PostBac

[OhioStateUnderG]

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Hello,

For awhile I have been struggling with medicine. Straight out of h.s. this was the plan, but then I fell out of that and pursued a different route (more research based in a specific field lacking in the sciences) but have come back to medicine in the past 18 months of thinking, reading, planning, etc.

I graduated in 2011 and began my stint in Teach For America (currently going into my 2nd year). My uGPA is 3.43 and sGPA was calculated at 3.2 (by myself- could be errors) and includes 2 quarters of physics (incomplete), calculus, 2 quarters of biology and general chem. I would guess I am about halfway through the prereqs for medical school and have been talking with a few correspondents of specific programs, specifically Wash U postbac and John Hopkins postbac.

I am curious if a postbac seems to be the best route, or if something more like research and take classes at a state school in evenings (save money, but take longer) would make more sense. I will be doing my 2nd year of TFA 2012-2013 year and am looking to start taking these courses ASAP (i.e. Summer 2013), but am still torn. I have a strong research background in neuroscience as well as clinical psychology (no interest here) and believe I could find a position through recent connections, but also recognize that if I plan to go to medical school I need to be heavily invest in the courses as well as brushing up on gen chem, bio, etc. for the MCAT.

Any suggestions? (also will have a Master's in Secondary Education, kinda came with the TFA program, and currently have a 4.0 but realize that graduate GPA is inconsequential for the most part)

Thanks.

 

[SixStringPsych]

Some formal post bac programs may not take you due to the fact that you have taken any of the courses already. What are WashU and Johns Hopkins saying to you? May be better to just take classes on your own and do research/volunteer/shadow (gotta make sure you have all these experiences, maybe get a letter out of one of them). Not necessarily full time research or anything, I suggest full time coursework with volunteer based work on the side.
You need to take organic chemistry and finish physics since you said it was incomplete, and may as well take some upper level Bio (biochem, microbio, etc) and do WELL to show you are a top notch student now.

Depending when you take the MCAT, within a year or two you could apply 🙂