SGU post bacc for Non-trad.

[pnikk]

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Has anyone applied for the SGU post-bacc program for 2015 admissions? Haven't heard much about the program in the past 2 years. Have any non-traditional students applied and/or attended and can tell me about the pros and cons of it?

For those wondering, I have a 2.9 uGPA & no sciences (studied social sciences & slacked off). My 3rd & 4th years were almost all A's but can't write the MCAT because I don't have the science background. Any thoughts? I'll be 26 in 2015 so want to find the most financially sound/fastest way to get into medical school.

Thanks!

 

[Law2Doc]

Has anyone applied for the SGU post-bacc program for 2015 admissions? Haven't heard much about the program in the past 2 years. Have any non-traditional students applied and/or attended and can tell me about the pros and cons of it?

For those wondering, I have a 2.9 uGPA & no sciences (studied social sciences & slacked off). My 3rd & 4th years were almost all A's but can't write the MCAT because I don't have the science background. Any thoughts? I'll be 26 in 2015 so want to find the most financially sound/fastest way to get into medical school.

Thanks!

There are no short cuts. The doors are closing rapidly for Caribbean grads as US med school enrollment is increasing and in a few years will start to approximate the number of residency slots. That's the reason you haven't heard a lot of buzz about this path - it's just a bad bet right now and going forward.

26 is hardly running out of time. If you want to be a doctor put in the time. Most people who go offshore end up losing years through high attrition, inability to schedule rotations timely, taking more then 4 years to graduate due to internal school hurdles, having difficulty matching, having to repeat prelim years if they are even lucky to match into one. So the notion that you will get done faster going offshore is often more of a punchline.

 

[DrMidlife]

SGU has great marketing. I shouldn't be surprised to see the Carib fantasy extended to premed programs.

Don't be a marketing victim.

 

[Ronald Kris]

There are no short cuts. The doors are closing rapidly for Caribbean grads as US med school enrollment is increasing and in a few years will start to approximate the number of residency slots. That's the reason you haven't heard a lot of buzz about this path - it's just a bad bet right now and going forward.

26 is hardly running out of time. If you want to be a doctor put in the time. Most people who go offshore end up losing years through high attrition, inability to schedule rotations timely, taking more then 4 years to graduate due to internal school hurdles, having difficulty matching, having to repeat prelim years if they are even lucky to match into one. So the notion that you will get done faster going offshore is often more of a punchline.

hmmmm, "most," eh. But what percentage of them land residencies within 2 years? See, I'm potentially looking to go the medicine root but time is an issue: I'll be 26 in 6 weeks. I find this interesting because even a doctor (MD/DO) who does family medicine/IM-only will get paid better than most financial analysts (barring high-level IBD and a few traders) and lawyers (except BigLaw drones). Not to mention job security and work/life balance.

But then again, this program SMELLS of "too good to be true."

edit: I presume the OP is talking this: http://www.sgu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/post-baccalaureate-program.html

 

[drcrispmd]

Here are the requirements for sgu: http://www.sgu.edu/school-of-medicine/sgu-medical-sciences-admissions.html

This "post bac" you are talking about is their pre-med program. If you have not taken any sciences you will have to start as pre-med year 1. It is a 3 year program. Most of you classmates will be from the Caribbean. You still have to take the mcat. I do not think you can take out gov't loans for this path.

There are no short cuts to medicine.
You need to take the pre-reqs in the US and see how you do. Not everyone is cut out for these classes.

 

[DrMidlife]

I'll be 26 in 6 weeks.

Yawn. Make your decisions based on a whole lot more than how old you are.

 

[Law2Doc]

hmmmm, "most," eh. But what percentage of them land residencies within 2 years? See, I'm potentially looking to go the medicine root but time is an issue: I'll be 26 in 6 weeks. I find this interesting because even a doctor (MD/DO) who does family medicine/IM-only will get paid better than most financial analysts (barring high-level IBD and a few traders) and lawyers (except BigLaw drones). Not to mention job security and work/life balance.

But then again, this program SMELLS of "too good to be true."

edit: I presume the OP is talking this: http://www.sgu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/post-baccalaureate-program.html

First 26 is still young. Get over that.

Second, an enormous number of offshore med students don't graduate due to attrition and of those that do, 40% match, although some of those matches are into dead end prelims. And things have been getting tighter each year -- the 40% will be 20% by the time you finish.

Third, you are looking at income wrong. The time value of money is huge such that a lower salary today is worth more than a higher salary a decade from now. If you can start as a lawyer or analyst today it will be tough to ever catch up in medicine where your first attending paycheck won't come for a decade and you'll have years of debt until then.

Finally, I've never heard anyone suggest that doctors have a better work life balance than other fields but if you believe that I gave a bridge in Brooklyn I'm happy to sell you.

Lots of poor thought processes going on here. It's just a bad idea so many ways. Good luck with that.

 

[grape_grandpa]

Finally decided to join this forum to respond here.

I'm in current cohort for this program.

I'd say your stats are about there, especially if you've got some good LOR's and some type of experience in the medical field it's worth applying.

I think the program is great, and the appeal is that a seat in their SOM is saved as long as you meet their requirements, which are totally doable as long as you work hard. It's a real crash course in premedical sciences, but people running the program generally do a good job. Talking to the current med students, they say the post-baccs are usually toward the top of the class, since you get exposure to A&P and biochem.

As has been previously stated, you are young, so don't get too antsy. Have you tried applying to post baccs in the US? If not, can't hurt to try. Crank out your prereqs and rock the MCAT and apply to MD/DO schools and see what happens.

If you really want to spend 3 years studying in the Caribbean (Grenada is a really beautiful place, but it's no first world country), and you already know you want to do primary care (about 90% of graduates will go into these residencies), and don't have any issues living on the East Coast for your clinical rotations and residency, then I recommend this route.

You can do searches to see where graduates get residencies, and to get a sense of the percentage of graduates who actually do place. It's well above the average for IMGs, but obviously it's below any MD and the majority DO programs. The quality of education is actually really good, but the stigma when trying to get a residency is something you can't avoid. Past results also are no guarantee of future results, and the landscape is changing with more DO and MD schools and no funding for additional residencies. If you go to SGU you can't coast. You have to aim for the tops and ace the boards.