA (3.8-9), I decided to spend the extra year and finish the biology degree. By adding an additional year, I was able to show adcoms that I am a different student than I was (honors BS biology as opposed to 2.8 BA English). I was accepted to a few allopathic schools and waitlisted at many others. The difference between 2 years of post-bac and 3 years of an entirely new Bachelor's degree got me in, I believe, along with a 32 on the MCAT and additional work-related experience. I wouldn't join an established post-bac program due to expense and limitations on what one can do during the program (ie spend an additional year to get another BS). Best of luck
:cool: :eek: :cool:
 
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