Trying to do my research...

Nontraditional Premed Discussion
1

Hi everyone, I just found you guys yesterday and have been scouring the site since! So far I’ve found a lot of great info.


I graduated in 2003 with a degree in psychology but have recently decided that I would like to go to med school. I’ll have quite a bit of pre-reqs to take (no bio or chem in college) and am looking at local universities here in WA.


A few of the schools have an option to take classes as a non-matriculated student. Will credits earned in these classes still be considered “legit”.


Please excuse my ignorance on this topic…I’ve tried to search (here and on google) with no success and finally decided to ask!


Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome to the site! Sorry I cannot help with your question.

3

I can’t answer definitively but it seems to me that you could take a post-baac science program to get your pre-req’s.

4

If non-matriculated = non degree seeking but A-F grading at a university, then there should be no issue - it’s what many of us are doing.

5

Thanks for your help everyone.

6
  • RAdamson Said:
I can't answer definitively but it seems to me that you could take a post-baac science program to get your pre-req's.



You CAN take an "official" post-bacc program but you don't have to. There are lots of threads on this -- and lots of advantages and disadvantages to formal post-baccs. I have to say that over the years, I don't think I've encountered more than a handful of OPM participants who have done a formal post-bacc.

Mary
7

I would say it depends on what a “non-matriculated” student is. If non-matriculated means you are just auditing the course and not receiving a letter grade than no, it doesn’t suffice. If non-matriculated means non-degree seeking and you can earn a letter grade than it is fine. I enrolled as a “continuing education” student when I took the pre-reqs. I was not considered a degree-seeking student, but I was otherwise taking the courses like any regular undergrad student.

8

Non-matriculated just means you are not degree seeking.

9

Concur - I enrolled for credit as a non-degree-seeking graduate student at first. I later changed to declaring a second undergraduate major for financial aid purposes. If you need loans to help with getting those pre-med credits, you might keep that in mind.

10

So you guys would say there is no preferential treatment given to a formal post baac student?


I’m not even to that point yet and I’m not sure I’ll have to do that since I just got very encouraging news from my pre-med advisor.

11

No. There is no preferential treatment to someone who has taken a formal post bacc. There is no preferential treatment that in-state students for a state school.


(unless your parents have given the school a million dollar endowment, then you may have preferential treatment

12

I’ll have to confer with my mom on that million dollar thing but I’m pretty sure that’s not happening! I think I’ll have to rely on my grades, MCAT and just basically myself to get into medical school!

13

It is not preferential treatment, but some formal post-baccs do have something that is not available to us do-it-yourselfers: linkages. There are post-bacc programs that link to certain med schools in various ways to make the application process shorter and easier. Goucher College in Maryland is one that has such a program. I’ll let someone else find the web links but it is certainly something to look into.


Mary

14

Formal post-bacc programs can be quite expensive, so if $$$ are a concern, you might look at taking your pre-reqs as a non-matriculated (often termed “open university”) student as the most rigorous school that works for you. (Preferable a four-year institution.)


Cheers,


Judy

15

That’s a good thing for me to keep in mind, I will definitely need financial assistance and hadn’t thought about that yet…thank you.

16

Thanks…that clarifies it quite a bit… I’m looking at University of Washington right now.