Pros:
1. Small program means that you are not a number and will get personalized attention.
- This will directly impact your recommendation letter quality. Medical schools won't care about how many people recommended you, but rather how awesome you are to those people. So with this small group, you will get to know the people who will write something about you later. I know many of you probably are debating between this and some other programs like Georgetown's etc. I did too. But ask yourself this: do you really want your advisor advising 20+ of you or sit down and hang out with 6-7 of you monthly? I was in that situation, and I said "hmm.. 7:1 sounds better"
2. EXCELLENT professors
- I do mean this when I say you will have absolutely the best professors on this campus (with the exception of one or two classes). So far, this program has provided me with the most engaging and the most helpful professors here on campus (the kind that can teach you stuff, and have a coffee with). It will take some hard work and a keen interest for science classes as they are not going to be a breeze, but if you are truly serious about going into medicine and see this as a life long passion of yours, these classes should be a breeze.
3. Excellent support
- Class--the material you learn will directly correlate with your MCAT (and the classes you will take with the undergrads). The more you learn, the higher your score will go. Trust me on this.
- Extracurricular--this is the program's first year doing this, so they have made some mistakes. But with this cast of people, I have no doubt everything will be much smoother for you guys.
4. THE INSTRUCTOR
- During the program, there will be a person who will help you with anything problem you will encounter in medicine. He/she is probably better than the internet, and he/she will become your favorite person for as long as you are interested in medicine. No... I'm not joking.
5. It's San Diego!
6. Cost
- Last time I checked, Georgetown/ Cincy is around 40k+ a year
7. It's UCSD
- UCSD is a very research intensive institute. All the information you will learn will be on the cutting edge of medicine. If you don't think that's cool then I don't know what to tell you.
Cons
1. The "liberal arts classes"
- During summer quarter, you will encounter a couple of classes that will teach you a lot about the current state of healthcare. I enjoyed it! (meh). I think it's definitely necessary to learn about this because as physicians you are most likely going to encounter problems in healthcare, but making it a graded course? I don't know... sounds kind of like freshman year English to me.
- **Solution! I have talked with the program and they are strongly considering replacing those courses with others (yay). Georgetown and Tulane both have these seminars! (so this program is probably the lesser of the evils).
2. Its San Diego! (Please also see the P.S. section at the end)
Closing comments:
1. Summer quarter will build up your confidence. You will get a lot of As and you will feel like the terminator of classes (and say: hmm...I can do this with all this partying). But then when you start to take classes with the 300 other overly excited premeds in these upper science classes, your partying will catch up to you.
Lesson: grow up early, so you can avoid a sad fall quarter/ (especially) spring quarter
2. Let's be real, you're not going to study the MCAT when you get here. You're going to "study" and say you're going to take it in 2 days, ace it, and take your undergrad classes stress free with the MCAT off your back. Reality: not happening. So use summer to develop your study habits and apply those study habits during the year to ace the MCAT in April/May. Besides, remember when I said these classes are directly proportional to your MCAT score? Yeah... that'll be pretty helpful right?
Lesson: Rome was not built in a day. If you failed in undergrad, statistically, you're not going to do extremely well on your MCAT unless you're Bill Nye. So get better at school, and get the score you want.
3. MCAT studying is not something that can be taught (If you can, please contact me because I have a business proposition for you). It's nearly impossible to teach 4 of the most fundamental classes of science in a year. So what do you do? YOU DO YOU. Come up with a plan of study, go over the material yourself, and use instructors as a supplement as you try to understand the underlying connections between the material. You are still going to have some material fall through the cracks, but unless you did very well in undergrad (and remember everything) or Bill Nye, chances are you are not going to cover all the nuisances and make the 45 that we all want (If you do, contact me because I have a business proposition for you).
Lesson: Don't overly rely on the program to teach you MCAT. The program is not going to take your MCAT. YOU have to understand the material and take the MCAT.
4. This year is going to be rough at times. So be sure to develop a hobby (exercising, yoga, swimming with seals, etc.).
Lesson: Distract yourself at times so you don't go insane.
This is certainly not the best program, but it's definitely one of the most promising program now that I have been through 3 quarters of it. My last advise to you is definitely this: no matter where you go,
YOU will have to decide that: "this IS the right thing for me, and I'm going to go for it." When that happens, you will find classes to be no longer boring, you will want to learn more, and you will ace the MCAT. Use this year to find yourself. Only then will medical schools allow the future you to treat the future people, no matter which Post bac program you choose.
P.S. Many of you worry about cost. I urge you to not let this play a big part of your decision. I'll give you an applicable (but terrible!) example as to why you shouldn't
You're a broke boxer that no one believes in. The only way you can make your money back is to put your last 30k into betting yourself in your fight against a prized fighter. Your odds are now 500:1. The consequences of that is you will now train hard to get your money back and not be broke.
Say you put in a dollar to bet on yourself. How hard will you train?
Now say that you put in all 30k to bet on yourself. How hard will you train?
This should answer the cost question. But medicine, as you are will find out/already found out, is not just about money. True success will only come from YOUR desire to become great, the desire to learn, and the desire to become the greatest boxer in the world.
