Need Financial Advice

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MonkeyDLuffy777

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Hello,

I'm thinking about doing a formal postbac pre-med program mainly for GPA Enhancement. The programs I am thinking about applying to are not close enough to commute. I don't have money to pay for tuition for these programs and so I'm targeting ones that are a certificate program in order to be able to apply for financial aid. Do you guys think that I would be able to afford the tuition of a postbac program, say at USC, UCB, or CSULA, as well as be able to pay for housing and food/etc. all with loans...? How much do you think this would all cost if I try to do 4 semesters of 15 credits each total?

Does anyone know if financial aid could possibly grant me state grants if I apply for financial aid if I'm someone who's really poor and my family is also really poor? Would I need to work in order to pay for this?

Finally, do you think I need to save money now before I can think about applying to a postbac program? I am basically BROKE.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. Would I save money if I try to do this informally? I kind of don't know what I am doing right now though... I just know I need to boost my GPA and that I have the pre-reqs down but need to retake about 8 of my science classes.

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Hello,

I'm thinking about doing a formal postbac pre-med program mainly for GPA Enhancement. The programs I am thinking about applying to are not close enough to commute. I don't have money to pay for tuition for these programs and so I'm targeting ones that are a certificate program in order to be able to apply for financial aid. Do you guys think that I would be able to afford the tuition of a postbac program, say at USC, UCB, or CSULA, as well as be able to pay for housing and food/etc. all with loans...? How much do you think this would all cost if I try to do 4 semesters of 15 credits each total?

Does anyone know if financial aid could possibly grant me state grants if I apply for financial aid if I'm someone who's really poor and my family is also really poor? Would I need to work in order to pay for this?

Finally, do you think I need to save money now before I can think about applying to a postbac program? I am basically BROKE.

Thank you for your time.

P.S. Would I save money if I try to do this informally? I kind of don't know what I am doing right now though... I just know I need to boost my GPA and that I have the pre-reqs down but need to retake about 8 of my science classes.

Most of these are questions to ask the programs themselves. The websites will state what their total cost of attendance is (tuition + housing, fees, etc.) and you should be able to stay under that. Ideally you borrow less than the maximum--living with a roomate, renting a room in a house, walking/biking to class. You should be able to come up with a good estimate of how much money you need for food/housing/etc by basing it off your current budget as well.

Talk to the programs about whether you can get any grants or other financial aid. I don't think FAFSA takes family income into account for graduate school, so your family situation unfortunately may not help you there, but talk to the programs and see what they offer.

I doubt you need to save up money--you should be able to pay for everything you need in loans (if you go that route remember to save some of that money for medical school applications/interviews). That could get expensive though if you're talking about 2-year programs, and going to a private school like USC is going to be ridiculously expensive (but sometimes they can offer more aid). Add that on to medical school debt and that puts you deeper in debt.

You could definitely save money doing things informally. I had a few med school classmates who did all their pre-reqs at a community college after they got their undergrad degree. It's generally not recommended (by people on the forums here--I'm not sure what medical school admins actually think) since those courses are perceived as being easier. Still, it worked for my friends and was much cheaper than going to a CSU/UC or private school for their post-bac. I believe you can declare a major, so even though you wouldn't plan on getting the associate's degree, you could get funding. I think. Going to a CSU though would probably be better, and isn't that much more expensive I believe, but it's harder to get funding if you're not in a formal post-bac, as I don't think the gov't will loan you money for a second bachelor's.

How much work does your GPA need? Needing to retake 8 courses is a lot, and leads me to worry about your overall GPA which will hardly budge after doing a post-bac (your SGPA is a bit easier to fix though). I had a 3.45 in undergrad and I got a 3.9 in post-bac (3 semesters, full course-load) and my GPA went up to 3.49. Keep in mind that retaking a course doesn't replace the grade at MD schools--they will average the two grades. DO schools do grade replacement (I don't know how they feel about replacing a college/university course with a community college course though).

Also, take a look at post-bac/non-trad forums here--you'll find a lot of good advice there. They can better help you on the ins/outs of applying to post-bacs, which post-bacs are good, etc.
 
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