Alternate way to get into med school AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

[Anonymous]

My husband heads up intern selection for a DC area program and being a non-traditional med student can actually help you during intern selection as well. Folks that have something else on their resume besides just college/med school can often check an extra box or two during intern selection (e.g., an MPP would literally gain you extra ranking points & if it was correctly sold during interviews, it could be an additional soft plus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you went to HYP, I’d say you had pretty good starting point.

Op here. I agree that it helped me get into a top med school. However, the vast majority of people in my post bacc did not go to HYP and ended up in medical school and have done well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

Yes I got all the classes done in an accelerated one year program. We did gen chem 1/2 in the summer and orgo, physics, bio chem, bio the rest of the year. It was intense. Some opt for the two year approach to allow for more time to beef up their shadowing and health care work experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

😬 note to self – don’t use physicians who couldn’t handle college chemistry and went to grade inflated post bac programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

😬 note to self – don’t use physicians who couldn’t handle college chemistry and went to grade inflated post bac programs.

Whatever we all pass the same board exams (and I’ve done well above average on them) and finish all the courses in med school. We also all have to get in the 85+ percentile for the MCAT to get into med school. We could have a whole other conversation about why schools even weed out people to begin with but instead you decide to be snarky for no reason with no purpose to your post.

[Anonymous]

my only option was to do a post bacc

This is the way in for most. More money
More time spent to show how much you want it
Money-money-money. Money talks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

😬 note to self – don’t use physicians who couldn’t handle college chemistry and went to grade inflated post bac programs.

Then you should avoid physicians who took a couple online classes, went to small “commuter” universities, or started in community college. Those physicians are few in number, but they’re out there (and every bit as qualified as other physicians).

[Anonymous]

How much have you spent for college, post bcc, and medical school total? Did you get FA or loan? Either your parents are loaded, or very poor, or you have high loan amount.

[Anonymous]

Med school admissions are way more classist than law school admissions. Much more “holistic,” versus how Harvard Law class of 2024 has kids from 172 colleges. At the cheapest colleges you will be hard-pressed to get research experience or similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

😬 note to self – don’t use physicians who couldn’t handle college chemistry and went to grade inflated post bac programs.

Whatever we all pass the same board exams (and I’ve done well above average on them) and finish all the courses in med school. We also all have to get in the 85+ percentile for the MCAT to get into med school. We could have a whole other conversation about why schools even weed out people to begin with but instead you decide to be snarky for no reason with no purpose to your post.

yea. doctors still have to pass their step exams, do well on the mcat, and get good enough grades in med school to get a residency. sure post-bac chem classes may be *slightly* easier than chem classes at a regular college program...but if you don't know chemistry you're not going to be able to 1. do well enough on the mcat to get in to med school and 2. be able to do well enough in med school classes to pass and graduate and get a residency. you can't slack your way into getting an md.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is an option, but there is a cost. Time and money. A post bacc takes at least an additional 2 years of education. That’s 2 additional years of tuition and living expenses. Probably around $100K. Also wondering if the OP got ALL their medical school required classes while in post grad education. Some medical schools want pre reqs within a certain period of time. A 6 year old biochemistry class might not be accepted.

Yes, but you have to spend that time anyway in most cases. Most med students don’t go to med school right out of college these days. The average age of first year med students is 24. Med schools. Want to see something besides pre-med, with high gpa and and MCATs. A member of my family sits on the admissions committee of a top 5 med school and says that admissions is holistic. These other things matter, so her kid is spending a year after college doing something else before applying to med school. The PP is right on the money.

OP here. Agreed. Another point to make- it would be better in general to not let you kid struggle via premed classes intended to weed them out. That has a high risk of turning you kid off from medicine in general and also potentially ruining multiple career options at once (low GPA making it harder to get into law school or consulting, for example). It is better to let your kid pick a major they can excel in and then take the science classes in a less punitive environment if they choose to do so in the future. Post baccs tend to grade inflate and are measure by how many students get into medical school so they have a strong incentive to get your kid to that place. I know other classmates who went with a state school- they mentioned that by being older and focused they were able to do much better than the standard college student who also wants to make friends and party. This also brings me to another point. Some college students are simply not ready to grind through premed classes at 18. I wasn't. I took Gen Chem freshman year and got a C. Thankfully, I stopped there. When I got to my postbacc, I was ready to study hard and I had no distractions. I spent the year tied to my chair doing practice problems and going to lab. I spent 8 weeks studying day and night for the MCAT. I simply wasn't focused enough to have done this as a undergrad- some people need more time to mature and get there.

Side note: it actually saved me money to do the postbacc route because we were able to save and I got a scholarship based on how "nontraditional" I was. It also helped to establish my independence from my parents (NOTE NOT ALL MED SCHOOLS LET YOU DO THIS).

😬 note to self – don’t use physicians who couldn’t handle college chemistry and went to grade inflated post bac programs.

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

This is a $150K option, OP.
$75K for the post-bac tuition plus the loss of income for that year (which I'm probably conservatively saying is $75K).

It's great if you have a benefactor: parents or spouse.

The two people I know in real-life who did a post-bac program were married to practicing physicians whose salaries paid for it. My friend's husband is an ER doctor. She did a post-bac and is now in a family practice residency.
My dermatologist's wife also completed a post-bac program.

[Anonymous]

What is a “post back”? Thanks in advance.