5 Frequently Asked Questions About Postbac Premed

What is the Postbac Premed program?

Are you an undergraduate of baccalaureate and are looking to gain more experience to enter Medical school with more confidence? Then this is the right place for you to get some more information.

1. What is the Postbac Premed Program – Overview

Postbac Premed – Post-baccalaureate premedical program – is a program that helps you gain all the prerequisites that you were lacking to apply to medical school.

Completing this program, besides giving you the knowledge and proper practices in a scientific field to later engage in a medical career, also gives you certificates or even a master’s degree in some subjects.

Postbac Premed program helps you become a competitive applicant for medical school!

This program is not only for medical school. Nowadays, there are other career options.

For example, Columbia University suggests, “The Postbac Premed Program allows students to complete the academic prerequisites for admission to schools of allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and graduate programs in allied health.”

What are Postbac Premed categories? And How does it work?

There are two main categories you might go into

1. Career changer

is for the type of students who decided to pursue into medical career late in their undergraduate years or after graduation, thus mostly, they don’t have perquisites for scientific courses like biology, physics, math, organic chemistry

2. Academic Record changer

As you know, all medical schools have high standards when it comes to grades, scientific coursework studies, and academic performance.

If for whatever reason you don’t have a great academic portfolio full of A-s, especially in scientific subjects, or have been inactive academically, this program can do you a favor.

Postbac Premed is mostly designated for students who underperformed in undergraduate college and are now not considered to be strong candidates for medical school applications because of their relatively poor academic performance, lower grades, borderline MCAT scores, etc.

In postbac program is a perfect opportunity to take those courses again, raise your grades, boost your GPA, gain clinical and research experience and improve your general academic performance to be considered a competitive applicant for medical school.

2. What is linkage?

Linkage is a type of formal agreement between a post-bac premed program and a medical school to admit or interview their students.

The more linkages a program has, the more chance you have to attend your target medical school.

For example, Goucher College has 10 linkages and a 99,7 % acceptance rate to medical school over the last 10 years and a rate of 96% over the program’s 30-year history.
Their program has linkage agreements with highly selective medical schools.

They currently have linkages with the following schools:

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
The University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
George Washington University School of Medicine
Stony Brook University School of Medicine
Hofstra North Shore – LIJ School of Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine
University of Michigan Medical School
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
New York University Grossman School of Medicine

One drawback here is that programs with a lot of linkages are more expensive and difficult to get into.
Which I think makes sense, right?

Although, the affiliation between med school and the post-bac program does not guarantee your acceptance to med school.

According to UMHS – university of Medicine and health science
The acceptance rate into medical school for students who completed a post-bac program at the same university ranges from 55 to 85 percent.

There are a lot of post-bac programs with rich linkages with great med schools. Make sure you find a program that has a linkage with your desired school.

3. What do you need to enter the Postbac Premed program?

There are several requirements you should suffice to enter this program since schools need to choose appropriate candidates,

Requirements differ according to the program you enter, but for most, it’s:

Strong academic preparation
GPA

The score needed depends on the school you are entering, But most programs require a GPA of at least 3,0. The higher your GPA higher the chance you have to get into Postbac programs. So if you are in your late undergraduate semesters, perfect your GPA at all costs.

Test scores:
Programs might ask for your SAT, MCAT, and ACT scores

Basic Science
Good grades and GPA in the scientific course are a big plus for your portfolio.

Letters of recommendation

Successful in-person interview – you have to convince the administration that you are a strong candidate willing to get into a medical career

If you don’t meet all these criteria, there is still hope for you in the form of Special Masters Programs (SMP), which is the topic for another talk.

4. How long does the Postbac pre-med program last?

Typically it lasts around from 18 months to 24 months, depending on full-time or part-time enrollment and the type of program (non-degree granting or degree-granting).

5. What’s the cost of the Postbac program?

It can be quite costly. Prices differ among programs. On average, it can range from 20,000$ to 40,000$ annually. It is more expensive than directly passing the MCAT exam and getting into med school.

For example, here are the annual charges of Bennington College for the 2020-2021 post-bac premed program:

Tuition: $34,810

Summer term (1 class) $4,350.00
Fall term (4 classes) $17,405.00
Spring term (3 classes) $13,055

In conclusion

If you are an undergraduate or postgraduate and want to pursue a medical career or attend medical school with more confidence. The things you need are:

Scientific Prerequisites
Retake courses that you earned lower grades in
MCAT preparation
Gain more Research and Clinical experiences
Increase your GPA to match the requirements of your target school
Strong levels of recommendations from professors

Then the Postbac premed program is a perfect fit for you!

It will give you experience and make you more familiar with the environment of your medical career.

“Postbac Premed programs are for someone who already had an undergraduate degree and wants to enhance their application to become more competitive for medical school”.

References:

https://www.goucher.edu/learn/

https://www.doctorpremed.com/post-baccalaureate.html

https://www.umhs-sk.org/blog/premed-postbacc-pros-cons

https://gs.columbia.edu/content/eligibility-postbac-premed

https://apps.aamc.org/postbac/

https://www.ama-assn.org/residents-students/

https://www.bennington.edu/