Hi everyone,
I recently decided to make a change in my life and pursue a life in medicine. To make a long story short, I’ve had a three life altering experiences in the past five years, all of which both helped me realize that my current path is not the right one for me and that I want to practice medicine.
To be quite honest, I’m just starting out on the process, and I’ve been slightly overwhelmed with all of the information out there. I’ve been wading through a bunch of the threads on this forum trying to find advice that may help me along the way, and I was hoping to present my situation for some friendly suggestions to all of the seasoned old pre-med students 
A little background: I have B.S. in Mathematics and Statistics and a B.A. in Economics from a top public university, where I graduated with a 3.75 gpa and university honors with distinction. I’m also currently all but dissertation at a top ten economics Ph.D. program.
I’m not sure whether I should apply for a post-bac program or go at it on my own, taking science classes at the university where I’m currently a Ph.D. student. I just want to put myself in the best position as possible to get into med school, and I would really appreciate any advice I can get. Would you be willing to share some of the pros and cons of a post-bac program versus the pros and cons of going at it on my own? If I go at it on my own, should I just start with taking into chemistry and biology classes? Also, do you know of a place that lists the post bac programs available in the United States?
Thank you in advance for any and all kind responses!
Ken
P.S. I apologize if people feel there already exist threads on some of my questions. I wasn’t able to find all of my answers before posting this thread. Thanks.
I’m extremely new to all of this too, but I do have a website for you with all of the US Post Bac programs!
http://services.aamc.org/postbac/
I’ll also be watching this conversation closely. Hopefully, I can get some insight into what I should be doing as well!
Allison
Thanks for the link, Allison. That should be a big help. Hopefully you and I will find the answers we are looking for soon!
Does anyone with experience in post bac pre med programs have any input? I’d love to hear a little about your background/situation and whether or not you’d recommend that path to others.
Thank you,
Ken
Hi Ken,
Cool name btw!
Your GPA is competitive for pretty much every school.
If I understand your concern, you are not sure how to approach your prereqs.
With your GPA, and the fact that you have direct access to your University, you can easily do a DIY post-bacc without the need to enter a formal program.
You would save yourself money (formal post-bacc programs tend to cost more per unit than just regular enrollment) and you would not have to deal with a competitive enrollment process. Some postbaccs can be as competitive as med school itself!
Simply take the prereqs where you are now (1 year bio, chem, ochem, calculus, and physics) then take the MCAT. You can also drive home the point by taking a few upper division science classes although you don’t need to. It just looks good on an application to med school.
If you’re looking into MD schools, you want your cumulative GPA and science GPA to be no less than 3.6 as these are the averages of matriculants. You’ll also need to aim for an MCAT of 30+ with no less than 9 in each section.
And of course, get A’s in the prereqs and focus on your extracurriculars like shadowing, volunteer work, and leadership.
I hope this helps. I beat my head on this topic for months and learned a lot, so feel free to ask anything.
Ken
P.S. Your post-graduate work is also a nice enhancement to your application especially for research-oriented med schools.
Hi Ken,
Thank you for your response! It’s definitely a big help in starting to wrap my mind around all of this.
If you are comfortable, would you mind sharing a little about your background? Did you enroll in a formal post-bac program or take the DIY approach, and what led you to that decision? What would you say are the pros and cons of the approach you took?
If you took the DIY approach, have you had any trouble fitting into the pre-med process? By that, I mean, have you had trouble finding advisors at the university or trouble finding recommendations? Two of the biggest fears I have about the DIY approach is that I’ll miss something along the way because I won’t have the proper advising and that I won’t find the necessary recommendations when I apply to med school.
Also, what shadowing and leadership experience do you have? Are there any in particular that you found to be especially valuable?
Again, thank you so much for your help. I’ve read a few of your comments on other threads and have found them very useful, too. Please continue contributing to the public good!
I’d also like to invite anyone else who may have suggestions/answers for some of my questions. All of your knowledge is priceless.
Thanks,
Ken
- WorkingHard Said:
Thank you for your response! It's definitely a big help in starting to wrap my mind around all of this.
If you are comfortable, would you mind sharing a little about your background? Did you enroll in a formal post-bac program or take the DIY approach, and what led you to that decision? What would you say are the pros and cons of the approach you took?
If you took the DIY approach, have you had any trouble fitting into the pre-med process? By that, I mean, have you had trouble finding advisors at the university or trouble finding recommendations? Two of the biggest fears I have about the DIY approach is that I'll miss something along the way because I won't have the proper advising and that I won't find the necessary recommendations when I apply to med school.
Also, what shadowing and leadership experience do you have? Are there any in particular that you found to be especially valuable?
Again, thank you so much for your help. I've read a few of your comments on other threads and have found them very useful, too. Please continue contributing to the public good!
I'd also like to invite anyone else who may have suggestions/answers for some of my questions. All of your knowledge is priceless.
Thanks,
Ken
Hi Ken,
I'd be happy to share.
