Admissions Straight Talk

Is a Postbac Program Right for You?


Listen Later










Understanding postbac programs, and how they can help YOU apply to medical school successfully [Show summary]



Accepted consultant Dr. Barry Rothman offers an overview of postbac programs to help prospective med school applicants discern if the postbac experience is the next best step for them, along with tips for postbac applicants.



How postbac programs help applicants apply at their best [Show notes]



Are you applying to medical school but concerned about your undergraduate record? Or, did the medical bug bite you when it was too late to take the med school prerequisites? Then you either are or should be considering a postbac program.



Our guest today is Dr. Barry Rothman, Accepted consultant. Dr. Rothman has been on the show several times. The first time was way back in 2013, before he joined Accepted. At the time, he was serving at San Francisco State University as a professor of biology, director of postbac programs, director of the SFSU health professionals advising committee, director of the pre-health professions certificate program, and director of the SFSU/University of Pacific Dental postbac program. He has since left SFSU and is now a much-loved consultant at Accepted.



How and when did you get involved in postbac programs? [2:11]



Around 2005. I was a professor at San Francisco State, and my Dean approached me and said, "We need a new health professions advisor." I thought, “I like working with students and I'm interested in molecular medicine. This sounds good. I get three units of release time, and it should be easy.” Well, it was a lot more work, and I loved it. I really fell in love with the area and especially the students, working with them closely, helping them find their way into the health profession. At the time, there was an informal postbac program that all the CSU campuses had, but there were no services. You could just take classes with undergrads.



What services did you feel were lacking? [3:03]



Mostly advising, letter writing. There was no organization. It was just free-floating. The postbacs who came to SF State could take classes, but that was it. Nobody took care of them. A group of them approached me and said, "We would be willing to pay extra money if we could get some advising." I said, "Okay, let's put our heads together." We wrote up a proposal, and my dean got on board. I had to take it to our Academic Senate, which was a learning experience in itself, having to learn how to navigate the political waters at San Francisco State, which are pretty calm, not turbulent, but still, I had to learn how to present my program to the Academic Senate and convince them that this was a good thing to do. It turned out great. Amazingly, it was in black ink from the very beginning.



I'm not directing the program anymore, but now the program’s into its 14th or 15th cohort. It's been quite successful. It was formulated on the idea of cooperation, although many health professions situations can have a competitive component to them. We really wanted to select people who wanted to be team players, and that has been very successful. A lot of folks don't want to be in a heavy competitive situation and want to be in a situation where people pull together and support each ...
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Admissions Straight TalkBy Linda Abraham

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

47 ratings


More shows like Admissions Straight Talk

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,886 Listeners

Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Freakonomics Radio

32,260 Listeners

The Premed Years by Ryan Gray

The Premed Years

1,264 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,483 Listeners

White Coat Investor Podcast by Dr. Jim Dahle of the White Coat Investor

White Coat Investor Podcast

2,432 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,864 Listeners

The Nocturnists by The Nocturnists

The Nocturnists

606 Listeners

Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews by Mark Stucker

Your College Bound Kid | Admission Tips, Admission Trends & Admission Interviews

338 Listeners

All Access: Med School Admissions by Christian Essman

All Access: Med School Admissions

220 Listeners

MTM Travel - The Fun Side of Points & Travel! by Shawn Coomer & Mark Ostermann

MTM Travel - The Fun Side of Points & Travel!

321 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

28,304 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,237 Listeners

All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins by Chris Hutchins

All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins

1,577 Listeners

BeMo Admissions Experts Podcast by BeMo Academic Consulting

BeMo Admissions Experts Podcast

48 Listeners

Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad by Travel Mom Squad: Travel on Credit Card Points

Points Talk with the Travel Mom Squad

933 Listeners