Amalasuntha
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Hello! I am very new to this website and am just trying to find some honest feedback on whether or not it is realistic to apply for a post bacc for the 2023-2024 school year. I was looking into some post baccs in my home state of Florida but am also seriously considering more competitive schools like Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Johns Hopkins, GWU, and Georgetown.
I am 23 years old and will graduate next June with a master's in history. I have a bachelor's degree in history and anthropology from the University of Florida. My undergrad GPA was 3.91, I had one major publication in my field, as well as an honors thesis. My graduate GPA as of now is 3.56, and I was on a few committees/ student activities and worked in a museum as well. I am unsure if they look at high school transcripts as well but my high school GPA was 4.0 unweighted and 5.73 weighted.
My standardized test scores are always average, never steller. I am always a better oral communicator and do better in courses than on standardized tests. My SAT was 1930 in 2015 (converted to the new scoring I think it is 1370), my ACT was a 27, and my GRE was a 162 verbal, 150 quantitative, and 4.5 writing. My quantitative score was embarrassingly low because it had been 4 years since I had taken a math course and I was not particularly trying as I was pursuing a degree in history at the time. Many of my programs did not require it because of the pandemic so I was debating leaving it out on my applications to post baccs.
I took almost exclusively "college-level" courses through either AICE or AP during my junior and senior years including Calc 1 and 2, AICE Math, Stats, and Bio 1. The only science-related courses I took as an undergrad was human osteology and biological anthropology. So in every sense, I am a full-on career changer with no pre-requisites completed.
While I have been flirting with the idea of switching career paths and turning to medicine for about a year and a half now, I finally convinced myself that it was not completely out of the realm of possibilities around January. I did not want to go in blind, however, so I am trying to get some exposure to see if it is truly a good fit for me as it is so drastically different from what I have studied in the past.
Unfortunately, the pandemic, finishing up a master's, and moving have caused me to postpone clinical experience. I attempted to volunteer at my local hospitals but they require 6 months commitment and I knew I was moving out of state before then. I contacted the hospital where I am moving to and am hoping to hear back soon if they have any opportunities. I am also enrolling in an EMT course from Aug to Dec pending passing my CPR course. If I enjoy the work, which I expect I will, I plan on working as an EMT full time until enrolling in a post bacc. My main concern is applying early for the 2023 school year with only 2-4 months of clinical exposure and volunteering.
I am also unwilling to give up my passion for history completely even though I no longer wish to pursue a full-time career in it so I will be volunteering part-time at a local museum and will likely continue to do community outreach on local history. I am a bit worried this may make me look like I am undecided about switching career fields.
Lastly, I know the question of why a career in medicine is more important than any stats I can give. I just noticed that this post is becoming rather long so I can answer that separately if anyone is curious as to why I decided to completely change fields.
I am 23 years old and will graduate next June with a master's in history. I have a bachelor's degree in history and anthropology from the University of Florida. My undergrad GPA was 3.91, I had one major publication in my field, as well as an honors thesis. My graduate GPA as of now is 3.56, and I was on a few committees/ student activities and worked in a museum as well. I am unsure if they look at high school transcripts as well but my high school GPA was 4.0 unweighted and 5.73 weighted.
My standardized test scores are always average, never steller. I am always a better oral communicator and do better in courses than on standardized tests. My SAT was 1930 in 2015 (converted to the new scoring I think it is 1370), my ACT was a 27, and my GRE was a 162 verbal, 150 quantitative, and 4.5 writing. My quantitative score was embarrassingly low because it had been 4 years since I had taken a math course and I was not particularly trying as I was pursuing a degree in history at the time. Many of my programs did not require it because of the pandemic so I was debating leaving it out on my applications to post baccs.
I took almost exclusively "college-level" courses through either AICE or AP during my junior and senior years including Calc 1 and 2, AICE Math, Stats, and Bio 1. The only science-related courses I took as an undergrad was human osteology and biological anthropology. So in every sense, I am a full-on career changer with no pre-requisites completed.
While I have been flirting with the idea of switching career paths and turning to medicine for about a year and a half now, I finally convinced myself that it was not completely out of the realm of possibilities around January. I did not want to go in blind, however, so I am trying to get some exposure to see if it is truly a good fit for me as it is so drastically different from what I have studied in the past.
Unfortunately, the pandemic, finishing up a master's, and moving have caused me to postpone clinical experience. I attempted to volunteer at my local hospitals but they require 6 months commitment and I knew I was moving out of state before then. I contacted the hospital where I am moving to and am hoping to hear back soon if they have any opportunities. I am also enrolling in an EMT course from Aug to Dec pending passing my CPR course. If I enjoy the work, which I expect I will, I plan on working as an EMT full time until enrolling in a post bacc. My main concern is applying early for the 2023 school year with only 2-4 months of clinical exposure and volunteering.
I am also unwilling to give up my passion for history completely even though I no longer wish to pursue a full-time career in it so I will be volunteering part-time at a local museum and will likely continue to do community outreach on local history. I am a bit worried this may make me look like I am undecided about switching career fields.
Lastly, I know the question of why a career in medicine is more important than any stats I can give. I just noticed that this post is becoming rather long so I can answer that separately if anyone is curious as to why I decided to completely change fields.
