Post-Bacc. Program Dilemma

[bumpy22]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys,
I am hoping that you can all give me some input into my current situation. I am currently taking classes as part of an informal post-bacc program, but I am highly disappointed with the quality of teaching at the university so I am thinking of switching to a different program. My only question is, will this look bad if I complete half of my post-bacc at one college (Bio 1 and 2 and GenChem 1 and 2) and then the second half at another. I have taken several summer classes at the school I would switch too in the past so I know their quality of teaching is better, but it is a lesser known school. Also, if I do this I will not be able to get a committee letter, but I should be able to get letters from professors at the new school easily because the classes are much smaller and more personal.
I currently live in NYC, but I want to return home to Mass for financial and personal reasons, so I could justify my changing schools with this explanation if it ever came up at an interview or in my application essays.
Maybe I am just being paranoid, but I do not want to decrease my chances for admission over something like. Thanks for your input. 🙂

 

[DrMidlife]

If your grades are fine at the school you're leaving, then it's not likely to matter. I don't think adcoms are going to frown at a school change in general, but if you're running away from bad grades that'll show, and it won't look good.

And I wish I'd done the same a couple years ago. I could be at a private school with 30 students in class instead of a huge research university with 300 students in class. C'est la vie.

By the way, med school is a very crappy learning environment. You'll need to be able to handle a massive, viscous flow of information shooting at you from a firehose. A very fat firehose. And there's no chewing.

Best of luck to you.

 

[collegegrad]

Hey guys,
I am hoping that you can all give me some input into my current situation. I am currently taking classes as part of an informal post-bacc program.....

Is there such thing as an "informal postbac program"? I mean, if it is a "program" then shouldn't it be considered formal? I thought an informal postbac meant taking upper level science classes at any college (so that means you would be considered a non-degree student). Curious because that is what I plan on doing.

 

[DrMidlife]

Is there such thing as an "informal postbac program"? I mean, if it is a "program" then shouldn't it be considered formal? I thought an informal postbac meant taking upper level science classes at any college (so that means you would be considered a non-degree student). Curious because that is what I plan on doing.

A formal postbac is a program like at Goucher or Scripps where you get MCAT and admissions support and there's a committee and a curriculum and you have to get accepted. And it costs a bazillion dollars.

An informal postbac is anything else. So for example I applied to my school which has no formal postbac, got admitted as a "5th year undergrad" and I've taken my lower-div prereqs and am now taking upper div science. As a "non-degree-seeking" student I wasn't eligible for financial aid, was last in line for registration, was ineligible for most advising and was completely out of the loop. Not that being in the loop at this school is any advantage.

For a variety of reasons it made sense for me to complete a 2nd bachelors, so I'm still a 5th year undergrad but now I'm also "degree-seeking." I still get no premed support beyond hearing about mostly irrelevant info sessions and volunteer/study opportunities. There's no premed committee here.

All things considered, if you have the opportunity to get support from a structured program, don't fight it, take advantage.

Best of luck to you.

 

[pingouin]

An informal postbac is anything else. So for example I applied to my school which has no formal postbac, got admitted as a "5th year undergrad" and I've taken my lower-div prereqs and am now taking upper div science. As a "non-degree-seeking" student I wasn't eligible for financial aid, was last in line for registration, was ineligible for most advising and was completely out of the loop. Not that being in the loop at this school is any advantage.

For a variety of reasons it made sense for me to complete a 2nd bachelors, so I'm still a 5th year undergrad but now I'm also "degree-seeking." I still get no premed support beyond hearing about mostly irrelevant info sessions and volunteer/study opportunities. There's no premed committee here.

Wow.. who knew we were at the same school.

To the OP- it sounds like you have some valid reasons for wanting to make a change, and I think those will be easy to explain away if asked in an interview. I also have no committee letter (see bolded above) and have yet to run into a problem by having individual professor letters sent. If you can get good ones at the new school, I say go for it.

 

[collegegrad]

Hey DrMidlife or whoever can answer this. Question, what if you already, hypothetically, got your bachelors already? Can you still do the 5th year "degree-seeking" thing? Because I am deciding whether if I should do second bachelors or non-degree since i graduated already. And doing another bachelors would take another 4 years?

