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
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
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