Where Should I Direct My Focus?

[campti01]

Hi there,

I'm looking at post-bacc programs and am wondering if you guys could help me figure out what programs I'm competitive for.

Some info about myself.

I live in Chicago IL

ACT: 34 Comp (30 Math, 34 Eng, 34 Reading, 36 Sci)

GRE: 90th percentile on practice test (I'd be open to taking the actual test to boost my resume)

Undergrad: 3.6/4 in Anthropology/Art (Minor) from Luther College (Small Lib. Arts school in Iowa with academics comparable to UW: Madison). At Luther, I took an environmental science course and a special-topic chem course on explosions, but no science otherwise.

Experience I'm just finishing an AmeriCorps year with City Year Chicago- the year has been full-time volunteering (1700+ hours) and leadership development working in a Chicago Inner City. It's been a hardcore, intense year. I've grown tremendously and learned a lot about service, giving, and my abilities (I'm a way more capable person than I thought I was). City Year is one of the main reasons I'm now looking to study to be a doctor. I never thought I could handle the intense schooling or hours necessary to become a doctor, but my experience with City Year has made me believe that I could do something like this.

I have 30+ volunteer hours as an English teacher to Somalian asylum seekers in Malta

I have 40+ hours as a mentor to a small boy from an underserved family

I'm about to leave for a 3 week volunteer experience in India cooking and cleaning in a childcare facility cooking and cleaning for children of really poor families.

I have no medical volunteer experience and am looking to start volunteering in Chicago hospitals as soon as I get back from India.

Future Schooling: I'm open to competitive or cooperative programs- what's really important is that my fellow students (regardless of whether they're post bacc or trad. undergrad) are really engaged and excited about doing well and getting into Med School.

I'm open to relocating from Chicago. What programs am I competitive for (or can I make myself competitive for by the time application season for Summer or Fall 2013 starts up)? I've looked at a lot of programs. I'm very impressed by Bryn Mawr and Goucher's programs. I've also looked at SFSU, USC, Mills, and UPenn and was impressed by all of them. Bryn Mawr and Goucher are top programs. Am I wasting my time with them? What are the strongest and weakest parts of my profile?

Thank you so much for your time!

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[Chip N Sawbones]

For specific information on the different postbac programs, try the postbac forum. It's hidden about halfway down the forum list.

Have you considered doing an informal postbac at whatever 4-year college is nearby and cheap? Your GPA and EC's are already very good, and if you do well in your prerequisite classes and on the MCAT, you will be an excellent candidate. ACT scores don't matter, and don't bother with the GRE unless you actually want to go to grad school. Unless you really want the structure of a formal postbac program, you could probably save yourself a lot of tuition money by taking classes on your own.

 

[Dan1804]

have you considered doing an informal postbac at whatever 4-year college is nearby and cheap? Your gpa and ec's are already very good, and if you do well in your prerequisite classes and on the mcat, you will be an excellent candidate.

+1

 

[campti01]

Sounds good. How important is the reputation/academic rigor of the undergrad institution I choose? I'm willing to invest good money in a quality education that will be more likely to get me into Medical school.

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

The reputation of the college doesn't matter very much. Whatever 4-year state college (not a community college) is nearby and cheap will do nicely. Don't waste a ton of money on some ritzy private school. Med schools care much more about your grades than where you took the class, so your big investment should be in study time to make sure you get excellent grades. The good news is that your GPA is already decent and your EC's are excellent. If you get perfect grades in your postbac classes and get a good score on the MCAT, you will probably have a shot at some top med schools.

The disadvantage of a do-it-yourself postbac is that you might have scheduling problems, especially if you go to a smaller college. Before you enroll for college, look at their schedule. Make sure it will be possible to take a year each of general chem, organic chem, physics and biology with no time conflicts. Throw in biochem and/or statistics if you want other classes that will help you. At least a semester of general chem is usually a prerequisite for organic, so you will probably need to take classes over three semesters or two semesters and a summer. Some colleges let you take a full year of chemistry over the summer. I did this; the pace was fast but it was worth it. If you want to go this route, now is the time to sign up for summer classes. Many state colleges give instate tuition for everyone over the summer, so if a college near you doesn't have the summer classes you want, shop around.

 

[docelh]

the only programs that may be worth plunking more $$$ is for the ones with linkage programs. You can get more info in the post-bac forum on which these are.

 

[NightGod]

The reputation of the college doesn't matter very much. Whatever 4-year state college (not a community college) is nearby and cheap will do nicely. Don't waste a ton of money on some ritzy private school.

Note that the general advice against community colleges does NOT apply nearly as much to someone from Illinois (or California). Despite all of the other crap wrong in this hell state we live in, we apparently have some of the best community colleges in the nation (as an example, the Gen Chem professor at my CC was a PhD, had written one specialized chemistry textbook (forensics) and was in the process of writing a General Chemistry textbook. He taught every class session (including seminar) and was either in the lab or his office if he wasn't in class teaching. My economics teacher was an MBA with five years or so of real world experience before he turned to academics. In fact, none of my teachers had less than a Masters and many had PhDs and none of them used TAs. All of the CCs in Illinois have agreements in place to ensure that their classes will transfer to any of the state schools and a large portion of the private schools, as well. For the money, it's hard to recommend taking them anywhere else if you are looking to do an informal post-bacc.