To OP, sorry if you feel im taking over your tread by asking questions...

 

[TarHeel55]

Hey guys,
I am hoping that you can all give me some input into my current situation. I am currently taking classes as part of an informal post-bacc program, but I am highly disappointed with the quality of teaching at the university so I am thinking of switching to a different program. My only question is, will this look bad if I complete half of my post-bacc at one college (Bio 1 and 2 and GenChem 1 and 2) and then the second half at another. I have taken several summer classes at the school I would switch too in the past so I know their quality of teaching is better, but it is a lesser known school. Also, if I do this I will not be able to get a committee letter, but I should be able to get letters from professors at the new school easily because the classes are much smaller and more personal. I currently live in NYC, but I want to return home to Mass for financial and personal reasons, so I could justify my changing schools with this explanation if it ever came up at an interview or in my application essays.
Maybe I am just being paranoid, but I do not want to decrease my chances for admission over something like. Thanks for your input. 🙂

To the OP...

I moved to a different state in the middle of re-taking some of my prereqs (I did the prereqs in college, but my college coursework is ten years old). No one has brought up the fact that my recent coursework is from three different schools in my interviews. If you move to a different state, then of course you will need to continue your coursework at a different school... as long as you have a reasonable story to tell about why you moved back to Mass, I can't see why anyone would preceive the change in educational institutions, in and of itself, as a red flag.

If you find it easier to establish personal relationships with the faculty at your school in Mass, so much the better! LORs are such an important part of your total application.

 

[pingouin]

Hey DrMidlife or whoever can answer this. Question, what if you already, hypothetically, got your bachelors already? Can you still do the 5th year "degree-seeking" thing? Because I am deciding whether if I should do second bachelors or non-degree since i graduated already. And doing another bachelors would take another 4 years?

To OP, sorry if you feel im taking over your tread by asking questions...

I'm non-degree seeking, but I believe I could flip over to degree-seeking if I wanted. There's something I can pull up through Blackboard which shows how many credits I have toward another degree, and what I would still need. I can go in there and pick different degrees/programs to see how close I am in each. By and large, most of my requirements are met from my previous undergrad degree, but upper-level classes in the "new" major would be what I would still need to get.

 

[DrMidlife]

Hey DrMidlife or whoever can answer this. Question, what if you already, hypothetically, got your bachelors already? Can you still do the 5th year "degree-seeking" thing? Because I am deciding whether if I should do second bachelors or non-degree since i graduated already. And doing another bachelors would take another 4 years?

To OP, sorry if you feel im taking over your tread by asking questions...

At my school, to get a 2nd bachelors, you apply and get admitted to the university, and then you apply and maybe compete for admission to a given major. Then they look only at the major requirements, and see how many you still need. So you could be done in a year, if you're mostly there. You have to be really organized to do this simultaneously with getting your premed prereqs done.

If doing a 2nd bachelors makes sense for you, then either pick a major that seriously turns you on (comparative anthropology of the harpsichord, kind of thing) or pick a bioscience that will get you prepped for the biochem/immunology/physiology/neuro/micro in med school. I'm doing a bioscience major to demonstrate the proverbial "strong upward trend in upper div science" GPA repair technique (although the "upward" didn't really happen).

 

[gman33]

How are you doing in your classes in your current school?
If you are doing well and the school has a better reputation and more premed resources, then I would just stay there and finish up the prereqs.

Now, if you are not doing well, I would get out of there as soon as possible. Bad grades in a post-bacc program can be really hard to come back from. If you are only taking 8 courses and you get a few C's, then your science GPA will be shot. It's not as bad if you are a science major and will be taking tons of science courses. I know several people who messed up a few courses and now it will take them several years of coursework to get their GPAs back on track (if they ever do).

Just put yourself if the best position to succeed. The reputation thing is a little overrated anyway. Learn the material, keep up your GPA, and do well on the MCAT. Those are really the main academic requirements. Anything else like where you went to school or if you transferred are secondary concerns.

I transferred schools in my post-bacc and it didn't hurt me. If I didn't, I probably would not have gotten into med school.