Post-bacc VS. SMP

[deleted212936]

How do these 2 programs compare in terms of:

1. difficulty of courseworks (well, I know SMP puts you in the same classes with Med students, what else should I know here?)

2. increased chance of acceptance to med school

Which specific SMP and Post-bacc programs are linked with med schools and will get you in directly if you gain certain GPA?

Hope to get some responses!!

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[DrMidlife]

There are two reasons to do a postbac:
1. To complete medical school prereqs after finishing an undergrad degree
2. To improve undergrad GPAs with further undergrad study
(these reasons may overlap)

There is one reason to do an SMP:
1. Your undergrad GPAs are too low, or your application is too weak, to get you into medical school.

If you haven't completed the prereqs and taken the MCAT yet, then you can't (or at least shouldn't) do an SMP. You can always do a postbac.

If your GPAs are low and you can improve them with additional undergrad study, then do more undergrad. It's cheaper and less risky than an SMP. After about 6 years, GPAs don't move anymore.

If your GPA is over 3.0 but under 3.4, and your MCAT is 30+, then do an SMP.

If your GPA is under 3.0, and you can't mathematically improve it (too much undergrad), then get your MCAT over 35 and do an SMP.

If your MCAT is low but your GPA is fine, retake the MCAT.

Any good SMP is going to be at least 2/3 as hard as medical school.

No postbac is going to be more than 1/3 as hard as medical school.

The first two years of medical school are roughly equivalent to a 25-hour all-science courseload, which roughly translates to a 75-hour study week. This has been described as drinking from a firehose.

There's a summary of SMP linkage in the 2009 SMP list at the top of this forum. Some structured postbacs (for those who still need to complete prereqs) have linkages; unstructured postbacs do not.

Based on your questions, I recommend that you spend a bunch of time reading the FAQs and other threads at the top of this forum.

Best of luck to you.

 

[deleted212936]

Thank you for your reply.
I already spent some time reading the sticky threads but still have questions.

1/ do med schools look more favorably on person A who did well in SMP or person B who did well in Post-bacc (which is a bit easier)?

2/ regarding SMP: how well should you do relative to med students in order to gain acceptance to med school?

Hope to get answers to these Q's as well

 

[DrMidlife]

1/ do med schools look more favorably on person A who did well in SMP or person B who did well in Post-bacc (which is a bit easier)?

There are too many factors to boil it down like this. Assuming your undergrad GPAs and MCAT can get you past the autoscreens at a med school, then the rest of the process is completely subjective. Person A might be incredibly mature and accomplished, and their strong SMP performance might be all they need to prove their case to the excom. Or Person A might be delusional about their self-packaging, come across as immature and/or a douchebag in interviews, and land in the reject pile despite a strong SMP performance and adequate numbers. Keep in mind that there are a whole lot of well-numbered and accomplished candidates in the reject pile, which is where 60% of all apps go.

Personally, if I had the choice between the following...
1. Do additional undergrad work to get my GPA to at least 3.4, get 35+ on the MCAT
2. With a 3.0-3.4 GPA and a 35+ MCAT, do insanely well in an SMP
...I would choose #1. Undergrad GPA trumps an SMP imho. (Wait for Perrotfish to pipe in - we disagree on this.)

2/ regarding SMP: how well should you do relative to med students in order to gain acceptance to med school?

Depends on the SMP, and it depends on what med school you're trying to get into, and really, there's no data on this. The SMPs that have anything like "linkages" typically reserve interview spots at their attached med school for the top 20% of SMP students. A well-organized SMP like Gtown will make your performance against med students part of their transcript package, but you don't have control over how this is perceived during the med school app process - what if your excom has never heard of an SMP?

Personally, I would not do an SMP with the expectation that "I'll be okay" in the bottom 75%. I would not view that as having proven my point, that I'm med school material despite undergrad indiscretions.

BOLTY.

 

[dblue10]

There are two reasons to do a postbac:
1. To complete medical school prereqs after finishing an undergrad degree
2. To improve undergrad GPAs with further undergrad study
(these reasons may overlap)

There is one reason to do an SMP:
1. Your undergrad GPAs are too low, or your application is too weak, to get you into medical school.

If you haven't completed the prereqs and taken the MCAT yet, then you can't (or at least shouldn't) do an SMP. You can always do a postbac.

If your GPAs are low and you can improve them with additional undergrad study, then do more undergrad. It's cheaper and less risky than an SMP. After about 6 years, GPAs don't move anymore.

If your GPA is over 3.0 but under 3.4, and your MCAT is 30+, then do an SMP.

If your GPA is under 3.0, and you can't mathematically improve it (too much undergrad), then get your MCAT over 35 and do an SMP.

If your MCAT is low but your GPA is fine, retake the MCAT.

Any good SMP is going to be at least 2/3 as hard as medical school.

No postbac is going to be more than 1/3 as hard as medical school.

The first two years of medical school are roughly equivalent to a 25-hour all-science courseload, which roughly translates to a 75-hour study week. This has been described as drinking from a firehose.

There's a summary of SMP linkage in the 2009 SMP list at the top of this forum. Some structured postbacs (for those who still need to complete prereqs) have linkages; unstructured postbacs do not.

Based on your questions, I recommend that you spend a bunch of time reading the FAQs and other threads at the top of this forum.

Best of luck to you.

wow thanks for this. a no-nonsense approach to figuring out my future is exactly what i neeeded