Hi all,
Some of you may be familiar with programs such as Mt. Sinai’s Flex Med program or the Sophie Davis biomedical program where accepted undergrads decide early on that they want to commit to medicine for the rest of their lives. They are either “guaranteed” admission into medical school or in the case of the the Sophie Davis program, they do an abbreviated 6 year undergrad -medical school combination. My question is, do these types of programs exist for non-traditional students? If not, why not? For instance, it would be nice to have a post-bacc program linked to a guaranteed admission into medical school without having to take the MCAT (assuming a high min GPA has been met) or even an abbreviated program for non-traditional students who have previous health care experience. Since many of us are literally getting older, wouldn’t it make more sense to create an abbreviated option? Why just limit these to undergrads who may or may not really have any idea what they want to do for the rest of their lives? Just curious what your thoughts are.
These programs do exist for nontraditional students in the form of linkages to medical schools from established career-changer post-bac programs, such as Bryn Mawr and Goucher (among others). Some of the medical schools with which the post-bac programs have linkages require the MCAT and some do not. Of course, you must be admitted to the post-bac program to be eligible to apply to one of the linkage schools–and there is no guarantee of admission to the medical school once you’re in the post-bac program. You have to meet certain parameters (GPA and MCAT, if the MCAT is required) and go through the application/interview process to be admitted to one of the linkage schools. But this is the “fast track” way to get to medical school for a nontraditional, career-changing applicant.
Best,
Liza
Thanks! Is there an abbreviated program though? It would be nice if there is one out there…
Post-bac programs with linkages are abbreviated in that participants skip what’s known as the “glide year” – the year after completion of a program during which one normally applies to medical school.
Cheers,
Liza
Some postbaccs are accelerated by doing all course work, MCAT and applications in 12 months, usually August to August. This are extremely demanding programs and I rarely recommend them to most nontrads, who often have been out of school for sometime.
For anyone who expresses a desire to get into medical school the fastest way possible, I always ask the question:
Is you goal to get into medical school or to to get into medical school quickly?
You do not need to simply complete a program but excel in it. Jumping in with both feet, taking too much, and risking less than outstanding grades will not impress any adcom.
Thanks for your response! I guess the answer to your questions would be both. Is it possible to have my cake and eat it too? I DO want to get into med school but I don’t want to wait too long.
I guess what I don’t understand is that that there are accelerated programs for undergrads but not for non-trads who could probably use them the most - especially those with previous health care experience.
My question to you, why are you looking to avoid the MCAT other than the “lag” time in starting medical school?
- most accelerated programs that you are referring to w/o MCAT are for those who are entering college for the first time. There is nothing that prevents you from applying for those programs.
- there are many postbaccs, especially SMPs that have strong linkages to medical schools. However, linkages are not standardized across these programs or even within these programs to the various medical schools that they have agreements with. It can be anywhere from guaranteed admissions to guaranteed interviews to other connections.
- I dont not know of any “regular” postbacc that has a linkage without requiring MCAT for admissions or an SMP that doesnt have MCAT either as a requirement to SMP admissions or to apply to medical school.
- There are accelerated programs in terms of length of time to complete the program but they are extremely rigorous.
- Since medical school is a series of exams occasionally punctuated by occasional lectures and that MCAT success can be correlated to success in medical school in some studies, I would never recommend to a prospective applicant to avoid it. Indeed, motivation, commitment and achievement to succeed on the MCAT is not simply to show a medical school what you are capable of but should be a strong indicator to yourself that you are both willing and can handle the workload for medical school.
My question to you, why are you looking to avoid the MCAT other than the “lag” time in starting medical school?
-I’m not trying to avoid the MCAT. In fact, I will be taking it. It would just be one less hurdle to overcome for a non-trad.
- most accelerated programs that you are referring to w/o MCAT are for those who are entering college for the first time. There is nothing that prevents you from applying for those programs.
I already have a BS and soon an MS so I would not be eligible.
- there are many postbaccs, especially SMPs that have strong linkages to medical schools. However, linkages are not standardized across these programs or even within these programs to the various medical schools that they have agreements with. It can be anywhere from guaranteed admissions to guaranteed interviews to other connections.
That is great to hear!
- I dont not know of any “regular” postbacc that has a linkage without requiring MCAT for admissions or an SMP that doesnt have MCAT either as a requirement to SMP admissions or to apply to medical school.
Why don’t these exist like they do for those entering college for the first time? (I guess that is not necessarily a question for you)
- There are accelerated programs in terms of length of time to complete the program but they are extremely rigorous.
It is good to know that there are options and that is what I am trying to get at.
- Since medical school is a series of exams occasionally punctuated by occasional lectures and that MCAT success can be correlated to success in medical school in some studies, I would never recommend to a prospective applicant to avoid it. Indeed, motivation, commitment and achievement to succeed on the MCAT is not simply to show a medical school what you are capable of but should be a strong indicator to yourself that you are both willing and can handle the workload for medical school.
The MCAT is used to shift through the many many applications that are received by medical schools. We know that applicants are accepted across the board with regards to scores. If the MCAT were a strong indicator of success/motivation/etc, medical schools would set very strict thresholds on acceptable test scores and we know that this not true as I had previously mentioned. To me, the system really needs to change to put less emphasis on the MCAT overall but that is for another discussion.
- cadingcading Said:
3) I dont not know of any "regular" postbacc that has a linkage without requiring MCAT for admissions or an SMP that doesnt have MCAT either as a requirement to SMP admissions or to apply to medical school.
Why don't these exist like they do for those entering college for the first time? (I guess that is not necessarily a question for you)
4) There are accelerated programs in terms of length of time to complete the program but they are extremely rigorous.
It is good to know that there are options and that is what I am trying to get at.
Just a quick point of information: Goucher and Bryn Mawr (the postbac programs Liza mentioned) are one year "accelerated" programs that offer some linkages that do not require the MCAT. These are generally with medical schools that value older students, and that have a strong relationship with the postbac programs (for example, I believe that in my year, U of Rochester accepted every student who applied for the linkage from my program, and it does not require the MCAT from linkage students).
Of course, not having to take the MCAT should not be the main reason why you'd want to apply to these linkages...
As kshye pointed out, there are post-bac programs that have linkages with medical schools which do not require the MCAT for post-bac linkage applicants. Check with specific post-bac programs for the details since the rules and requirements of the medical schools can change and I don’t want to reveal any confidential information on the part of various post-bac programs. But it is true that the MCAT is not required for some schools. This may change, of course, when the new MCAT is rolled out. Again, check with particular post-bac programs to get the specific requirements for the medical schools with which each program links.
Liza