Post-Bacc recommendations?

I spent several hours on the aamc.org website perusing their formal post-baccalaureate list and the websites linked therein. The list is quite bewildering and daunting to a neophyte such as myself. I would appreciate any recommendations or insights from OPMs (OPMers?) who have gone the formal post-bacc route.
Location and money are not problems; while my finances are meager (I blew my savings and my GPA by working my entire way through undergrad), I have resigned myself to a future of paupery and debt if necessary so that I can focus on coursework. I am willing to relocate to another state. I am willing to consider informal programs as well. I am aware that budget cuts are closing many state-supported post-bacc programs.

If I was in your shoes with your vast experience with volunteering in a healthcare setting, I would go with the informal route. A formal post-bacc has many benefits including good networking to shadow/volunteer, a pre-med advisor, and possibly a connection with a medical school. On the other hand they can be quite expensive and kind of “cutthroat” because everyone in them wants to go to medical school. An informal post-bacc on the other hand can be self-paced to fit your needs, and save you a lot of money and time if you do not have to relocate. I tend to like smaller (8,000) schools with lots of attention from the professors. So I would start looking in your area at the different undergraduate schools and get a feel, do you like bigger classes or smaller? do you need pre-reqs plus some upper level bio/chem/math courses? make sure you find out how many pre-meds at each school succesfully get accepted each year, go talk to professors and see if they are passionate and interested in you. If you find some school in your area that you like go for it! with all the folks here at OPM and your own research you can for sure make your own program to knock the socks off any adcom member. If on the other hand no school at home appeal then go look around for a good and reputable post-bacc program. I think that many OPM’ers are enrolled in some of these and they can suggest some for you. Good luck!

As always, thanks for your sage advice. The main reason I was considering a formal program is that several medical schools (such as Johns Hopkins) have the stipulation that you MUST get a LOR from a premed advising committee if your schools has one. In the case of Johns Hopkins, I confirmed this over the telephone with one of their med school deans. I’m unsure if taking premed classes informally would qualify me to get a letter from a premedical advising committee. Because formal programs know that you are premed, they can “coddle” you through the premed process, including giving one that coveted LOR. OTOH, the competitive environment does pit premeds against eachother in an academic “survival of the smartest [fittest]” game.
About informal programs: I live in a fairly urban area, so there are a number of good 4-year schools, but many of them are state schools and have been cutting back on their extension classes. Because extension students have lowest priority when registering for classes, all the available slots in a class may fill up before extension students can sign up.
With low enrollment, inexpensive fees, and open classes, junior college courses are often a remedy for this dilemma. However, in my premed research, I was advised by every single medical school dean with whom I spoke that: because I took my original sciences at a 4-year school, I should retake them at a 4-year school and not at a junior college.
I could take extension courses at my alma mater, but getting into impacted courses is difficult – if not impossible – (my alma mater is one of those schools that now routinely turns away undergrads with 4.0 GPAs; I got in with a 3.9 but I started there 20 years ago [before I dropped out to work; I returned years later]).
Also, I read on a Syracuse University premed website that doing informal post-baccs at a school OTHER than one’s alma mater is often a key to doing well in these courses: A change of place and space can spur premed success.
Per your advice, I will look further into informal extension-type classes in my area. But relocating may be necessary.



"If you want something good to happen in your life, you have to make space for it." -- Anonymous college student responding to her therapist's inquiry about her philosophy of life.

Okay I see now. But, he he, there is always a but, you can also ask adcoms if the pre-med committee letter can be waived if you are non-trad going at it solo. I think (but do not hold me on this) that most schools that I sent secondaries back had the option of a full fledged pre-committee letter OR individual letters from professors. Sure, most schools prefer one letter versus three or four, but for some non-trads this is just no feasible and with more of us applying well, adcoms are fully aware. So do not rule out your own program due to the LOR…just check all your options and then go from there.

I just went ahead and sent in my LORs from individuals - I did not bother to call and ask if that was acceptable. Maybe this is why I got rejected from my #1 school, but probably not.

On the committee letter thing: just wanted to add my own experience to let people know this was possible. I did an informal post-bacc at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, where I took gen-chem, o-chem, physics and bio. GMU’s policy was that anyone who took at least 30 credits there was eligible for pre-med committee consideration. Now, there were additional stipulations you had to meet before you could be assured of a pre-med committee ‘hearing’ - MCAT cutoff score (26? I forget), GPA of 3.4 or something like that. But if you met their criteria, you could meet with the committee and get the committee letter - you didn’t need to be a degree candidate or in a formal program of any kind.
And I was able to work around one requirement, which was that one of my LORs (the committee compiled the individual LORs into their overall letter) be from a non-science professor. Since I didn’t take anything but science classes, i proposed that letters from my employer be acceptable and they agreed. It worked out great for me.

Quote:

Okay I see now. But, he he, there is always a but, you can also ask adcoms if the pre-med committee letter can be waived if you are non-trad going at it solo. I think (but do not hold me on this) that most schools that I sent secondaries back had the option of a full fledged pre-committee letter OR individual letters from professors. Sure, most schools prefer one letter versus three or four, but for some non-trads this is just no feasible and with more of us applying well, adcoms are fully aware. So do not rule out your own program due to the LOR…just check all your options and then go from there.


There are many med schools that require individual letters, whether or not a committee letter accompanies them. It surely would be easier if everyone did it one way wouldn’t it? :slight_smile: When in doubt, always go to your primary source, the admissions office itself.
Cheers,
Judy

I did a formal post-bacc at a local state university, which allowed me to control costs. It cost me the same as if I were taking individual classes. What it gave me was priority enrollment. Our director enrolled us ahead of everyone at the school. The program I went to was flexible enough for people who couldn’t just drop everything to return to school. There were a handful of people who took 2 or more years because they were taking classes at night since they still had to work. They were still “in the program” so got the perks such as preferential enrollment plus a committee letter but could take things at their own pace. I don’t think that the programs web-site advertises this fact, so you may want to ask some of the programs you are considering if this is an option. I think the more well-named programs (Goucher, Hopkins, etc) are probably less flexible than a state school. But I turned down one of those big name schools because I didn’t want my hand held too much. My state school gave me the flexibility and supervision I was comfortable with along with a great education (this is a smaller state school).
To reiterate what Judy said, since I had been out of school and worked for several years, I still had to provide letters from professors from my undergrad as well as employers in addition to the committee letter.
Hope this helps,
Tara