Things that happen in postbac...

Wow.  6 weeks have gone by since I posted.

I thought it was 2.

But so it goes in postbac.

I was talking on the phone with my mom earlier and I said something about being super busy, and it occurred to me that I worked on school related stuff for about 14 hours straight yesterday...and it didn't seem strange to me.

I remember in the beginning of postbac (a lengthy 9 weeks ago), feeling like sustained effort for 6 hours was a marathon. 

Isn't that funny.

Please hear me when I say that I have no complaints - this is simply what is required at this point, and I knew it going in.  But maybe someone thinking about postbac doesn't, so I think it's worth mentioning.

So on to the highlight reel -

Last semester in Bio, we got to see our own DNA in a test tube by using super chilled alcohol.  I think this is probably the coolest (no pun intended) thing I've seen so far in postbac.

All the learning.  I really do love postbac and its structure because the things we're learning are almost seamlessly tied into one another and without much of a lag. Chemistry is now becoming relevant (not that it wasn't relevant last semester, but it's now becoming applicable).  Cell Bio makes me ask questions that my professor can only answer with, "For more information, take Biochemistry" (I will next spring).  So that makes me feel like I'm actually getting a grasp of these concepts from several angles.

Good, good people.  I was nervous terrified when I moved here that I would have no friends.  I've met a few people that I've gotten close to in a hurry, which is fantastic, since we spend about 6 hours per day together. 

An amazing opportunity for volunteering.  I've been fortunate to be selected to volunteer as a Scribe at a local nonprofit that runs a primary care clinic for the uninsured here in Raleigh.  I'm SO excited to get started with it in the fall (more details forthcoming). 

While Chemistry lab has been less...explosive...than I was imagining, we did get to do an experiment where we submerged glowing splints into test tubes and heard them make the strangest, otherworldliest, popping noises I've ever heard.  

Tonight, I bought the MSAR (Medical School Admissions Requirements) from the AAMC (Association American of Medical Colleges) - (hello acronym overload). It's basically a guide with a list of every medical school in America and answers to every question a pre-med could want to know about each of them.  I geeked out over it for about an hour and I'm already formulating the list of medical schools that I will apply to (preview, so far, schools from 10 states have made the cut). It's sometimes good to remind myself of the bigger picture. 

So that's where I am! Enjoy the weekend! You earned it.

Tests, and Labs, and Homework, oh my! (Also known as a week in the life of a postbac)

So you may be wondering what the week in the life of a postbac looks like.  I can only speak to my personal experience, because every school (and even every student), does things differently.  As a matter of fact, in most of the programs I looked at for postbac, students take only Chemistry over the summer (isn't that nice!), so they have a completely different type of schedule than we do.

I'm actually happy we're doing both Chem and Bio at the same time, because it allows us to take two electives instead of none in the Fall and Spring semesters.  We take Biochemistry, which is all but required for the MCAT and an elective.  I chose to take Physiology - and I'm STOKED for that class come Fall.  But I digress...

My week looks something like this:

Monday Morning - Chemistry Lecture (1.5 hrs)
{Study, cook meals for the week}
Monday Evening - Biology Lecture (1.5 hrs)

Tuesday Morning - Chemistry Lecture (1.5 hrs)
Tuesday Late Morning - Chemistry Lab (3 hrs)
{chemistry tutoring}
{study and cry because this day is loooooong.  Okay, kidding about the crying.}
Tuesday Evening - Biology Lecture (1.5 hrs)
Tuesday Late Evening - Biology Lab (2 hrs)
{throw down a bowl of cereal before having a Narcolepsy attack and falling into bed}

Wednesday Morning - Chemistry Lecture (1.5 hrs)
Wednesday Late Morning - Chemistry Lab (3 hrs)
{chemistry tutoring - optional}
{study}
Wednesday Evening - Biology Lecture (1.5 hrs)

Thursday Morning - Chemistry Lecture (1.5 hrs)
{chemistry tutoring - optional}
{study}
Thursday Evening - Biology Lecture (2 hrs)
Thursday Late Evening - Biology Lab (1.5 hrs)
{study}
{drink so much caffeine I cannot fall asleep}

Friday Morning - Chemistry Test (1.5 hrs)
{study for Biology Test}

Saturday/Sunday
Church/Figure Skating Coaching/Grocery Shopping/Studying

So total, we're talking about 22 hours of classroom instruction per week.  It feels like less.
Now, if you add in homework time, postbac becomes more than a full time job.  Lots of people say that a good ratio between classroom hours and homework hours is 1:3, meaning that for every one hour of class time, you should spend 3 hours outside of class.  That brings the total of study hours up to around 66.  Add it all together, and you've got more than two full-time jobs here, which I would say is just about right.

