I am a senior in my last semester at Indiana University. I will be graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Ballet from the Jacobs School of Music with an Outside field in Business from the Kelley School of business. I have a 3.3 GPA and have been thinking about medical school for a while.I have decided that it is definitely the direction I want to go in. I am very interested in Radiology. I have not taken any of the pre-med pre-requisites or the MCAT. Should I do a Post-Bac program? Which one’s are the best? Do I have a possible future in medicine? I am aware it will be a great deal of work and I am willing to put in my time. Let me know of any advice. I really want to get the ball rolling and am eager to start working on getting into Medical School.
Thanks
Dcmorale,
Welcome to the group!
If you do a search through the threads, you will find many answers to the questions you have, and even the questions you haven’t thought to ask yet! 
Good luck and happy surfing!
Hello DC - my sister goes to med school at IU and many of her friends attended Postbac programs. I currently go to Columbia Postbac (in NY), and I love it!
If you want to be a doctor and don’t have the requirements, then you should probably join a Postbac program. Med schools love students who came from non-traditional backgrounds (i.e. ballet or the arts). If you excel in your Postbac classes, you will most likely be ranked very competitively!
I don’t know too much about other Postbac programs other than Columbia, but I’m willing to share what I know if you have any questions.
Thank you so much for you response.
I looked into the Columbia program and it looks great. Is it extremely difficult to get into? Where else did you apply?
Personally, I’m a big fan of Columbia’s Postbac program. I did not have the strongest undergrad transcript and was accepted; that being said they are still slightly choosey (one of my friends from my undergrad applied and did not get in, but she had a low GPA).
I applied to several other East Coast programs - Rutgers, NYU, Hunter, and Georgetown to name a few (I’m a native Hoosier, but I love New York!!!). However, I did not know much about the various Postbac programs when I first started applying, so I applied to pretty much ALL of them!
Hi! I’m another Columbia postbac and just wanted to add my own two cents to the conversation.
The program is choosy- undergraduate GPA and the like will matter. But they also consider what you have been doing since your undergraduate years. You can play up the traits that have made you successful as an artist (also a plus for dentistry! just a thought…) and businessperson. The great thing about a postbac program like Columbia’s is the wide range of individuals you will find there. I have classes with musicians, financial analysts, writers, lawyers, teachers and former soldiers. Your wide range of skills and experience brings something great to the table- which is certainly something you can talk highlight in your essay.
As for advice- have you had a chance to volunteer or shadow in medical settings? This is great for applying to a postbac program and is also helpful on a personal level in ensuring that you are making the right choice.
- jjf2139 Said:
What was your undergrad transcript like? Columbia is my first choice for postbac. My UG GPA was 3.49 (with my last 3 years being very strong years) however at the begining I bombed with average grades followed by a year of withdrawals. Then there is s 2 yr gap in my transcript before I went back and got almost straight As for 3 years majoring in pysio psych and art. I'm trying to figure out what their adcom will think since I'm not a trad student or even a trad turnaround. Also since then I have worked, first as a counselor at a psychiatric clinic then (because I moved) as an office manager/accounting assistant in finance.
Columbia is a great program though for the cost it really should be (~$1,330 per credit). NYU is about the same price and I don’t see it being worth it comparatively. Hunter is decent and a good value (~$325 per credit) which is about 25% of NYU/Columbia although it has less prestige and linkages.