Stay in Post-Bacc?

[Tally Keys]

Hey all!

I graduated in May and decided very late in the game to apply to medical school. So I enrolled in a 1 year post-bacc program to raise my GPA and be more competitive, I thought.

I'm in the first semester now. The program is wonderful, but expensive. They calculated my GPA's when I met with an advisor and asked why I hadn't applied to their school instead of doing this program. Regardless, I NEED to retake organic chemistry 1 (just lecture) to be competitive at any other school (both MD and DO). My question is, do schools look poorly at you if you only do 1 semester of a post-bacc? Assuming they know its a year program (taking it at a medical school though).

I thought it might be in my best interests to instead of doing the second half of the post-bacc (which is basically all upper level science courses I have already taken and have no reason to repeat) to take organic chemistry and retake my MCAT to apply next cycle. Since ochem is really what I could repeat to improve.

However, if medical schools look at one semester and say "NOPE, she quit" obviously I don't want to hurt my odds. I have a good GPA in this post-bacc, hoping to finish with a 3.4 or 3.5 of this semester, and was just planning not to come back for the second and save 10 grand to apply towards MCAT prep course and ochem once more. Can anyone give me any insight? I don't even know if this is something people do, I'm not trying to leave because I'm doing poorly, I just am already retaking anatomy and physiology this semester which is really unnecessary (but I mean, it'll help my BCMP GPA so its fine) and don't want to retake another 4 courses next semester.

My stats if it helps with your response:
- 3.57 overall
- 3.20 science
- 3,000+ hours patient contact (EMT work and volunteer)
- 2 Honor societies, pre-soma, leadership roles in professional chemistry fraternity
- Organized and ran 3 bone marrow registry drives on my campus through my frat
- A few different awards, EMT of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, a few county EMT awards
- EMT 4 years, volunteer 2 organizations 6 years total + 4 years work as EMT
- Anything I may be missing just let me know and I'll add it!
- Never applied to and MD/DO schools before, so next year would be my first cycle attempt

Thank you so much!

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[MonkeyArrow]

A 3.4 or 3.5 in a post-bacc isn't generally considered good enough. You want to kill the post-bacc (>3.7) to bring up your GPA (slightly), and probably more importantly, show to adcoms that you can handle the rigors of middle school over a sustained period of time. One semester achieved neither of those goals: it may actually drop your GPA and doesn't prove that you can handle anything, both due to brief length and mediocre grades.

EDIT: Unless you mean the post-bacc at the end of the semester will bring you (s?)GPA up to a 3.4 or 3.5, at which point the other point about longevity stands.

 

[MareNostrummm]

If you wanted to improve your standing with MD schools you need all As/A-s in your post bacc. Also one semester isn't enough because anyone can buckle down and go hard for 1 semester. You need to finish both, second semester with all As/A-s as well. Maybe 1 B+ won't hurt you. Otherwise I think you will have better chances with DO.

 

[Tally Keys]

If you wanted to improve your standing with MD schools you need all As/A-s in your post bacc. Also one semester isn't enough because anyone can buckle down and go hard for 1 semester. You need to finish both, second semester with all As/A-s as well. Maybe 1 B+ won't hurt you. Otherwise I think you will have better chances with DO.

I would prefer the DO route actually so it doesn't bug me. I just feel that I didn't necessarily need the post-bacc for DO but I get length shows intention in applying to med school. I'm hoping my post-bacc GPA will rise, its currently at a 3.5 but we haven't had any exams in 2 of our courses yet so that changes things once we have them. I'll try to kill this post-bacc and return to the thought at the end of the first semester

 

[workaholic181]

Hey all!

I graduated in May and decided very late in the game to apply to medical school. So I enrolled in a 1 year post-bacc program to raise my GPA and be more competitive, I thought.

I'm in the first semester now. The program is wonderful, but expensive. They calculated my GPA's when I met with an advisor and asked why I hadn't applied to their school instead of doing this program. Regardless, I NEED to retake organic chemistry 1 (just lecture) to be competitive at any other school (both MD and DO). My question is, do schools look poorly at you if you only do 1 semester of a post-bacc? Assuming they know its a year program (taking it at a medical school though).

I thought it might be in my best interests to instead of doing the second half of the post-bacc (which is basically all upper level science courses I have already taken and have no reason to repeat) to take organic chemistry and retake my MCAT to apply next cycle. Since ochem is really what I could repeat to improve.

However, if medical schools look at one semester and say "NOPE, she quit" obviously I don't want to hurt my odds. I have a good GPA in this post-bacc, hoping to finish with a 3.4 or 3.5 of this semester, and was just planning not to come back for the second and save 10 grand to apply towards MCAT prep course and ochem once more. Can anyone give me any insight? I don't even know if this is something people do, I'm not trying to leave because I'm doing poorly, I just am already retaking anatomy and physiology this semester which is really unnecessary (but I mean, it'll help my BCMP GPA so its fine) and don't want to retake another 4 courses next semester.

My stats if it helps with your response:
- 3.57 overall
- 3.20 science
- 3,000+ hours patient contact (EMT work and volunteer)
- 2 Honor societies, pre-soma, leadership roles in professional chemistry fraternity
- Organized and ran 3 bone marrow registry drives on my campus through my frat
- A few different awards, EMT of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, a few county EMT awards
- EMT 4 years, volunteer 2 organizations 6 years total + 4 years work as EMT
- Anything I may be missing just let me know and I'll add it!
- Never applied to and MD/DO schools before, so next year would be my first cycle attempt

Thank you so much!

If you can still get out of it and get your money back, why not just do a "do it yourself" post bacc at a local CC? Especially if you just need one or two classes?

 

[MareNostrummm]

If you can still get out of it and get your money back, why not just do a "do it yourself" post bacc at a local CC? Especially if you just need one or two classes?

Post bacc at a local CC isn't that impressive unless OPs taking new prereqs. He'd have to take the semester at a 4 year university.

 

[Tally Keys]

Post bacc at a local CC isn't that impressive unless OPs taking new prereqs. He'd have to take the semester at a 4 year university.

What do you mean new prereqs? I have all the prereqs to apply, I just got a C in ochem I and want to improve that grade to not get thrown out for one grade. I didn't think my stats were that horrible for DO schools, I know my science is low but I'm not trying to apply to an Ivy MD school or anything, I know my limitations. I really just wanted to know if leaving a post-bacc for financial reasons in decent standing was seen as an immediate "no" pile placement because I think it would be in my best interests to raise ochem and kill the MCAT.

 

[MareNostrummm]

What do you mean new prereqs? I have all the prereqs to apply, I just got a C in ochem I and want to improve that grade to not get thrown out for one grade. I didn't think my stats were that horrible for DO schools, I know my science is low but I'm not trying to apply to an Ivy MD school or anything, I know my limitations. I really just wanted to know if leaving a post-bacc for financial reasons in decent standing was seen as an immediate "no" pile placement because I think it would be in my best interests to raise ochem and kill the MCAT.

New prereqs means you are taking gen chem/biochem/physics or whatever for the first time. It's okay to take that at a CC. But if you are retaking classes (ochem) you should do it at a 4 year. Or if you are taking classes to prove you can handle medical school rigor then they should be at a 4 year.