Post bacc in NYC - please help as I have no clue!

[Lurdes777]

Hello All,

I have an UG in Business Adminsitration and now aiming to get in to med school. My UG GPA is very low though...

Now I want to enroll into one of the post-bac programs around NYC and didnt think I need to have anything special in order to enroll. Please, correct me if I am wrong -

in order to take MCAT and apply into med school I need to ahve pre-reqs in Science. I was planning to neroll myself in pre-req classes, not specifically enroll into special post-bac program. After reading this forum I see that lots of people go into those special post-bac programs and now thinking may be I am missing some information???

What is the difference if I just enroll myself into pre-req classes, lets say at NYU, and they take MCAT or enroll myself into post-bac program lets say at Columbia (its the only one I have found so far) ??? How is it different???

I am sorry if I am not making any sens, but hoping that you understand what I am tryint to figure out here...

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[Maxprime]

You can do an informal (on your own) or formal post-bacc, both have +'s & -'s. Do a quick search (may be in the FAQ, not sure) for details. Also, spell check is your friend.

 

[Cycleogical]

Wow, your situation sounds EXACTLY like mine.

I did an undergrad in Business as well, and have been evaluating if a post-bacc or creating my own program would be the best fit. I'm in NYC as well, and know that aside from NYU and Columbia, City College and Hunter have affordable, public programs that are comparable to the former.

City Colleges is more structured than at Hunter, which is basically just apply as a non-degree student and take the courses you need along with the undergrads.

Coming from the business background, and becoming disillusioned with the business of business in NYC for the last three years, I feel a calling to medicine and am ready to get started with a post-bacc. I just applied to all the programs mentioned last week so hope to hear something by Feb.

Let me know if you want to talk about the process and I would be more than happy to tell you more about my process.

 

[sltho]

hey cycleogical

when you said you applied, did you mean that there was an application and such? or is it just that you filled out a slip and paid for the classes that you will be taking.

i need to retake some pre req classes after graduation (may 08), and was wondering which CUNYs had cheap and good classes. have you checked out brooklyn or queens? thanks and good luck!

 

[Cycleogical]

Yes, there is a formal application to the program for Columbia, NYU and City College...I spoke with reps at Hunter and the 'program' there is very informal, and just like you said, sign up for classes and just pay by course.

From what I understand, most people want a formal post-bacc for the recommendation from the program and linkage programs. I am planning to take classes at Hunter in just a few weeks to start the pre-req process regardless of starting at one of the other programs in June.

Hunter and City College are incredibly low priced if you are a NY resident, so I would recommend looking at those two. Sounds like Hunter is the best bet for you if it is only a few courses you need.

Haven't checked Brooklyn or Queens college, as I am non-traditional student and work as well so these two would be out of the way for me.

 

[fireflygirl]

As someone who has been through a post-bac, the only difference is that you get the committee letter and you do have access to a lot of linkage programs if that is of particular interest to you. You would also have access to guidance via an advisor; but this guidance varies from school to school and some of the bigger name schools such as Columbia and Penn are very hands off (I did not like this about my post-bac at Penn). On the other hand, a place like Bryn Mawr has an excellent matriculation rate and excellent advisors so you might want to see what is important to you. There are plenty of private advisors you can hire if paying the tuition at a post-bac is an issue. And frankly, after being through one, I realise that I probably would have been fine on my own but it depends on what your needs are and what is important to you as you go through the process. Good luck!!

 

[kmc2883]

Hi there,

I have recently completed the NYU post-baccalaureate pre-med program and I have nothing but great things to say about the program. First of all, you can find more information about the program by going to this website: www.nyu.edu/cas/prehealth/postbacc.

Here are my thoughts (and I am just speaking of my opinion of NYU).. This past fall semester the advising office at NYU put together a Deans panel, which was very helpful, in order for the students to have an understanding of the opinions of medical school deans. Here are a list of schools of med school deans that attended (I hope I am not leaving any out): Mount Sinai, Albert Einstein, New York University, Suny Downstate, Suny Stony Brook, UMDNJ, New Jersey Med and George Washington. In general all of these schools tended to agree on one point and that is the fact that NYU's premedical program is very well respected and highly regarded. Their committee letters (which is a letter sent by NYU to each medical school) are also very highly regarded and very personal to each student. I recently spoke with another NYU post-bacc "graduate," currently in the application process, and she said that many of the schools mentioned in her interview how impressive the NYU committee letter was.

