Has anyone completed or is in the process of completing a postbacc cert or program? If so which program did you choose and why?
I have already taken all of the required prereqs but that was done 4 years ago. So I need to update my academic status and I think it will help refine my knowledge to score better on the MCAT (I’m sitting at ~8s right now and just need a little boost for that.)
Thanks!
I’m in the process of completing a program, though not a post-bacc or SMS (due to my screwy academic background, I actually qualify for neither program). I’m in the process of completing a traditional MS. Though you didn’t specify what kind of program you’re considering other than a pb certificte, let me specify that a traditional MS, in most cases, isn’t going to be what you’re looking for. It works for me considering my specific goals. But if your goal is simply to get to that MD as expediciously as possible, what I’m doing wouldn’t be of help to you.
Also, be aware that post-bacc programs are not designed for people who want to strengthen their applications. They’re designed for English majors who want to go to medical school (and they work; one of the six new MD/PhD candidates here at Jefferson has a BA in English). This isn’t a case where you can say “Perhaps it’s not designed for me, but I don’t mind because it’s what I need.” Most have explicit policies to only accept students who have not completed prerequisite coursework. They’ll probably make an exception if you took a semester of chemistry and a semester of biology because you needed some science courses to graduate undergrad, but that’s it.
What you would be looking for is an SMS (special Master’s Program). These are often offered by graduate schools that exist within or associate with a medical school. It’s a one year program that I refer to as med school bootcamp. The one year will closely mimic the first year of medical school. This looks good to ADCOMs because it gives empirical data that shows you can be successful with the rigors of medical school and significantly de-risks you as a candidate for acceptance. There are two things to keep in mind for these types of programs. First, you need your pre-requisites completed for entry into just about all of them (which it sounds as if you have). Second, you won’t be sending in medical school applications until you complete the program. Applications are sent in late Spring and Summer. If you send out your applications in the summer before starting, there will be nothing to put on your application except that an SMS program accepted you. If you can get into medical school at that point, there’s no reason to do an SMS. If you don’t think you can get into medical school without it, then there’s no reason to apply before you done. Keep in mind that such a program will help you on the MCATs by virtue of improving your study and test-taking habits. My fiancee did such a program and is now in a Pharm-D program, and she commented to me recently that in every conceivable way, the program made her a better applicant and a better student. Furthermore, your courses will be medical school-style courses (and in a few cases, actual medical school courses where you’ll sit alongside med students). While that sounds great, you won’t understand organic chemistry much better when you leave such a program than you did when you came in. So if you’re problem with the MCAT is content-related, this won’t help you.
I actually don’t qualify for either because I have most of my pre-reqs done (disqualifying me from PB programs), but not all of them (disqualifying me from SMS programs). However, there are a few schools that offer BOTH programs. In these cases, they’ll often let you mix and match. So you can get the experience of an SMS program, but if you really think you need a course in orgo to be successful on the MCAT, you have that option too. Let me stress that schools where you can do this are extremely few. But if that’s what you need, they are out there.
In any case, I think you need to collect several important pieces of data before you go forward. First, it sounds like you’re getting somewhat close to your target application cycle so I’ll assume that you have a long list of potential schools that needs to be whittled down to a short list. Part of the whittling process should be calling them and asking about your course dates. Just say “I plan to apply in the 201X cycle and I’d like to know your policy on accepting coursework. My prerequisites were taken between [Month/Year] and [Month/Year]. Would you accept them?”
If you just need to REFINE knowledge, and you don’t need to outright ACQUIRE it, I would suggest you look into one of the many MCAT prep courses out there. They’re expensive, but not as expensive as 32 credits split between gen bio, gen chem, gen physics, and orgo. This will take significantly less time as well.
You also said that you need to update your academic status. Do the math on how much redoing your coursework will actually help. As I said, I’m assuming those courses will accumulate 32 credits (8 courses × 4 credits/course). Say you get a 4.0 for that coursework. How much will that move your GPA? Your science GPA? What if it’s a 3.7? A 3.4? Furthermore, what did you get in those credits the first time around? Even if it offsets some bad grades in Intermediate Basket Weaving The History of the Banjo 1897 to 1916, did you get Bs in those courses the first time around? If so, I’d ask what exactly you hope to prove. GPA is an important number, but it remains a number. A compelling application and narrative should trump padding your stats a bit.
