should i do a post bacc program? *PLEASE HELP!*

[zgotts]

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first of all, im glad to have found this forum!

alright, i am about to graduate with a BA in Neuroscience with about at 3.0. i know i could have done better, everyone around me knows i could have done better, and i want to have some flexibility in choosing a graduate program.

it seems that most people do these post-bacc programs to prep for med school... it grad school no different? (i know that is probably a stupid question, but i had to ask).

thanks!!

 

[Perrotfish]

From the experience of people on this board, medical schools consider your graduate and undergraduate GPAs serperately. They mostly consider your graduate GPA by not considering it at all, which means that if you want to get into medical school you need to bring up that undergraduate GPA. Which means more undergraduate courses.

The exception to this rule is an SMP. These are programs that are specifically designed to get you into a medical school. Basically you take classes with the students at the medical school hosting the SMP. If you do well in medical school coursework, graded against other medical students, it will generally improve your application enough to get you into medical school despite your Ugrad GPA (assuming you have a good MCAT, etc.). With a GPA as low as yours (I know a 3.0 doesn't seem that low, but the average matriculant these days has a 3.7) you should probably try and ace the MCAT and then go for the SMP.

Good Luck

 

[zgotts]

hmm okay. i probably should have specified that i really have no intentions of going to medical school, just graduate school to get a PhD.

i have taken pretty much all the necessary requirements for a Neuroscience graduate program, with the exception of Physics and Calculus. also, i am not too pleased with my grades in certain courses, particularly introductory Biology and Biochemistry.

i figure if I go and take Biology, Physics, Calc, and Biochemistry, and got A's I could vastly improve my GPA and overall status.

at the same time, however, I really want to get in some solid research experience, both for personal interest and because I have heard it can often overcome a low GPA in applying to grad programs.

so back to my original question... are post-bacc programs specifically for MD programs, or do people entering PhD programs also do post-bacc programs?

 

[fireflygirl]

hmm okay. i probably should have specified that i really have no intentions of going to medical school, just graduate school to get a PhD.

i have taken pretty much all the necessary requirements for a Neuroscience graduate program, with the exception of Physics and Calculus. also, i am not too pleased with my grades in certain courses, particularly introductory Biology and Biochemistry.

i figure if I go and take Biology, Physics, Calc, and Biochemistry, and got A's I could vastly improve my GPA and overall status.

at the same time, however, I really want to get in some solid research experience, both for personal interest and because I have heard it can often overcome a low GPA in applying to grad programs.

so back to my original question... are post-bacc programs specifically for MD programs, or do people entering PhD programs also do post-bacc programs?

I am not sure if post bacs are really intended for anything other than med school however, Penn does have a post bac in Clinical Psych which leads most down the path of getting a PhD rather than med school. Not sure what direction you are leaning in terms of PhD but if you are thinking of anything neuro/pscyh related, this might be a program for you. Another thing to do would be to check out http://services.aamc.org/postbac/ and see if any of these post-bac offer programs specificially for science oriented grad school programs.

 

[Isoprop]

taking informal post-baccs to raise your gpa can improve your chances into grad school. they consider your undergraduate gpa also. more importantly, you will need some sort of research experience.

 

[Lokhtar]

Straight up PhD? Get a Masters degree, and do lots of research.

In PhD, research recommendations and quality of research >>> everything else. Unlike medical school, a master's degree will help and will allow you to build a good research CV. Basically, you should be trying to get research, and then more research and then when you think you can't get any more research done - do some more research. Then apply, and you'll be fine. PhD schools are more lenient with grades, but they LOVE research (since PhD is a research degree, it makes sense).

 

[zgotts]

okay thanks for the response. this is what i was hoping to hear and what i figured. i've applied to some jobs in research right now at Rockefeller U and Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, but i'm afraid my 3.0 GPA may be the deterring factor. in case those don't work out i think looking into a master's is the right idea.

i still am worried about my GPA, as I am really hoping to get into a NS graduate program at like University of Michigan or big school in California, but I guess enough people have told me that good research experience is top priority, so i should probably start believing them.

thanks again for your input guys.

 

[Perrotfish]

Straight up PhD? Ask someone trying to get one. You´re just gonna get bad advice here. Go to the forums on PhD comics, or somewhere, and ask what to do about your chances there. No one here is going to give you competent advice, unless it´s by accident. We just haven´t done the research.

 

[akszp4]

I agree with the above poster, you'll need to ask someone who is planning on enrolling in a master/ phd program. You may want to try going to the college confidential forums and then to graduate school. They have a zillion 🙂rolleyes🙂 topics covering this issue.