Hey all,
I am in NYC and I am starting my post-bacc premed tomorrow at Hunter (City University of New York), but I’m only taking one course this semester (Bio). Does anyone know how important it is that I am not attending a “better” (ie more expensive) school like Columbia or NYU (if they’ll have me)? Should I consider attempting to transfer?
| QUOTE (erica @ Sep 1 2003, 08:50 PM) |
| Hey all, I am in NYC and I am starting my post-bacc premed tomorrow at Hunter (City University of New York), but I'm only taking one course this semester (Bio). Does anyone know how important it is that I am not attending a "better" (ie more expensive) school like Columbia or NYU (if they'll have me)? Should I consider attempting to transfer? |
Hi there,
For the most part, your undergraduate school does not matter as long as it is an accredited university or college though I would caution against trying to do your pre-med requirements at a community college unless you have no other option. (Distance or time). Most admissions committees have a bias against community colleges unless you have a tremendous MCAT score (I am talking well over 30 here).
I did my undergraduate work at a solid and inexpensive state school here in Virginia (Mary Washington College). Mary Washington was more than rigorous enough for preparing me for medicine as well as graduate study in the physical sciences. When you start to have to pay off loans for both undergraduate, possibly graduate and medical school, you will be happy that you attended a less expensive school. By attending a private university and medical school, you can easily have loans that total more than $300,000.
I know that Hunter City has sent some folks to medical school so you should be fine as long as you get good grades and do well on the MCAT. You also need to investigate your school's pre-med advising and committee as soon as possible. You need to track very early for pre-medicine especially if you are in a post-bacc program and get good advice on a regular basis.
Gool luck with your classes!
Natalie
I know I have the most dated of information here as I went through post bacc quite some time ago after having received a non science undergraduate degree at UCLA. I did all of my pre reqs at a community college but in addition took some upper division (undergrad) courses back at UCLA as a non degree student. I had no other choice at that time as pre med post bacc programs were nonexistent and the 4 year universities did not have room for someone like me in their lower division courses. I was able to be accepted into medical schools without a tremendous MCAT. Again, my experience is dated unlike Natalie's info but I just wanted to post to say that it has been done. I suspect that since I did well in the upper division coursework at UCLA that my community college work was less scrutinized.
Good luck and wishing you the best at Hunter!
In 2001, I completed the post-bacc program at Towson University ($7500), a relatively small school in the Univ of Maryland system. I had also been accepted to Goucher College's psot-bacc program ($20k). Goucher's program is very well respected in the private school circles, but in the end it came down to the fact that I felt that I would be prepared just as well at Towson for almost 1/3 of the cost. I didn't want to burden my husband with the extra debt as we were unsure how losing over 50% of our income was going to affect us.
The moral to my story is that I did just fine-- I did much better on the MCAT than I had anticipated and received a great foundation that has carried me well through 1+ years of med school. Go to the school where you are comfortable and do well.
Hope this helps,
Tara