Retake Classes or PostBac

[hailai27]

I have some C's in my prequisite courses like ochem and some in my upper division course like cell bio and virology.
I was accepted in post-bac at csueb but that program only has courses similar to my upper division courses. As a result, I can only replace my upper division grades by going to this post-bac.
I'm deciding whether or not I should stay at home and retake my undergraduate prequisites at a community college or accept the post-bac program and retake some of my upper division courses while taking some new ones as well.
Thanks!!!

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[baxt1412]

retaking classes is essentially just an informal post-bacc.

you can retake ALL of your classes outside of that post-bacc whereas, like you mentioned, you can only retake a few of them in the post-bacc. getting more credits with As will still help, but seeing as you probably already have 110+, it won't help as much as simply retaking your lowest grades for grade replacement.

i would suggest doing it informally. community college would be fine.

 

[doapplicant2015]

Save the money and retake your lowest grades at the cheapest place you can find

 

[Osteopath999]

If you have money and as I know you are eligible for federal loans for this post-bacc even though it is a non-degree program, then I recommend you this program to enhance your academics. There are two tracks - academic enhancer and career changer, so even though you enter the program as academic enhancer you are still eligible to take pre-req courses such as Gen-chem, Ochem, physics, etc. Besides, they also recently offer Psychology and behavioral science to prepare you for the new MCAT. Plus, you have discounted MCAT prep on-site from Kaplan at campus for about only $300 each person, you also have the chance to obtain committee letter, do mock interviews, and helpful academic advising sessions with the faculty... And remember this is a California State University, it is a 4 year institution, adcom will look at it differently from community college... Your job is to take all of the advantages of the program and do well.. Then you will be fine.

Once again, it is expensive, but you have 1 year federal loans for up to $30K, and it is worth every penny if you truly work hard in this program.

 

[doapplicant2015]

Once again, it is expensive, but you have 1 year federal loans for up to $30K, and it is worth every penny if you truly work hard in this program.

I am assuming the OP has the pre-req's done as the program only offers courses such as his upper division sciences. OP if your GPA is near or above 3.0 and you are just looking to improve it a bit by retaking courses please do yourself a favor and do it as cheaply as you can. Unless the post-bacc has a bridge to an MD program you are interested in, do not go into $30k of debt just to push your GPA up by a few decimal points.

As I'm sure you're aware DO allows grade replacement and they don't care if you replace those grades at Easy Close and Cheap CC or Harvard. Retake your C courses and save the money for your applications and interviews.

 

[Buddy.the.Elf]

I did the academic enhancer track through this program. I decided not to retake O-chem (C's in all 3 quarters in it from undergrad). I retook biochem and then took a bunch of other upper division science courses. You can retake any pre-reqs as the program offers all the pre-reqs (generally for the career changers, but open to anyone in the program). I liked this program because you take classes only for post-bacc students, so you don't have to worry about fighting with the regular undergrad students for registration and you're surrounded by all students in the same position as you (gives it a nice community feeling). The directors and faculty are very supportive, and they provide a lot of resources. I've been accepted into 2 schools so far, so it worked well for me! For what it's worth, I kept costs low by living at home and commuting an hour to school and only going to school 2 days a week so I could work as much as I could. Any questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

I retook some classes, but because I was many years out of school, I focused more on taking UL science courses and getting As on them, while working full time. I got in... Kinda depends on where you are in the scheme of life!

 

[Osteopath999]

I am assuming the OP has the pre-req's done as the program only offers courses such as his upper division sciences. OP if your GPA is near or above 3.0 and you are just looking to improve it a bit by retaking courses please do yourself a favor and do it as cheaply as you can. Unless the post-bacc has a bridge to an MD program you are interested in, do not go into $30k of debt just to push your GPA up by a few decimal points.

As I'm sure you're aware DO allows grade replacement and they don't care if you replace those grades at Easy Close and Cheap CC or Harvard. Retake your C courses and save the money for your applications and interviews.

The fact that this program offers not just upper division courses but also lower division courses for the pre-req. definitely CC is cheaper, but for the program, your money is well-invested, you pay for the course, and you have tons of helpful ECs, international medical trips, academic advising, etc. all sponsored by the school. So, taking the program not just enhances OP's academics but also ECs. I just want the OP to think about all the benefits she can have with the program as compared to CC. For the post-bacc with linkage to MD program, do you think it is easy to get into? If it is easy, then everyone becomes MD through such program. It is like a conditional acceptance to MD, adcoms dont easily take weak applicants and for such program, very limited number of applicants are accepted.

FYI, I am a CSUEB post-bacc alumni, I only had to spend $15k to enhance my academics for 1 year (4 full-time quarters, one of those is summer). I applied this cycle and succeeded with a bunch of interview invites and acceptances, hold at some place but no rejections thus far. I dont regret taking this program, it helps me very much more than I expected in terms of academics, ECs, and LoRs.

I also personally talked to a few adcoms, they said they take into account competitiveness of the school and the major... Do you think a post-bacc at a California state university is as easy as at CC? I value your opinion and advice to save money, but if you dont know anything about the program spcified by the OP, how could you compare the benefits and advantage other than just the money?

I have a suggestion and it is up to you. If you also want to save money, then you can retake pre-req at CC and take upper division courses at CSUEB, this program actually also lets you choose which course to take to enhance your academics, some professors are from UC Bekerkley, so the level of difficulty is not changed much.

Once again, it is your choice OP ! Either retaking at CC or CSUEB post-bacc, you need to work very hard towards your goal !

 

[Osteopath999]

I did the academic enhancer track through this program. I decided not to retake O-chem (C's in all 3 quarters in it from undergrad). I retook biochem and then took a bunch of other upper division science courses. You can retake any pre-reqs as the program offers all the pre-reqs (generally for the career changers, but open to anyone in the program). I liked this program because you take classes only for post-bacc students, so you don't have to worry about fighting with the regular undergrad students for registration and you're surrounded by all students in the same position as you (gives it a nice community feeling). The directors and faculty are very supportive, and they provide a lot of resources. I've been accepted into 2 schools so far, so it worked well for me! For what it's worth, I kept costs low by living at home and commuting an hour to school and only going to school 2 days a week so I could work as much as I could. Any questions, feel free to PM me.

Hehe, I was wondering who you are

 

[doapplicant2015]

I applied this cycle and succeeded with a bunch of interview invites and acceptances, hold at some place but no rejections thus far. I dont regret taking this program, it helps me very much more than I expected in terms of academics, ECs, and LoRs.

Fair enough, and for sake of argument I am in the same boat after having done my entire post-bacc with all pre-reqs at CC. I aced every single one of my classes there as well as my MCAT and it has more than paid off.

I only push the State school/CC route because coming into this whole ordeal I had no idea where to begin taking my pre-req classes and almost dropped over $50k on an official "post-bacc" because I thought it was the only way to med school at the time. Both ways obviously have worked, and if this program is in the OP's back yard, perhaps the convenience of attending is worth it. I just want it to be known that this is not the end-all be-all to getting into medical school and there are tons of different routes that will get you where you want to be, assuming the proper work is put in.

Congrats on your acceptances