Don't underestimate the importance of a committee letter! Medical school is very competitive and you need all of the support you can get! Trust me, you will run into things that you have questions about and the advisors are key. Maybe this is just because I have had such a great experience at NYU, but my advice is to go with an official program.


Sincerely,
kmc2883

 

[Cycleogical]

Thats good information to know about NYU...is it a competitive program to gain admissions to? I didn't think it would be much of an issue to enroll in any of these post-baccs until reading about the top schools and how the intense even the post-bacc applications seem.

Is this the case or should one worry about getting into NYU's post bacc?

 

[littleinky]

Hello,
I just posted to DIY in NYC thread. So there are my opinions on Hunter Vs NYU. (I did NYU undergrad and am doing Hunter Postbacc now)

Hunter also has linkage programs (SUNY & Cornell, I believe) and offers committee letters. Maybe it's just me but I don't want to pay 60K for those things at NYU/Columbia when I can get them for 6K at Hunter.... especially considering how much your professional school is going to cost on top of your postbacc program....All you need is to be organized and motivated and you can do all the legwork (ie, planning, scheduling, and arranging for the commitee letter) you need to on your own @ Hunter instead of paying the extra $$$$$$ for someone else to do it for you...but maybe i'm the only tightwad posting on here...

Also, don't apply as a nondegree to Hunter- or you'll never get into the classes you need to take. Apply as a second degree and you'll get an earlier registration date...The difference is the type of application you submit and you have to get your undergrad transcript brought over...

Easy peasy!

 

[Cycleogical]

LittleInky, I don't think that's being a 'tightwad' at all, and more like a very wise decision. I went to a state supported school for undergrad and have no doubt that my education was in line with any Ivy, at less than 1/4 the cost 😉 NYC is expensive enough already, besides, wouldn't you agree that it's what you put into the program, studies and not always about brand name recognition?

Good to know about the linkage programs, as that was really one of the main reasons I was looking at more formal programs.

 

[sltho]

Also, don't apply as a nondegree to Hunter- or you'll never get into the classes you need to take. Apply as a second degree and you'll get an earlier registration date...The difference is the type of application you submit and you have to get your undergrad transcript brought over...

Easy peasy!

Is there a difference in price between the two ways of applying? Also, is applying for a 2nd degree hard?

Thanks and good job in doing everything on your own!

 

[pba51ny]

Is there a difference in price between the two ways of applying? Also, is applying for a 2nd degree hard?

Thanks and good job in doing everything on your own!

I'm also curious because I graduate in May 2008 and i would like to enroll for the Fall 2008 semester, so do you think that would that be a problem, application-wise if they dont receive my transcript till late May?

 

[littleinky]

Well I didn't think applying as a second degree was hard at all. (At elast compared to applying for my undergrad degreee.) No essays or personal questions. It was literally a doublesided application with the normal stats- name, soc sec #, address, etc. You do have to be accepted to the school (for a non degree- you don't)- so in order to be accepted you do have to have your old transcripts sent over from your previous instiution(s). I was really nervous that the applicationw as so short- so in additiona to my official transcript from NYU from my BFA I requested that my high school transcript and SAT scores from a decade before be sent to Hunter, too. I guess I shouldn't have sweated it so much becuase next thing I knew- I was in. Being a second degree makes a WORLD of a difference at Hunter so if you are seriosuly considering enrolling here- it;s worth the extra legwork. If you start as a non degree- make sure you aren't trying to take Chem or Orgo classes- cause you won't get in with that late of a registration date. Maybe you can get into Physics and calc as a nondegree cause they aren't as popular but if you want those science classes eventually you will have to get accepted as a second degree to get in.

