How do these work as far as admissions are concerned? Do they count towards your GPA or do they not due to being after the BA?
Would it be better to just go back and redo undergrad if you had a low GPA the first time you did it in an unrelated field?
Any classes you take AFTER your original undergraduate counts as postbacc and is calculated both into your overall GPA and into a separate postbacc GPA line as well.
Repeating undergrad will not improve your GPA anymore than doing a postbacc as the AAMC (MD) counts every class you ever took, repeats and all.
AACOMAS (DO) will use grade replacement for latest time you took that course for GPA calculation; thought the retake will be noted. It will also calculate a separate postbacc GPA in addition an overall GPA.
Retaking the prereqs on your own would be a DIY (do it yourself) postbacc
I would think one of the major advantages to a postbacc would be the linkages offered by some programs.
For example, here’s a link to Drexel’s:
http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AcademicPrograms /Pro…
This is probably the Drexel link you want:
http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AcademicPrograms /Pro…
The other is for the pathways to medicine, which is limited to “socially or economically disadvantaged applicants.” The general post-bacc doesn’t have the conditional acceptance to Drexel Med that the pathways program does.
As the former director of both the Johns Hopkins and Goucher post-bac programs I can provide some guidance. There are several ways you can get the courses you need, through either a “formal” program, which provides the exact curriculum you need usually in a compressed timeframe or you can take the courses on your own (the “DIY” version referred to in an earlier post). While it can be much cheaper to do the DIY version, it sometimes takes longer depending on where you want to take the classes; they can be difficult to get into if the place where you want to do your work is filled with premed students.
Several programs do have “linkages” with various med schools; while at the post-bac programs I directed I put many of those in place. These linkages allow students to skip the year following completion of the program when they would typically be applying to med school. Instead, with the linkage process you would complete your premed courses in May, for example, and start med school in August. The med schools set the parameters for enrollment in terms of required GPA and MCAT.
In terms of the grade calculations the earlier posters have gotten it right; the post-bac grades are included in the AMCAS undergrad GPA since they are undergrad-level classes. But your post-bac GPA is also computed separately, so that med schools can see, for example, if there’s an upward trend. This can also boost your undergrad GPA if the post-bac grades are higher.
Let me know if you have any other questions; I’m happy to help!
Liza