I looked at my advisor like she was nuts when she initially told me that it was impossible to work during postbac.  I honestly thought, "Really? I did 18 hours a semester as an undergrad and worked two jobs and had no problems..." But that was stupid and naiive and I'm so glad I listened to her.  I currently work 2 hours per week and that's good.  I could maybe work 5 hours per week, but that's pushing it. 

Moral of the story: listen to your advisor.  They know things.

I don't spend all of my studying hours alone - in fact, I like to meet with study groups a couple of times per week, as well as attend the free Chemistry tutoring sessions my college offers.  They're fantastic and I'm sure I wouldn't have done as well on my last Chemistry exam as I did had we not had them.

So that's my week.  It looks repetitive and it is, but I'm already finding my groove. The next summer semester, the whole apple cart will be upset when I trade my Bio I class for a 3 week Cell Bio intensive and go into Gen Chem II. Such is life...

One Week In

I seriously cannot believe that five days of classes have gone by.  I think my new saying for postbac will be, "if you want a year to go by as quickly as possible, become a postbac".

This last week, I started two classes.  I'm taking General Chemistry (with a lab) and General Biology (with a lab).  Both classes I was very interested to take, but I knew that Chem would probably be the more burdensome of the two in terms of workload, and I was so right. I spent almost every hour of my waking time this last week doing Chemistry.  Chemistry practice problems, Chemistry flashcards, Chemistry equations, Chemistry reading, Chemistry homework, and the list goes on.

I seriously feel guilty for my Biology work - I have not given it as much attention, because for me, it is so much more intuitive.  Like, hey, this is a cell.  This is how stuff works in there.  It all clicks.

The good news about the pace is that both classes last for only 6 weeks, so now, I'm already 1/6 finished with these classes (which sounds like insanity to say out loud).  The bad news is that the pace is absolutely grueling.  I took two tests on Friday, both of which were on about two chapters worth of information.  If you know anything about Chemistry, you know that's nearing firehose proportions of information to retain.

I could go on about how hard I've been working, but I won't.  The truth is that while this week was really hard and a jarring transition, I've been really happy to be in the middle of it. Doing this work is directly correlated to a purpose, to a goal, that isn't distant, but is within one years' reach.  I think this is a huge bonus of postbac.  You are working A LOT, but the motivation is there because you know that it will be over soon (relatively speaking), and that it leads somewhere you really want to go (otherwise, why would you make sacrifices in the first place to do postbac?).

I've done a lot of reflecting about my academic experience now versus as an undergrad and the difference is night and day.  In undergrad, there were many classes that were required, but my heart just wasn't there.  I showed up and was there in body, but the mind part, not so much.  In my classes now, I'm there and fully engaged in class.  I write notes like a madwoman and do as many problems as I can.  I am so incredibly concerned with not only making good grades, but retaining the information, because in just about a year I'll take the MCAT (required entrance test to get into Medical School), and it is NO JOKE.  So retention will be important.

My classes are interesting.  Last week I learned about atoms and moles (not the animals), and cells, and nuclear decay reactions and did experiments on freshwater plants and my cheek cells and potatoes and on pond water (yes, pond water - summary of that experience, you wouldn't want to live in there).  And it's all clicking.

I went into my advisor's office on Friday to talk with her because I was feeling seriously overwhelmed.  How was I supposed to remember all of this information? Am I really cut out for this? She was so nice and told me that most students get panicky during their first week because it's hard and it's new and your mind isn't used to thinking in this way after you've been out of school for awhile.  She was right.  I walked out of my Chemistry test on Friday and actually felt a level of mastery.  I understood the test (or so I thought - we'll see when my grade comes back).  I had some confidence.

So, if you're a postbac (or anyone, really) who is drowning in the newness and scariness and frustrating-ness (not a word) of it all, just be reminded that you can do it.  Scariness does not equal impossibility.  Sometimes, just the opposite.

 

Why a Career in Medicine?

Many people (including those admitting me to postbac and later med school) will be asking the question, "Why Medicine"?

There isn't an easy answer to this, but there are a few things that I can point to.  First and foremost, I don't believe that we have only one "calling" in life.  I am so much richer of a person because of my experience in ministry than I would have been if I had done the straight pre-med thing.  I recently was chastised by one of my colleagues for "abandoning my call" to ministry.  I pushed back a bit and told them that I'd much rather be a person who pursues her gifts and passions than to stay in a job that I'm no longer a good fit for because it's comfortable and I can do it.  And this is where I found myself over the past year.

