students in & around silicon valley- Bay area...

[knowthyself]

..where did you take or are taking your pre-reqs from and which school would you recommend?
SJSU, cal state hayward, de anza comm. college, chabot cc, ohlone ...which other institution?
About post-bacs:what does informal and formal mean. Is one advantageous over the otheras you can see, I am a little confused....

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[scottyT]

An informal post-bacc is just taking classes outside of a structured program to fulfill your pre-reqs. A formal post-bacc is a program that you have to apply to and [often] become a full-time student while you fulfill your pre-reqs. This is great because it shows admissions committees that you can handle a full load if there are spotty marks in your academic background. Most formal programs also have a pre-med/pre-health committee and can help you with your application process and advise you. I don't know if there are any of these programs in the bay area but hopefully someone else does know and can chime in.

I took two quarters of calculus at foothill college in Los Altos for personal development and thought the staff seemed very caring and capable. I know you "could" do most of your classes there or at another CC but you'll hear lots of conflicting advice as to whether a bunch of CC classes will hold you back when you apply. Take your classes at a four year institution if you can afford it.

 

[echidna]

First off, try to avoid doing pre-reqs at CC's. I emailed a couple of med school admissions depts directly and some said fine, others said they wouldn't count it (Davis comes to mind, I'm sure there are others).

If you can, go to SFSU- they have a great community of postbacc students and a ton of available resources along with a fully staffed advising office just for postbaccs. I just started there this summer and I'm happy as a clam. Avoid San Jose State too- the Animal Bio class I took was absurd, almost high school-level, and focused mainly on zoology. Their advising office consists of one anatomy professor who dispenses often accurate and even bizarre advice, like telling me I needed to take histology, immunology, and neurology before taking the MCAT(!).

I realize it all looks the same on a transcript, but I feel like my dollars are going a great deal farther in SF than further south. Good luck!

 

[sunsfan]

I second the SFSU recommendation. You'll find everything you need to know about SFSU formal and informal postbac programs here: http://online.sfsu.edu/~brothman/index.htm

If you have specific questions about these programs and want a student's point of view, feel free to PM me, coz I've been there a while now.

 

[handprint]

I'm in my second semester at SJSU and so far the quality of instruction has been fine, so I'm not sure what was up with the class that echidna took. That being said, I would agree that the advising system is pretty minimal. This has worked out okay for me, but I might feel differently next year when I'm actually applying...

The AAMC has a database of post-bacc programs here: http://services.aamc.org/postbac/ In the Bay Area, there are formal programs at SFSU, UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Mills. You can probably do an informal program at any CSU campus, but it depends on whether they have space for second baccalaureate/Open University students. Like previous posters have said, it's probably not a good idea to take prereqs at a community college, since some medical schools are picky about taking classes at a 4-year college.

One of the advantages of doing a formal program is that some of them have linkage agreements with medical schools (if you do well enough in the program, then you get a spot at the med school), but I think that Mills is the only one in the Bay Area with that kind of arrangement. It's also the most expensive one, since it's a private school, and it's actually competitive to get in.

If you've done too many of the prereqs, most formal programs won't admit you, because they want students to take classes as a cohort. Informal programs are more flexible in that way. In terms of the amount of time spent in class, you can do either kind of program on a full-time or part-time basis.

wow, I guess I had more to say about that than I thought. Anyway, here's the FAQ thread from the post-bacc forum, which you might want to take a look at: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=114425

 

[handprint]

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[ErinC9132]

I did one year at SFSU and one semester at SJSU, and I have to say that I thought SFSU was a lot better, in terms of the size/friendliness of the post-bacc community and the ease of navigating administrative stuff. I did the informal post-bacc at both places, and after talking to some people in SFSU's formal program (and hearing how much it costs!!!), I know I made the right choice.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions about either one!