I think the application fee was under $100 (maybe $65?) but it was years ago so I don't rememebr the specific amount. regardless- it's doable and you can also apply for a waiver of application fee if you can prove financial hardship...but then you have to reprot your finances, I guess toprove it- whihc seems like an awful lot of work to skip the one fee.

I did really well in HS and undergrad (even if it was a fluffy seeming major) so I wasn't so worried about being accepted to Hunter - I was more worried about not giving them enough information. But it all worked out in the end.

Good Luck!!

 

[littleinky]

Oh, sorry- i think it's rolling admissions so I don't think it matters when you apply- (I think!) I applied in the summer of 2005 around may and was in classes by june.

Does that help?

 

[littleinky]

Also from the other NYC postbacc threads' questions:


I don't think you can see the schedule of specific classes until you are accepted as a CUNY student. Once you are accepted they will give you an esims account and you sign in and then you can see all the classes that all of the colleges are offering each semester throughout the entire CUNY system. you also end up registering through that account.

So far here are the classes I've taken at night (5:30PM or later):
Bio 100 & 102 both with labs
Algebra for college students (math101- yes I started all the way back there again!-long story- take the Compass test to waive out of doing your math stuff again!- really take it!)
Pre-Calc-
Calc
Physics 1 & 2 with labs
Chem 1 with lab
Accounting 1 (not a pre-req- took this for work)

I know they offer at night:
Chem 2 & lab
Orgo 1 & 2 & Lab
Cell Bio 1 & 2 & Lab
Biochem (no lab- i think- there is also a 2 semester bio chem class ofered through chem dept but is only in the daytime)
Satatistics

So the only problem class i am having is microbio with lab- so far only offered at 4:10PM....can't do it cause of work. Some prevets have been able to get cell bio 2 to count as the microbio pre-req- but it seems to depend on the applicant. Seriously- I know 1 person in vet school (and on the post bacc message board there are others rumored to have done the same thing) who got it taken as a prereq but another person who was told (this year) by admissions that it didn't count as one by the same school!

I don't know why the disparity exists but it does- so I've got to figure out how to get microbio in there, just to be sure....

I've heard of a lot of people splitting their post baccs between City college and Hunter. i thought about doing the same thing but City College is geographically hard for me to get to @ 5:30. I work in the financial district and live in B'klyn so it's hard enough getting to hunter on the UES by that time...i have really nice bosses who let me leave a half an hour early a few days a week- but I'm still late half the time to class @ Hunter- I can't even imagine how late I'd be getting to City College.

Ok- did I answer everything? i hope so? Sorry, it's a long time between posts for me but I do check in and try to be helpful!!!!
🙂let me know if I can help more!

Also let me know if you end up enrolling and i'll send you the link for the postbaccs at Hunter- loads of valuable resources and really nice people trying to do the same thing you are!

 

[puchi]

I'm another NYC post-bacc (hunter). I'm happy at my choice, you get a lot for your money and the post bacc community is really strong here, despite the informal program. Hunter has linkages to Cornell and to Stonybrook AND a committee letter, which is pretty good for a informal program.

 

[princekc]

Hello All,

I have an UG in Business Adminsitration and now aiming to get in to med school. My UG GPA is very low though...

Now I want to enroll into one of the post-bac programs around NYC and didnt think I need to have anything special in order to enroll. Please, correct me if I am wrong -

in order to take MCAT and apply into med school I need to ahve pre-reqs in Science. I was planning to neroll myself in pre-req classes, not specifically enroll into special post-bac program. After reading this forum I see that lots of people go into those special post-bac programs and now thinking may be I am missing some information???

What is the difference if I just enroll myself into pre-req classes, lets say at NYU, and they take MCAT or enroll myself into post-bac program lets say at Columbia (its the only one I have found so far) ??? How is it different???

I am sorry if I am not making any sens, but hoping that you understand what I am tryint to figure out here...

What is your Stat? If I were in your shoe, I'll take all pre-requisite; A's them all, then take the MCAT (score>30) and apply. It also depend on how much you want to spend doing a formal post-bac as they're $$$$$.