To postbacc or not....that is the question

Okay…so my wife has dashed my attempts to be unselfish by telling me how much she wants me to do a postbacc. I figured this was just lip service but she went today and spoke to our Pastor about it and how she really wants this for us. I’m caught in the dilemma that
1. Hopkins, Goucher, G-Town are…like…AWESOME programs with INCREDIBLE nontrads applying. reading most of their bios it’s a wonder no one has cured cnacer…they are also…like…AWESOMELY expensive.
2. IF…big if…I got in that would mean I would have to take the spring off from taking science classes because I would have too many for them to accept…
If I don’t get accepted then I took the spring off and now will have to start my own informal FT postbacc at the local state school…???
I wish this was like deciding who to marry…at least for me, it was simple. This is almost ulcer forming. All the questions and what if’s are driving me crazy. My gut is telling me to just suck it up, put my faith in G-d, and move forward.
Please guide a misguided soul.

Crooz,
Don’t discount Towson University’s Program. It’s a great program at a reasonable cost for Maryland residents. Four of us from my year are fourth years at Maryland. We all opted to stay home, mostly for the state tuition, but were accepted at a variety of schools, including top 20. One of our group commuted from Germantown to Towson. Her husband still works in DC and they have two children in local schools, so she decided to commute.
If you a do a search you can find a lot of my earlier posts on the program, when it much fresher in my mind, but don’t hesitate to send any questions this way if you have them.
Good luck,
Tara

Sorry about that…meant no disrespect to forget to mention Towson. My ideal world would be postbacc, med school, & residency without having to move…
I’m not discounting any program. Heck I’m a block from Germantown.
How’d you like Towson’s program? How were the class sizes? How’d you like the experience? If you covered this before I’ll do a search.

I didn’t mean to imply that you dissed Towson’s program. Many people do not know that they have a formal program. I loved Towson’s program. Unlike a lot of the state schools, classes were small and post-bacc students received individualized attention as all of the instructors knew who we were because we were enrolled by the program in classes with the best instructors before enrollment opened to the university. I received a great education and was very well prepared for the MCAT. Definitely look up some of my previous posts since I was able to give more detailed info back then.
Hope this helps,
Tara

I was wondering why I completely forgot about Towson. Well it’s not listed on the http://services.aamc.org/postbac/ website which is where I was getting my info. I emailed Prof Milia at Towson and will follow up with a phone call later in the week. I read most of what you posted about Towson and it looks good. I’ll have to see what can be done at the home front to make postbacc a possibility. It’s turning into a “how bad do you want it” kind of topic around the house. My wife isn’t pressuring me but mostly explaining she’s willing to deal without the extras so I can get on with medical school…extras like, cable, cell phones…food…shelter…

Question answered…NOT. My wife and I came together and looked honestly at our bills, salary, loans, tuition, commute, and what a postbacc would offer in terms of time, linkage, and a host of other pros and cons.
We realized that what we would put ourselves thru financially just wasn’t worth it for the chance of a linkage or to reduce my sentence at my job by one year. Starting med school with a $50k+ debt just for the simple reason of starting a year sooner seems silly.

Quote:

We realized that what we would put ourselves thru financially just wasn’t worth it for the chance of a linkage or to reduce my sentence at my job by one year. Starting med school with a $50k+ debt just for the simple reason of starting a year sooner seems silly.


Congratulations! It can be very easy to get caught up into this chase and easy to rationalize blowing wads of cash. You two did the smart, sane, sensible thing - tried to close out all the noise around you and look hard at the reality of what you want to do. I think you’ve made a wise choice.
Mary

Thanks! So many times we hear about “taking a chance” or “life is about risking it all” or some other machismo cliche which has more bark than bite. I sat back and really took an inventory of what it would cost and the total is closer to $90k… I ran the numbers when I get accepted to my state school (notice the statement of faith ) and it will run ~$125k…so I was going to quit work to hopefully get into school a year earlier and already by in ~72% of my med school debt…no thanks. I’m not afraid of debt but that’s too much for not anything in return.
So I’ll be here for a while with all the trimmings…