Post Bacc formal program? Or??

[Jslay941]

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Hello all,

I have just completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology, with a minor in English creative writing. I have taken up to calculus II in undergrad. But have not taken any biology, chemistry or other medical related science classes.

I will have between 3.8-3.9 final cumulative GPA. I have started/founded a Psi Chi chapter on my University campus. I am a member of Sigma Tau Delta. I have sat on student senate for two years.

I am seeking opinions on if i should try to take the required classes as non degree student or enroll in some sort of premed post bacc program. If I can find one close to me. I would be looking to get into psychiatry or neurology.

Im at a crossroads between choosing a PhD or MD.

 

[paradoxic_toxic]

Hello all,

I have just completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology, with a minor in English creative writing. I have taken up to calculus II in undergrad. But have not taken any biology, chemistry or other medical related science classes.

I will have between 3.8-3.9 final cumulative GPA. I have started/founded a Psi Chi chapter on my University campus. I am a member of Sigma Tau Delta. I have sat on student senate for two years.

I am seeking opinions on if i should try to take the required classes as non degree student or enroll in some sort of premed post bacc program. If I can find one close to me. I would be looking to get into psychiatry or neurology.

Im at a crossroads between choosing a PhD or MD.

I recommend doing a formal post-bacc.

As for MD vs. PhD... shadow a physician or two, and start clinical volunteering. These are required by med schools anyway, and it will help you decide if medicine is the right career for you.

 

[Goro]

Hello all,

I have just completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology, with a minor in English creative writing. I have taken up to calculus II in undergrad. But have not taken any biology, chemistry or other medical related science classes.

I will have between 3.8-3.9 final cumulative GPA. I have started/founded a Psi Chi chapter on my University campus. I am a member of Sigma Tau Delta. I have sat on student senate for two years.

I am seeking opinions on if i should try to take the required classes as non degree student or enroll in some sort of premed post bacc program. If I can find one close to me. I would be looking to get into psychiatry or neurology.

Im at a crossroads between choosing a PhD or MD.

Post-bac program:
Pro: more organized; advising services are available; program may have some linkage to med schools
Cons: more $$$

DIY post-bac:
Pros: less expensive
Cons: no advising; fewer resources available to you.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

If you do decide to do a formal post-bac, be sure to look into the ones that have linkages. You are a very competitive applicant for such programs, and if you meet the GPA and MCAT requirements, you can secure a linkage into very competitive medical schools and skip the empty year after your post-bac.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[82Scout]

I graduated with a BS in psychology. Fortunately, I decided MD over Phd late my junior year and was able to load up chemistry classes for a chem minor by the time I graduated. My university had already required me to take physics, stats, and calculus. The rest of the prerequisites I took at a community college to save money as I couldn't justify spending 15-20k on tuition for classes I could pay less than 2k for at a CC. Even though I got a good amount of prerequisites done in undergrad it still took me over a year to complete the rest as classes need to be taken in sequence. Personally I don't think having complete my courses at a CC hindered me at all and I did it for purely monetary reasons.

First off you should solidify whether or not you want to even pursue either professional degree path and if so which one. Take a gap year to volunteer, shadow, do research, and work a 9-5.

Aside from what was stated above, some things to consider

• when doing a DIY post-bac, many of these prerequisite classes need to be taken in sequence (e.g. gen chem sequence --> Ochem sequence --> biochem) and this can create a long timeline as sometimes you can't enroll in them concurrently. If time is a concern, then some post-bacs offer accelerated programs vs 2-3 years at a CC completing these classes.
• If you have a degree already you may not get priority registration and then have to worry about waitlist etc. for these highly sought after classes (i was able to circumvent this due to my veteran status and got priority registration).
• DIY post-bac is at your own pace and you can work and take things slow if needed. Some post-bacs require full-time enrollment and a strict schedule (this was a big one for me as I was required to work to support myself and needed flexibility)
• Traditional post-bac programs have advisers yes, but depending on your undergraduate school, their career services and advisers may be available to alumni. Check with your school to see what they offer alumni. (I went to a UC with a medical school on campus who provided me with adviser services and networking opportunities as an alumni).
• MCAT prep, for me there was a lot of content lacking between DIY CC classes and MCAT content and I had to self teach myself a lot of material. Traditional post-bacs will probably teach you a lot more relevant material, prepare you better for the test, and may even offer additional preparation material. (this didn't bother me as I was able to save over 20k from not attending a post-bac and payed for a prepcourse and study material ~3k).