What's the difference between a 5th yr and Postbacc?

[Skan]

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What's the difference between a 5th yr and Postbacc? If doing a 5th yr and receive all A's and already completed all major and med school requirements, then do u really need a postbacc?

Thanks!

 

[hung]

5th year grades are counted with your 4th year grades so on AMCAS you don't have a separate info row for your 5th yr gpa. There is a separate gpa row for post bacc. It is hard to answer your question without specific numbers like gpa and mcat. is there an upward trend before the 5th yr, a lot of schools want to see at least two years of upward trend.

 

[Skan]

I hope any 5th year grades and continuing upward trend won't go unoticed...

 

[kami333]

Classes you take after you graduate will count towards post-bacc, if you take them before you graduate they'll fall into the 5th year. They can be the same classes, it just depends on whether you have a diploma already when you take them or not.

One advantage to doing it as a post-bacc would be that you would have another line of good grades. A reviewer looking at your AMCAS would either see:

Freshman: 3.0
Soph: 3.2
Junior: 3.4
Senior: 3.8

or

Freshman: 3.0
Soph: 3.2
Junior: 3.4
Senior: 3.8
Post-bacc 3.8

 

[Skan]

So med schools won't look at your 5th year grades separately from your 4th year? If I don't do a postbacc, would it help to indicate somewhere (PS, or secondary) if I do get all A's in my 4th and 5th year?