I was good at ministry and I liked it.  I was comfortable for the most part.  But the spark, the fire, the waking up in the morning excited to go to work wasn't there.  And the kids I served deserved a lot more than that - I deserved more than that.  So I decided to make the jump.  When I think about the question, "Why Medicine?" I think of the following things:

1.  Not everybody can be a Doctor.

For me this is a huge motivator.  It gives me a sense of responsibility.  Because the truth is that not everybody can be a physician, even if they want to.  It takes a certain amount of intellect and togetherness, drive, ambition, patience and sustained focus.  And not everybody is cut out for that.  I believe I am, and therefore I feel almost duty bound to pursue it.

2.  Medicine is freaking interesting

Through my shadowing experiences (and experiences I've had as a patient), I've gotten to see so many cool and interesting things.  Not everybody finds a colonoscopy interesting (probably most people can't wait to get it over with), but seeing it done, looking at somebody's body from the inside is absolutely breathtaking.  Seeing a pain management physician provide a patient relief from pains that have obliterated their quality of life is incredible.  Watching a surgeon wield their scalpel and literally take apart and re-shape a child's fused skull bones seems super-human.  Even just the practice of a physician sitting with a patient, listening, and walking with them through what can be the scariest time in their life is to me of immense value.  I know that a career in medicine will give me new opportunities every day and that I will continue to be a lifelong learner.  Which is great, because I'm naturally insanely curious.

3.  Medicine is ministry

For a lot of people, the jump from ministry to medicine seems like a jarring one, but for me the progression is, in fact, quite logical.  In ministry, I dealt with all sorts of things, like counseling and walking beside students and families through difficulties, I coordinated programs with specific aims and goals in mind, I had to think on my feet in situations that were often unclear, I had to communicate well and concisely to a group of people who were squirmy and had sometimes short attention spans.  I think you could apply this list of skills almost verbatim to a Pediatrician or Family Practice Doctor.  The skills I have built in ministry I believe will translate directly to Medicine - my focus will just now be slightly different.

4. I Want to Help People*

I love serving and helping people.  It's something that has always been a huge part of my lifestyle, and I know that this love will translate well to medicine.  I put the asterisk because just wanting to help people isn't, frankly, enough.  You can help people as a lawyer, or as a preschool teacher, or as a worker for an NGO, or any other number of ways.  For me, though, I have seen through my shadowing experience what the help of a good physician can do.  For example, in my earliest shadowing days, I followed around a Family Practice Doc in Dallas.  This woman did pediatric hospice care, surely one of the most draining and thorny fields any physician could practice within.  She saw chronically sick and dying kids with very little chance of recovery every single day.  And more than that, she made house calls to her patients (I didn't even know Doctors still did housecalls!).  She diligently drove all around the Dallas metroplex, often to areas that most people wouldn't want to venture too near, into peoples' homes, providing care and assurance and support that families dealing with a chronically ill or dying child so desperately need.  She had a phone translator service at the ready, and used it in many of her cases to bridge the gap when she didn't speak a family's language.  She held and rocked and cared for kids with Trisomy or other genetic issues, she provided palliative care for families whose kids had leukemia or other cancers, and she did it with grace, while providing families and kids the dignity that we all deserve while we're leaving this earth.  I have honestly never felt anything like it - and it made me realize that the impact she had on those families will be everlasting.  I want that.

5.  I Love a Challenge

Medicine is often a complicated game where the rules are just so but also not quite.  In every case, you have to piece together the information you have (along with the information you don't have) to treat a patient.  I love the idea of tackling new challenges all the time, thinking creatively and critically to help solve problems.

So there's a top 5 for you.  There are many more things I could say, but these are the primary reasons.

Stay tuned for an update on my first week as a postbac (preview: I did about 50 hours of Chem homework)!

Applying to Postbac

Well hello there!

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting in my mostly finished living room in my brand new town, Raleigh.  I vacillate between excitement and terror as I think about classes starting Monday.

I thought it might be helpful (especially to anybody considering this path), to hear what went in to my application process for postbac.  There's a lot of technical info involved that I'll spare you from, but I wanted to give an outline of the process.

First,  I identified the idea that I wanted to go to postbac.  There is a fabulous website, hosted by the AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) that lists all of the current postbac programs they know about (and new ones are being added all the time).  When I applied, I think there were around 160 different programs.  This website is particularly awesome because you can search by state, length of the program, type of program (career-changer or grade-enhancer), public vs private, etc, all in one location.

