Post-Bacc, thoughts?

[Daniel Conway]

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Hi all,

I am currently a senior at an upper tier university graduating in the spring. I have a full-time job lined up with a consulting firm, but only see it as a temporary (2-years max) job. I have always had an interest in medicine, but never got around to take any pre-med classes at my school. My major has been pretty strict about courses outside of the college, so I figured that any classes that I take be ones that wouldn't hurt my GPA. Now that I am graduating, I have started to look into different post-baccs. I guess my question is, how much importance to the post bacc place on clinical experience? I have none. My reasoning for wanting to practice medicine are not compelling by any sorts. I am fascinated by the human body and enjoy helping people. Would it be best to volunteer at a hospital while I am working next year? Or should I just start applying to post baccs for next fall. I have a pretty good gpa (3.7+) and decent test scores. Not really sure where to from here.

Thanks!

 

[SeverusSnape]

So here's my opinion, for whatever it's worth. The reason that the competitive postbac programs want you to have some clinical experience is not JUST to pad your resume, it's to ensure that you know what you're getting yourself into and that you can really see yourself in the healthcare field as a physician. If you're already saying that your reason for going into medicine isn't compelling, you may want to take some time to get some experience and really consider why you want to go into medicine. Without a compelling story or reason, admission into one of the competitive programs seems unlikely.

If you're alright taking a year to work and gain experience, that's the route I would consider. I did not have a ton of clinical experience when I applied but I did have a decent amount of research as well as a Masters. Oh also, it is getting to be later in the application cycle so if you are going to apply you should get on that ASAP. So I guess to contradict myself a little, if you have some other strong experiences that can negate your lack of experience, you may be alright. But again... you definitely want SOME experience so you know what you're getting into... Okay, yeah.. that covers it I think lol. Feel free to message me if you've got any specific questions about my program. Best of luck.

SS

 

[campti01]

If you study the top-tier post bac websites, you come to understand that they are looking for people with academic chops (your 3.7+ GPA already demonstrates this) and (this is the trickier bit) authentic and compelling reasons for pursuing healthcare. That's it.

I think it would be very difficult to communicate this second part without some clinical exposure.

I believe my application was successful as these schools because I thought deeply about my limited but genuinely moving clinical experiences and put a lot of effort into effectively communicating my motivations through my personal statement and interviews.

"My reasoning for wanting to practice medicine are not compelling by any sorts." This is wrong. EVERYONE applying to these programs wants to help people and is fascinated by the human body. Your job is to communicate these (excellent) motivations in a way that makes you stand out. It is much easier to do this if you can root such motivations in real-life experiences.

My advice to you is to spend the next year or two pursuing clinical experiences. Volunteer, go on a medical mission, shadow, etc. A lot of these can be done while working. If you find that after such experiences you still REALLY want to be a doctor, you will have the raw materials to put together a very competitive application.

Please feel free to PM or reply here with any further questions.