Post bacc or 2-3 courses?

[oliverkahn]

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Here is my situation.

- 29yo, work in London in banking.

- Went to a small college in 2004 on a full academic scholarship and played D1 soccer. Got an F and D my first semester as I was unmotivated, immature, and not sure why I was in school. Took a semester off, travelled, played semi-professional soccer, then went back to school. Did very well academically, and after one more year transferred to a much better school

- I was pre-med and studied business. I took all the pre-med courses except Organic 2 and Bio 2. I never took the MCAT. I spent lots of time shadowing, conducting research, volunteering, etc, and also played soccer (Academic All American).

- I finished in 2009 (lost some credits due to the transfer) with an overall GPA of 3.50 and BCPM GPA of 3.56. Removing those two classes that I performed poorly on during my first year, I would've had an overall GPA of 3.67...so I showed a strong "upward trajectory", although it was less a trajectory and more of an immediate step!

- I moved to London after graduation. I considered applying for med school but had been working for a start-up and was enjoying it, so decided to go the business route instead. I have worked at a large bank in investment banking since 2011. I have performed well and tried a variety of different roles (including leaving for 4 months to work for a hedge fund, but then coming back), but just haven't been able to be fully satisfied with my career. I have always regretted not going to med school and last year, after speaking to a few friends who were finishing med school, decided that I wasn't too old to pursue my dream and that I was going to go for it 100%.

- Since I decided a year ago to fully pursue medicine, I have gotten involved with some research, volunteering and shadowing over here. I can provide more info on that if you'd like. It has been hard given my 60-90 hour work weeks, but I have managed to squeeze things in before work in the morning and on quiet weekends.

- I have been offered a place starting in May 2017 on a one year post bacc course that has a decent track record of getting people accepted to med school. It also has a linkage program, so I could potentially avoid a glide year.

- I was set on this route, and was planning to study for the MCAT over the next 10 months to take it next September. I was hoping that I could achieve a solid score and have a lot of pressure taken off to study during the actual post bacc. I also think this will help me consolidate my knowledge ahead of the post bacc. I am working with a great MCAT coach who is confident I can do this...but of course it comes down to how well I study and perform.

- When sharing the above plan with the coach, he suggested I should skip the post bacc and just take the 2 classes I need, saving a load of money. His reasoning was that, combined with a solid MCAT score, my GPA and story would be enough to get me accepted somewhere. I then started thinking: take the MCAT in September 16, if I do well, just take the classes I need and apply in summer 2017, if I don't do as well then do the full post bacc. Then I started doing even more research, and learned that you don't even necessarily have to have finished your pre reqs to apply...so I am now thinking of applying in summer 2016, taking the MCAT in sep 16, and finishing the pre reqs in the spring of 17, before hopefully matriculating in fall of 17. Of course, there are a LOT of "ifs" here...and I was hoping to get a realistic assessment from you all. For example, just because it is technically possible to have not taken all of the pre reqs when applying...doesn't mean that I will be able to get accepted in this case.

I suppose my main questions:

- The 2 courses I need vs. a full post-bacc?
- Should I apply in summer 16 before having done any of these courses, or should I wait to apply until summer 2017 after having taken 1 or 2 of them? Or until summer 18 after the post bacc or courses are fully completed?
- If I did the full post bacc, I suppose I should wait until summer 18 to apply (as I wouldn't have even started in summer 17)?
- Are there any schools that are friendlier to someone in my situation?
- Is it appropriate to contact admissions offices directly to ask for guidance on my individual case?

Caveat: this all assumes I perform well on the MCAT next year, which is obviously a big IF. I am going into it with a realistic view of the task at hand, but could we please assume that I will perform well for the sake of the discussion?

Thank you all

 

[GreenDuck12]

- The 2 courses I need vs. a full post-bacc?
The answer to this is entirely determined by the schools that you are interested in applying to. Some schools require all pre-req classes to be completed within a certain time frame, other schools have no preference. Get a copy of the MSAR to find out more.

On a more general note, formal post-bac programs are usually quite expensive. They tend to be successful getting applicants into medical school because they usually only admit applicants who will be successful getting into medical school. You could replicate a formal post bac at almost any university in the country while saving a significant amount of money. It is up to you to decide if it is worth it to spend the money now vs spending it in medical school. On a personal note, I applied to a reputable post bac program, was admitted, and then decided not to attend in order to save money. While the program I was admitted to had strong linkages, only two or three of those linkages appealed to me and those programs combined accepted maybe 5 or 6 applicants. Wasn't worth it to me, but may be worth it to you.

- Should I apply in summer 16 before having done any of these courses, or should I wait to apply until summer 2017 after having taken 1 or 2 of them? Or until summer 18 after the post bacc or courses are fully completed?

If you had just graduated, I would say apply sooner. However, you have a gap of several years. You need to demonstrate to adcoms than you can/ can still handle the rigors of medical school. Best way to do this is to have several semesters of sustained high academic achievement (i.e. take the two required classes and some other upper division bio classes). Also, it is better to have taken the classes that appear on the MCAT.

- If I did the full post bacc, I suppose I should wait until summer 18 to apply (as I wouldn't have even started in summer 17)?

My general philosophy on any type of application is only apply when you have the strongest application possible. Think of medical school as a marathon, not a sprint. You only want to go through the application once; you only want to take the mcat once. Take the time to make both of those things happen.

- Are there any schools that are friendlier to someone in my situation?

Some schools skew towards younger applicants (Harvard, Hokins, etc) where other schools skew a little bit older. Honestly though, your best bet is to apply broadly once you have your final grades and mcat score. Medical school admission is like a black box, you don't really know how things are going to turn out.

- Is it appropriate to contact admissions offices directly to ask for guidance on my individual case?
Admissions offices will answer questions relating to their policies but will not *usually* answer case by case questions. They defer those things to pre-med advisors found at every university.