The other issue is one of geography. Where do you live? Are there programs close enough to you that you wouldn’t need to relocate? If not, or if there’s one program that you might or might not get into, are you willing to relocate? There are a ton of these programs here in Philly, but if you can’t or won’t come here, that’s neither here nor there. If you’re willing and able to relocate (my attitude is that you’ll need to relocate for med school anyway, so go big or go home), that opens up a lot more options.
What is your cumulative GPA and BCMP GPA? The path you take is largely based on that.
If you have a good/med-school range GPA, you may just need to take a few upper-level classes to demonstrate current mastery (as well as helping you review for the MCAT). You would take these as post-bacc classes but probably not as part of program.
If you GPA is not within an acceptable range then your next steps change. You could do a GPA-repair post-bacc or a SMP. It depends on your geography, finances and your potential MCAT score.
Fedaykin - First off, thanks for the taking the time to write a thorough response!! I’m not in typical position and you did address that.
I know what you mean about the “true” postbac programs geared towards career changers who have not completed the prereqs and no that’s not what I need (I have already inquired).
As far as updating my academic status, I’m thinking along the lines of completing cousework to demonstrate recent acadmic achievements. The last courses I took were in the spring of 2008. I’m sitting at an overall GPA of 3.52 and science GPA of 3.2 without labs/3.35 including labs. Not sure which is correct, but let’s assume the former to be conservative. With a recent subpar MCAT and just OK GPA, I would assume the adcoms would question my academic abilities in addition to me being out of school for four years. The rest of my application is stong relating to work, clinical research exp, community involvement, shadowing, med mission, leadership roles, letters of rec, etc. Of course the academic piece is substantially important and I’m focusing on what I can do that could give me the most credibility in this area.
I do have my short list of schools which includes many DO schools and any that look more holistically beyond the GPA/MCAT cutoff. There is a small chance I could get in as is but I don’t want to rush the process.
The program your fiance did sounds suitable. I think I need to practice being a student again. I feel that not being in “school mode” has hindered my performance on the recent MCAT. I came into studying for the MCAT cold turkey. I aquired the Kaplan books and their online resources but my score set hovers around 22-25. I don’t need to retake prereqs necessarily (although I do have a total of 3 Cs) but having exposure to courses in relation could help keep the content fresh in my mind (maybe not so much for physics). My lowest score is usually with verbal anyway.
At this juncture, I’m asking for specific program info for SMPs that would suit me since I’m not the cookie cutter career changer and the premed postbac programs are out. Like you said, there are a few out there and I’m on the hunt to find them.
I’m originally from Texas but I’m currently living in Alaska for the next few months. Relocating is not necessarily an issue as long as my husband likes the proposed destination :).
Bottom line: I need to refine my knowledge (not aquire it) to perform better on the MCAT and demonstrate up-to-date academic success, perhaps boosting my GPA concurrently.
Thanks for the insight!
dnelsen - do you know of any programs that may suit me given my stats above? It sounds like the program I’d be looking for would follow under the academic enhancers category.
Your labs would count towards the BCMP GPA. I would recommend downloading one of the AMCAS GPA spreadsheets out there to get fairly accurate sense of your GPA. This way you can also calculate how much you sGPA would improve based on how many postbacc credits you complete. So if you bang out 20 credits of upper level, postbacc 4.0 science classes and it ups your sGPA to 3.5+, you are in good shape for DO and potentially MD schools depending on your MCAT.
I should also note that DO school use grade replacement so if there are some prereqs you received C’s in you may wish to retake those.
I was going to point you to the amcas postbacc listings but that appears to be down.
http://services.aamc.org/postbac/
I actually don’t think you need a formal postbacc program and could do fine just taking classes a la cart at a 4year institution. I’m guessing that they are not many 4-year schools in Alasks but maybe you can find one where you could take some upper level bios. I’d ask locally to see what is available before considering moving if you are ok with remaining where you are.
I can’t quite tell from your post if you took the MCAT or are just working through practice tests.
Check the AAMC site. They have a list a postbacc programs for those seeking to strengthen their applications. I think the postbaccs at most DO schools are what you’re looking for. VCOM and the DO school in NYC have these types of programs. They aren’t SMPs.