I downloaded the list of every program in the country, imported it into Excel and sorted it by State.  There are some states that I simply am not willing to live in (sorry, Louisiana and North Dakota), so I immediately crossed them off the list.  Schools that were within driving distance of me at the time (DC) got priority on my list.  I went through several times, whittling down the list.  I eventually ended up with about 50 schools that were in somewhat desirable locations.

I realized at this point that not every postbac program is the same.  Since you'll likely be paying for your program yourself, cost is a huge factor.  There were some programs that were upwards of $60,000 a year, which is a debt I wasn't willing to take on (since there's no guarantee that I'll get into Medical School and actually make that Doctor's salary to help pay off debt).  I had a soft cap of about $40,000 that I was willing to spend (through loans) for postbac.  That immediately eliminated a good chunk of the programs.

I also looked at the policies of the postbac program - for example, one huge question is "do postbacs get priority in registering for classes?" This is a biggie, because if you can't get a class you need, you're extremely unlikely to complete the program in a year, even if it's theoretically possible.  Most schools give postbacs priority (or have solely postbac sections), but some don't.  I also wanted to know if I'd be in a class of predominantly traditional undergrads (read: 18 year olds).  I already feel weird enough about this decision, so having a solid postbac cohort definitely was a plus.  

Next, I looked at each program in depth, visiting their websites and often calling their admissions folks.  I asked all sorts of questions like what rate of acceptance they had into medical school over the past few years, what advising was available, and what research, shadowing and volunteering opportunities were available for students.  It became clear to me pretty quickly that some programs were in it for the money.  (Okay, truth here, most postbac programs are money-makers for the Universities - but most of them at least did a good job of showing they actually saw students as more than bank accounts to be raided).

I immediately nixed the schools from whom I got a cash-grabbing vibe and that whittled the list down further.  There were several programs remaining that I was very interested in, but I had to make another cut - and I eventually chose to eliminate all schools that were more than 1 year in length.  Sure, would it be better in a lot of ways to space the classes out over two years? Yes. However, I knew myself and knew that I would need to not work (or work extremely few hours) to really focus on school, and that it would only be sustainable financially to do so over a one year period.  So the two year programs had to go.   I was particularly sad about this decision because it eliminated almost all schools on the West Coast, somewhere I was very interested in moving.  But it happens.

When it all came down to it, I had 11 schools on the list.  I eliminated two because their programs weren't well established and they were State Universities, meaning lots of extra monies coming out of my pocket for out-of-state tuition.

So where did I end up applying?

Tufts University (Boston, MA)
University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
Goucher College (Baltimore, MD)
George Washington University (DC)
University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
University of Vermont (Burlington, VT)
Bennington College (Bennington, VT)
Scripps College (Los Angeles, CA)
Meredith College (Raleigh, NC)

All of these programs were solid, and I got good vibes from the admissions folks (I have to give a shout out to Scripps College whose admissions counselor literally saved my butt this year when she realized I was missing a transcript from one class I took off campus during undergrad and called me to alert me so I could fix it with the other schools I was applying to).  I had very good conversations with the folks at all of these Universities and would have been happy to have ended up at any of them.

The application process was grueling - each school required, at minimum, my official transcripts from every University I'd attended (so three transcripts), a personal statement, and usually two letters of recommendation (one from a college professor).  Other schools required ACT scores from my HS transcript, some required official copies (which were a pain in the rear and expensive to obtain).  I also had one school that made me answer 5-6 mini essay questions talking about myself and if anyone in my family was a doctor.

The process was additionally very competitive - at the most competitive of schools (I think Goucher and Scripps are probably up there - there were 10 or more applications for every spot.  That's as competitive as some Medical Schools!)

I hit up my former boss, Mark, to write a lot of my recommendations because he knew me well and was working with me currently.  I had to call the schools and explain that because I had been out of school for 6 years already, and studied abroad my last year, that it was impossible to get recommendations from my undergrad professors.  I was still in contact with a professor from my study abroad program, and she helped me out with the schools that wouldn't budge on the professor recommendation (I think there were 2-3).  I also thought it would be a good idea to have a physician write me a letter, so I asked a former parent of some of my youth group kids in HK to write a letter.  She was a rockstar and ended up doing 7 letters. 

It was a lengthy process to get the letters in, ACT scores ordered, official transcripts in, and everything sorted out.  I, at one point, had 9 manila envelopes strewn about my floor with papers everywhere (and that was as organized as I could get).  If I could do it over again, I'd order my transcripts immediately and start getting on the letters sooner.  I gave each of my references 30 days, but in retrospect, that was far too few days.  I'd do it 3 months in advance.  My best advice is to knock out the things that are going to be out of your control and then handle the things you yourself can do last.

