PostBac Direction Question

[EngineerToMD]

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Hello everyone!

I'm a rising senior BME student who is planning to do a PhD prior to applying to medical school. I would apply for a joint program, but I will have the option to complete the PhD in a short time at my current school (I'm able to start the courses and research now, my PI is really great about giving students due credit), and I've yet to finish all the pre-med course requirements. The decision to add the MD to my life is rather recent, but I'm certain it's something I'm passionate about.

So this question is more for long term planning, ie when I approach applying to medical school. As a BME undergrad, I completed my general chemistry, biology, and physics requirements to get them done for my degree. I didn't place any special emphasis on these courses like a traditional pre-med would. This has put my sGPA in a lower position than it should be. Now, I'm looking down the barrel at likely a postbac or extra BCPM in my free time, which I don't have any problem with. My other numbers are great, but as we know, BME does not fit into AMCAS's BCPM category.

As such, I'm wondering which of these approaches I should take for my 'free time.'

1. Retake those introductory BCPM classes in my spare time, which would certainly help for my MCAT prep.
2. Show that I can hang in the upper level BCPM classes and demonstrate mastery of the other material on the MCATs
3. A little of both.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[NotAsking4Much]

If it's a C- or below, retake it. If it's C-->B-/C+, that's your decision. Anything else don't retake.

I had a situation similar to yours and I took route #2.

 

[yamaraja808]

Also try to see if some of the BME course are concurrent with other departments.

I am going to take a course in Molecular Cell Biology and it fall under my masters program Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE). However, it also falls under the Microbiology masters program. So if I ever do run into problems in my AMCAS I can make the claim that it falls under Microbiology.

Make sure the courses you take under the BME program are BCMP courses. I am sure a few of them will be (so that you won't waste too much time on repeating undergrad courses or taking courses that don't count toward your phD).

 

[EngineerToMD]

Thanks so much for the advice. I don't have any C-'s, I only have one C, and that was in the first semester of general chemistry. The rest of the ones I'm concerned about are a few B-'s. I will be taking a few courses under BME that will count as BCPM, but there are only so many. I think I'll see if there are upper level courses in BCPM that genuinely interest me, and take them if they fit.

 

[OhioDoc]

Hello everyone!

I'm a rising senior BME student who is planning to do a PhD prior to applying to medical school. I would apply for a joint program, but I will have the option to complete the PhD in a short time at my current school (I'm able to start the courses and research now, my PI is really great about giving students due credit), and I've yet to finish all the pre-med course requirements. The decision to add the MD to my life is rather recent, but I'm certain it's something I'm passionate about.

So this question is more for long term planning, ie when I approach applying to medical school. As a BME undergrad, I completed my general chemistry, biology, and physics requirements to get them done for my degree. I didn't place any special emphasis on these courses like a traditional pre-med would. This has put my sGPA in a lower position than it should be. Now, I'm looking down the barrel at likely a postbac or extra BCPM in my free time, which I don't have any problem with. My other numbers are great, but as we know, BME does not fit into AMCAS's BCPM category.

As such, I'm wondering which of these approaches I should take for my 'free time.'

1. Retake those introductory BCPM classes in my spare time, which would certainly help for my MCAT prep.
2. Show that I can hang in the upper level BCPM classes and demonstrate mastery of the other material on the MCATs
3. A little of both.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I would suggest tackling some upper level BCPM courses, for two reasons.

First, with AMCAS, when you retake a course, both the original grade and the "new" grade are factored into your GPA (even if your institution does not do it that way)

Second, by succeeding in upper level courses, you're showing that you've been able to master the fundamentals as well as handle the more difficult concepts.