Post-bacc options, trying to get a straight answer

[MakeFast]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Note: Longish post, summary of questions at the bottom.

Since my searches are pulling up way too many results, I thought I would start a thread (Note: I have done a fair amount of reading about post-bacc options, etc. and I did search before posting this).

I am looking at my options for making the career change to medicine. Currently I am a lawyer and for a million reasons it isn't for me and for another million reasons I want to be a doctor. Making this shift is going to be hard (stressful financially, on my family, etc.) but I think we are up for the task. Having read about my different paths I can take I think a formal post bacc. is what would work best for my personality and situation.

That being said I have been looking at some of the more prominent post bacc programs (Goucher, Bryn Mawr, et al) for information/inspiration and have come away with one nagging question.

Many of the formal programs make a note that you can't apply/won't be considered as a candidate if you have had previous science courses. As an undergrad (10-11 years ago) I took Chem II (AP'd out of Chem I) and Bio I & II. I sent emails to the various post bacc programs asking if I could still apply even though I had taken these science classes. They said to email my undergraduate institution about it, my undergraduate institution won't talk to me unless I attend a "pre-med advising" meeting with ~300 other premed students (I now like 2500 miles away from my undergrad institution), so I can't get a straight answer about whether my 10 year old science credits will prevent admission to the formal programs.

Also, I took some unrelated science classes (Ecology) as a Law Student - would those classes prevent me from applying? (These were more recent, 5 years ago or so)

Thanks for any advice.

/mf

Summary:
Can I still apply to/be accepted to one of the formal post bacc programs if I have taken some of the required science classes (Chem II, Bio I & II) 10 years ago as an undergrad?

Will unrelated graduate science courses (Ecology) prevent me from applying (taken more recently, ~5 years ago)?

 

[EJS1979]

My experience was somewhat similar -- I had taken Bio I and II about 11 years earlier -- but I'm not sure if your chemistry class will make it a different story altogether.

Bryn Mawr told me that I wouldn't be able to retake bio, that I would have to take some other elective instead, and Hopkins and Goucher said that the class was so long ago that I could take bio again as though I had never had it before. I ended up going to Goucher, and some of my classmates also had classes that they had also already taken -- a few people who had chemistry just a few years earlier audited the course, and two physics majors took electives instead of repeating Physics I and II.

In short, send in your applications ASAP and make sure you ask questions about your coursework at your interview (which is when I learned about my various options), so you know what you'd be expecting.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[EJS1979]

Oh, and I'm not sure about the ecology class, but I doubt it would count.

 

[MakeFast]

My experience was somewhat similar -- I had taken Bio I and II about 11 years earlier -- but I'm not sure if your chemistry class will make it a different story altogether.

Bryn Mawr told me that I wouldn't be able to retake bio, that I would have to take some other elective instead, and Hopkins and Goucher said that the class was so long ago that I could take bio again as though I had never had it before. I ended up going to Goucher, and some of my classmates also had classes that they had also already taken -- a few people who had chemistry just a few years earlier audited the course, and two physics majors took electives instead of repeating Physics I and II.

In short, send in your applications ASAP and make sure you ask questions about your coursework at your interview (which is when I learned about my various options), so you know what you'd be expecting.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Thanks so much EJS - exactly the kind of information I was looking for. I am actually probably going to be applying in the fall for starting in 2012. I need to get some volunteering, etc. time in to strengthen my application before applying. Just something to show my 'commitment' to medical school and the health profession. (I have a ton of volunteer work, but none of it is really 'medical volunteering' except for helping set up non-profits that are medical in nature [but again, technically legal volunteer work]).

Again, thanks for the information!