Where would you go? (need cogent advice from current or past students)

[Coffeeandbagel]

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Hello!

I am happy to say that a few programs recently extended invitations to have me for their program in the fall. I've done extensive mining on their websites, compared and contrasted costs and benefits, but I need help deciding what program will help maximize my chances of getting into MD/DO later on. If there is anyone who is currently or recently competed one of these programs and has additional insight into pro's and con's, your input would be invaluable. Which one of these programs will give me the best chance (after I kick some serious butt in classes 🙂

In brief:
Graduated Cornell 06', psychology major
Overall GPA: 3.3, Junior/Senior GPA: 4.0
Screwed up freshman yr. Bio and Chem and will need to retake both
Spent the last four years working as research assistant in child development, then traumatic brain injury

Programs I am trying to choose between:

Penn State
La Salle
Duquesne
American

 

[jslo85]

When you say extended invitations, are you referring to acceptances or invitations to apply to their program?

Are you looking for formal programs that will offer those pre-req courses as retakes and upper division afterwards?

Are you applying for allopathic or osteopathic or both?

Did you receive a C-/D/F so you need to retake those two pre-req classes?

"The program is not remedial. It is not intended for students who already have a science background and want to bolster their academic record in science. (That can be accomplished by enrolling at Penn State as a nondegree student or in a one-year master's degree program."

^ That's an excerpt from the Penn State post-bacc website. I'm not sure if you saw this or that I'm confused, but I was under the assumption from your post that you have completed all the pre-reqs and need to retake Bio and Chem only.

As for Duquesne there isn't much information from just skimming it but if you were looking at linkages, the only have two and you wouldn't qualify for the allopathic one (Temple) since they require a UG gpa of a 3.5 or better.

If I had to pick from one of the four, i would go with the other two than I listed here.

I personally would rather go for an informal post-bacc on my own at a local state university and aim at taking the upper division classes that are offered there to save both money and time. Your GPA is high enough that if you're aiming for osteopathic, retaking those two courses and adding a few upper division classes with a strong MCAT should put you at a good position to apply.

For allopathic, unless you have a C- or below in any of the pre-req courses, they'll tell you to not retake anything but to demonstrate your academic competence in harder UG upper division science courses to establish an upward trend.

These are pre-med programs that you cited above that have a limited offering of upper division courses and are not primarily designed as an AE formal program and are not really suitable for your situation. You're better of looking at UVA or UT Dallas imo if you really wanted formal programs. I really stand by the choice of taking classes at a local university though. My 2 cents