Post-Bacc status at 4 year Univ

[rockmed]

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I have seen one post (may be related to canadian schools but wanted to confirm here) that says students should go full time to do pre req's or it will hurt. Is that true? Because I'm working full time and would like to do the pre-med pre-req's part time.

One more question is, if I do the pre-req's at a 4 yr Univ will I automatically be placed in a post-bacc status? I already have a UG from a foreign univ that I got evaluted from an US agency. I mean I want to be sure that I'm not mising something here and will be placed in the correct post-bacc status at the 4 yr univ.

 

[Joannavr]

A lot of your questions can be answered by searching the forums, and your second question I would highly suggest speaking to a school counselor to find out for sure.

Going to school part time makes it more difficult to show adcoms that you are able to handle the courseload you will be under when you start medical school. While it is not an impossibility, you're usually recommended to go full time. Also keep in mind that if you take too few credits you may stretch your time taking pre reqs out so much that you'll begin to forget what you learned in the beginning.

 

[Martin Prince]

I'm not in admissions, so take an anonymous opinion how you will. I just finished post-bac work and applied as a non-trad. I never had the impression that part time class work was a huge penalty, IF you could provide compelling reasons for your decisions. As a non-trad student, I felt during my interviews that I was expected to provide well-reasoned, defensible explanations for just about any decision I made since graduating in 2003, especially those out of the traditional premed path. But, my interviewers seemed to understand that real life happens and our paths can be unique. This will vary between institutions. For example, I spent two years building houses for Habitat for Humanity. Some schools saw this the same way I did: exercise in leadership, service, compassion, etc. Others were pretty clear that they considered it a complete waste of time and useless to medicine. I wouldn't give up that experience now if it meant a shot a harvard next year.

In short, go full time if you can make it work. If not, go part time and keep a full time job. Either way, don't let your grades drop at all, and have a reason for everything you do that is not typical, full time premed. If your explanations are compelling, they will be great opportunities to highlight maturity and uniqueness in your application.

As for post bac, each school will be different. In my situation, I had to take 2 quarters as an "Extensions" student to demonstrate my dedication before I was accepted as a post-bac. The only difference here was moving from lowest priority to highest priority in terms of selecting courses.

 

[njbmd]

I have seen one post (may be related to canadian schools but wanted to confirm here) that says students should go full time to do pre req's or it will hurt. Is that true? Because I'm working full time and would like to do the pre-med pre-req's part time.

One more question is, if I do the pre-req's at a 4 yr Univ will I automatically be placed in a post-bacc status? I already have a UG from a foreign univ that I got evaluted from an US agency. I mean I want to be sure that I'm not mising something here and will be placed in the correct post-bacc status at the 4 yr univ.

If you already have a bachelor's degree (that likely your obtained by attending class full-time) then you don't need to go full-time. If you work full-time, it is expected that you would not be a full-time student. What you cannot afford to do, is load up on coursework and do poorly. Take your time, do quality work with high grades.

 

[Lacheln]

I've never heard of a penalty for not going full time as a post-bacc. I'd say half of the people in my post-bacc pre-req classes were working full-time, and most of those were taking 2 classes. The other half were not working, or only working part-time and still taking 2 classes, sometimes 3. I'm sure there was a small minority taking 4, but 4 science courses at a time is a really tough load even as a full-time student, as I recall from undergrad. 🙁 I think it looks a lot better on your app to be working full-time and taking 2 classes (and getting A's) than it does to be not working and taking a partial load. Getting high grades is the most important part, so do whatever works for you to achieve that.

 

[sunny1]

One more question is, if I do the pre-req's at a 4 yr Univ will I automatically be placed in a post-bacc status? I already have a UG from a foreign univ that I got evaluted from an US agency. I mean I want to be sure that I'm not mising something here and will be placed in the correct post-bacc status at the 4 yr univ.

Normally when you apply, you will be asked to designate your status as a student on the application for admission and forward transcripts from previous institutions. Most schools have the option of student seeking a second bachelor degree and also a "non-degree seeking" student.

The 2nd bachelor degree student status is often better because all the credits from your first degree will put you into senior level status, giving you earlier access to register for classes you want. You don't have to complete the 2nd bachelor degree.

This might vary by school, but generally that's how it's done. With a foreign undergrad degree, I don't know exactly how it would work. I'd schedule an appt with an advisor at the school to see what they say. Or you could speak to someone in their admissions department.

 

[gman33]

Contact the med schools you will be applying to about your past degree. Some will require a certain number of credits be taken from a US school. You don't want to find out about this down the road.

As for postbacc, that's what med schools designate any classes taken after your bachelor's degree. How the individual school designates it only matters for financial aid and course registration. Many will suggest that if you can register as a second degree student this will help in terms of aid and registration.

Since you already have a degree, it shouldn't matter to most schools if you do part-time studies as long as you are doing something else productive (like working).