Hi guys,
I just finished the post back program, and my advice to you is DO NOT GO HERE. If I had it to do again, I would go to a program that grants you a masters degree, not a certificate in nothing. I am not in med school, I have 50,000 dollars of debt from this program, and I do not have anything to show for it. I was told that about 35/85 people who took the final got >3.0. This does not include about 30 who failed prior to the final. (This statistic was not given to me by lecom, but I did hear it from several different sources.)
To preface this, I had a 3.4 undergraduate GPA from a competitive university and a 28 MCAT. I decided to do the program because I have been out of school several years and figured this would make me a better medial student.
We HAD to interview in January (after other nonpost baccs were already accepted). At this time, alternative pathways were full or almost full. After our federal aid was NONREFUNDABLE, lecom started playing games with waitlist letters. I was told there were nowhere near enough seats, and they would send conditional acceptances after general applicants turned down their seats. GPAs below a 3.2 did not get conditional acceptance letters until the end of the semester. To me, this seems like they intended for everyone to get 2.8s the following semester. Easy way to weed out a decent amount of people. We had a ridiculously large fourth exam and a new pharm professor. It is my belief that this is how they addressed their lack of space. By this point, my money was nonrefundable and I had already invested almost a year in LECOM.
The average in pharm on both exam 3 and 4 was close to an F. Being that this was the majority of the points in the class, this was pretty much impossible to recover from. I got As on exams after that, but still got a c in pharm. We didn't get averages for the last exam and the final, but I would assume that they weren't A's, meaning a lot of the class is still doing worse than my C.
We were sent several emails from their federal student aid lady to get us to fill out a survey saying we were going to medical school next year. I understand that this is mandatory for the school to submit so that they can get federal loans for students. I refused to fill this out until I was actually accepted (which should be how it goes to begin with). But a lot of other people filled it out when she asked, replying ‘I am intending to go’ or something like that. So the statistics collected from that survey are probably not accurate.
I worked WAY HARDER second semester than 1st semester, and did not get a 3.0. I studied for hours every day. 2 points in EITHER class would have given me a 3.0 (2 points out of ~250). On the final, the anatomy professor marked the answers correct on about 12 questions. He dropped all of them. Questions that were wrong ended up being worth a lot more (because it was out of less points) and the final overall was worth much less (VERY important to people who needed to bring their grades up).
Overall, this program was the worst mistake of my professional career. I am now 50,000 dollars in debt and have nothing to show for it. In addition, my GPA is low in this program, which is going to look horrible on every application. I cant even apply to school without this, because we had to put it on AACOMAS before we knew we were doing horrible. I need to go get a masters degree now to fix the damage this program has done to my resume (something I could have done to begin with for much less money, in a town other than erie). When I asked LECOM for help with what to do next, they pretty much told me this was the end of the line and offered no help as to where I should go from here. Of the people who I asked for help, only one responded. He told me that I should retake some undergraduate classes to increase my undergraduate GPA or get a masters degree. I could have done either of these without LECOM.
I'm going to link this post specifically, but my statements aren't going to all be in direct response to what you've said.
What EVERYONE who is applying and considering this program MUST understand is that this program is DO OR DIE. We told this exact statement to the post-bacc class at the start of the year. We clearly said, "You're here for a reason. Something in your history has prevented you from being accepted to med school and you are here to essentially say, 'You guys were wrong, I am ready for med school, and this is why."
Did you guys think we were BSing you?
From previous post-bacc students it was very clear that a majority of people did not get it. Partying and acting like you were already a med student was pervasive.
If you come to this program, you haven't accomplished ANYTHING. You better show up to Erie with a chip on your shoulder and something to prove.
I will not deny or defend the administrative issues. But you all need to realize, they're present in post-bacc, they're present in med school, residency, and real-life. It is unfortunate that you didn't find the pharmacology professor to be quality. I've had him in multiple courses and his a top-notch instructor (and this is evidenced by the med students voting him as a teacher of the year.)
$50k in debt from the program is a lie. Tuition is around $15k and the max you can borrow is around $30k in federal aid. If you are in $50k in debt, that is due to your own financial irresponsiblity.
What do you do after this? Well, first off, everyone considering this program needs to have had that answer BEFORE YOU EVER STARTED. I repeat, this program wasn't a guarantee and it is the end of the road. If you can't handle med school-lite, ADCOMs will see this as a HUGE, GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS red flag.
You do have options though. Stay another year at LECOM and you'll end up with a MS and have another chance at getting into the med school.
I sincerely feel bad for your situation. It's frustrating, I get it, and I totally understand it. SDN posts are often cathartic. I am glad I came to this post-bacc. It was the most inexpensive with the best linkage. Most importantly, it gave me a pathway to achieve my ultimate goal.
TL;DR? Be responsible. Don't take this program lightly. Have a plan in case you don't get in. And don't make excuses, make solutions.