Most of my application deadlines were somewhere between March 1 and 15, and I sent out the applications just a few days before the closing deadlines.  In retrospect, I would have also sent them in much sooner, since the vast majority of programs had rolling admissions and had been admitting students since the fall.  It's just logical that with rolling admissions, the closer to the closing date, the less seats will be available, hence it will be more competitive.  I'm not sure if it would have made a difference if I'd submitted sooner, but I suspect I might have had a few more acceptances. 

Ultimately, and this is a very non-typical thing to do (premeds are weirdos about talking about grades, scores, acceptances, etc) I ended up getting accepted to two schools (and rejected from 7).  I was accepted to the University of Vermont and Meredith College, both of which were in my top 3, so I was very happy.

I spent a week agonizing over the decision.  I talked with the counselors at each school, went over courseloads and options for outside activities, and ultimately decided on Meredith College.  Now that I'm over the deciding, I can say that I am 100% happy with my decision.  My adviser is fabulous and has really gone out of her way to help me out with all kinds of random questions and things I have needed assistance with.  I'll be able to give more of an assessment of the program when I start, but I think I made the right decision.

 That's all for now - going to sleep while I can!

Whitney

Post-what???

I decided to start this blog for my friends and family (and anyone else out there who might be interested in postbac premed programs).

So who am I (if you don't already know)? Well, I'm Whitney, and I've recently quit my job (Youth Ministry), moved from DC to North Carolina and accepted the true and inevitable fact that I will be in school for another 5 years (plus residency).  Yep, folks, that's on top of the undergraduate degree I already hold.

What could possess somebody to make this kind of drastic, life-altering switch at the age of almost 30?  Well, the story is long and goes back almost 25 years ago, but basically, I've loved medicine and science and bodies since I was a little kid.  I squished a cadaver brain in 5th grade when my friend's Doctor-Father came in to our class and I knew I wanted to be a doctor.  But, when I got to college, as sometimes happens, I lost the dream.  I found a job I loved in youth ministry, and as life has a way of doing, I settled in just fine, nice and comfortably.  10 years, 5 states, and 2 countries later, I looked around at my life and at what I wanted from the future, and the idea of becoming a Doctor simply wouldn't leave me.  It's like that perpetual dry skin on my elbows that won't go away no matter how much moisturizer I use (alright, so maybe that's just me?)  I thought long and very hard about it, did LOTS of research, and settled on the idea of a postbac premed program.

If that phrase holds absolutely no meaning to you, don't feel embarrassed - it didn't for me either.  In fact, when I first began thinking about switching my career, I almost immediately dismissed the idea from my mind because I didn't even know that postbac programs were out there, and that if you didn't do pre-med as an undergrad that you could still become a Doctor.  And that's how we got here.  In this blog, I plan to talk about life as a postbac, what went in to my application process (preview: there was a lot of rejection and maybe more than a few tears), the classes I'm taking, the strange and wonderful stuff I'm sure to learn, and I'll talk about studying for the MCAT and applying to Medical School (in 2016).

So, to start, just a quick overview of the main question - What is a postbac program?

Postbac is, in and of itself, an abbreviation.  It stands for Post-baccalaureate Pre-Medical Program.  There are hundreds of postbac programs at Colleges and Universities all over the country, and they're all basically the same when you get down to the nitty gritty.   They're designed (at least the ones that I was interested in) to help students who did not take the required prerequisites for Medical School in undergraduate to go back and blitz through them with advising and support along the way.  There are other programs called "grade enhancers" for students who were premeds, but for some reason got a little derailed in the grades department (and for some reason, Med Schools don't like to admit people with crappy grades) so there you go.

But for me, my program is designed to get the big 8 requirements to apply to medical school out of the way.

They are:
Chemistry (1 year)
Biology (1 year)
Organic Chemistry (1 year)
Physics (1 year)

I'll also take a couple of electives - one of which I've already chosen, and it's physiology.

The allure of doing a postbac program is that you can actually humanly accomplish this insanity in a calendar year if you work it out correctly.  So for the next year, I'll be eating, sleeping (sometimes), dreaming, and breathing science.  I'm actually very excited, because I'm a huge nerd.  Welcome.  I start classes on May 11, and will kick off the party with an intro Chemistry and Biology twofer.

There are some people who choose to do a "build your own" postbac program, and I give them a lot of props.  It's totally do-able, but I wanted to knock these prereqs out as quickly as humanly possible which is something that isn't always possible in the do-it-yourself route (more on why that is later).

So that's where I am.  In my next post, I'll talk about the application process (it was long), and how I decided which schools to apply to.

It's never too late to do it!

Whitney