Session 46

This week's question is coming from a 36-year old, single mother of three who is looking to get into medical school. Listen in as Ryan and Rich share their insights into how you can actually evaluate postbac programs.

Your questions, answered here on the OldPreMeds Podcast. Ryan and Rich again dive into the forums over at OldPreMeds.org where they pull a question and deliver the answers right on to you.

OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

Poster is looking at UCLA postbac program, part of the UCLA Extension School; she said it's the only program that doesn't require a GPA minimum but she's concerned if this is going to hurt her appearance at medical schools because of this.

How should a nontraditional student evaluate postbac progams?

Here are the insights from Ryan:

1. Evaluate the logistics of your life.

A young single student has different concerns than a mom of three. Go to the best school if you can. But if you don't have time logistics to study, you're not going to be successful. So evaluate what you need.

1. The GPA point of interest is not a valid concern.

Medical school are not going to worry what GPA you had going into a postbac but they're going to worry about your GPA coming out of the postbac.

Some things you need to consider:

• Is it going to be in the morning or the evening?
• Is it a full time system or part time?
• What is the cost?
• Do you need an advisor?
• Do you need a prep course for MCAT?
• Are there any links for this postbac?
• Does it have any connections with medical school?
• Does it have any EC coordination?
• Place for training or research
• Success rate (Be careful of this.)
• Find out what their stats and requirements are. (Not having a committee or composite letter from them is a big red flag.)

You can do an informal postbac.

This means not going through a formal postbac program but rather, you take the courses that you need to improve especially if you have low GPA.At this point, advising for this particular case is very important.

There is no MSAR for post bac.

There is no standardization.

Links and Other Resources:

www.mededmedia.com

In celebration of The Premed Years podcast, Ryan is holding a contest where you can get a chance to win some one-on-one coaching with Ryan. Simply head over to www.medicalschoolhq.net/contest to join.