I graduated in 2005 with a terible GPA in Electrical Engineering at UC Irvine. It was a very tough ride for many reasons (death in the family, sister had cancer, widowed mother, drug addicted brother, depression/anxiety arising from these situations, etc.) It wasn't exactly a recipe for successful coursework to say the least!
I enrolled in a DIY program more out of financial necessity and scheduling than anything else.
I am just finishing up my premed at Community College and am going to take 2 full time semesters of upper division sciences at one of the Cal State Universities. The pro's of this approach are strictly COST and SCHEDULING! Community Colleges in CA are extremely affordable and flexible for the working adult.
Also, the reason for taking two semesters at University is that although they are not necessary, they allay any concerns the admissions committees might have about the intensity of Community College work and my ability to handle the first 2 years of medical school which are very hard science heavy.
I have not had any trouble fitting into the premed process whatsoever in terms of scheduling, making friends, and getting recommendations. My professors have always been very helpful, but few of them are well-versed on the medical school applications process which is definitely a disadvantage of not taking a formal postbacc at a University.
To compensate for this, I called every Osteopathic school directly and spoke to their admissions counselors. They told me the exact factors they would consider in the process. Many of them asked about my background and numbers and informed me of how competitive my application would be while making suggestions for improvement.
You mentioned that you're concerned you'll miss something along the way if you don't take a formal postbacc. Are you able to identify what this might be? If I had to guess, it would probably be the MCAT preparation most premed postbaccs offer.
This is another disadvantage of not taking a formal postbacc. However, if you're a solid self-starter, this really doesn't matter much because all of the information you need is available on the web and the local bookstore. Most students use study guides from ExamKrackers, The Princeton Review and Kaplan to name a few to prepare for the MCAT. All of these have fantastic records of helping students perform well on the MCAT.
Regarding my shadowing and leadership experience, I have 120 hours of DO shadowing, I work as an EMT for both ambulance and an ER, I volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House Charity weekly, I have been a math and science tutor for 4 years, and have performed research on several electrical engineering applications to micro-satellites.
The feedback I've received to this point has been very positive regarding my experiences.
I hope this helps!
Ken
Ken
I forgot to add physician interviews into my extracurriculars.
Thanks, Ken. What I am worried I would be missing out on with a formal post bacc would be the preparation/advising for the med school application process. For instance, advising specific to older pre med students rather than traditional college students. For instance, do formal post bacc programs intensively prepare you for your med school interview? Is there intensive instruction geared towards scoring well on the MCAT? Things along those lines.
Again, I appreciate all of the suggestions you’ve given. In just these few days, you’ve already been a tremendous help for me.
Thanks,
Ken
Dear WorkingHard,
My premed program did include those additional factors you mentioned. There was extensive advising for the application process. We had group “classes” covering the application essay, keeping a log of one’s volunteer experiences and shadowing experiences, how to organize your letters of recommendation, looking at school infor from AAMC and the ACOMAS books about the medical schools. There were forums with grads of the postbac where we could ask questions about their interviews, and about what sort of questions to ask about the school - what do you want to know about how they grade, how the classes are organized etc, and what difference will that make to your experience of med school. We got to hear how many schools various students applied to and the costs of wide vs narrow applicaiton/interviewing. We could submit our personal statement for feedback (and editing). we had mock interviews with two members of the program staff (who had previously been on med school admission committees and got specific feedback.
The program also had specific supports in place. we had our own section for organic chem class and lab with a hand picked GTA. They provided a physics tutor and a chemistry tutor (as these were tougher areas for some folks).
There was an established network of docs who had agreed to students shadowing and we were provided their contact info - it was up to us to try to set up some shadowing opportunities but it was better than “cold-calling”. If we wanted to shadow in a specialty that they did not have covered by a prior arrangement, the medical director of our program would work on finding one or two doctors who wouuld agree to us contacting them for shadowing.
My program also paid for the KAPLAN Mcat prep course for everyone, including access to 20 on-line MCAT practice exams.
So, yes, there were some perks to paying for the higher dollar formal postbac. For me, the main reason was I had tried unsuccessfully to get access to the prerequisite courses in my hometown for 3 semesters running. Lots of prehealth majors, lots of people needing Chem I and II, and non-degree students got the last priority with registration - I could not get into those courses.
Kate
ps - there was another post-bacc I applied to that did not have any special supports for classes, and did not give you higher priority for registering until your second semester. It was “here are the courses - good luck!”. I do believe there was the standard undergrad premed counseling and access to physician shadowing. Questions to ask a post-bacc program about:
- How is registering for the core classes handled to insure you can get the courses you need (this is generally already built in to the program but doesn’t hurt to ask)
- What is the expected time frame for the majority of your students to complete the program and be ready to apply.
- Does the program provide a committee letter?
- What premedical advising is provided?
- What arrangements (if any) exist for shadowing, volunteer experiences, etc.?
- Does the program include a course coverring current issues in the health care system (mine did - helps to be able to discuss this intelligently in interviews).
Kate