Post Bac-Guarnteed Admissions

[Lola1234]

Hi Guys,

Do you guys know of any post bac programs that guarntee admission if you maintain a certain GPA in the program? By that I mean, into their own medical school or an affiliated one?

Has anyone here been through or is currently enrolled or graduating from one? Or know anyone in one?




*Anywhere in the US (preferbly Illinois or midwest)
*Either into a MD or DO school or even Dental
*Non minority/economically disadvantaged programs please
*one year programs preferred**




Thank you. All suggestions welcome.
Please reply.

I have already looked at the AAMC Post bac list and other threads w/ little luck.

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[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

that would be really cool if there was one, have not heard of one unfortunately.

Logically, who would this postbacc program be looking to admit? They'd need to be as selective as a med school (possibly more selective) in that they're only admitting students who will be guaranteed med school admission which is a pretty high hurdle to jump.

In order to guarantee admission to med school, a postbacc program would need to have ties to 1 or more med schools -- think of all the high gpa, great EC'd applicants who are not accepted anywhere.

Upon further reflection, a guarantee is not possible. Say I am accepted in the postbacc program and then never show up, at all. The guarantee says I'm admitted to med school anyway, right? Or does the guarantee require certain things, like completing all classes? Or getting As in all classes? then it's not really a guarantee.

that said, Loyola promises an interview to their med school if MCAT scores meet a min threshold and you've completed their postbac program. A few years back when I looked at this, it required a 28+ mcat score on 2 most recent MCATs to get the interview -- my 1st MCAT score was below 28, 2nd was high enough above 28 to gain acceptance without a postbacc so in my situation it did not make sense.

Colorado has a postbacc program; per their admissions office it's tougher to get into than to be accepted at the med school.

I'd bet there are quite a few postbacc programs that are good, or very good. But per above, I would caution against believing any "gurantees" in this process.

 

[Nyu2004]

There are a couple. Off the top of my head Wake Forest and the New York medical schools have one.

 

[msbsurf]

I know that Touro in NYC has one and so does Nova Southeastern University (both DO Schools) I interviewed at both. Basically you maintain a 3.5 GPA and they save you a spot. Other programs guarantee you interviews in their school (ex. PCOM)

 

[IncuSpy]

Temple has a guarantee admissions. Drexel has a guaranteed interview.

 

[gman33]

Linkage is the term postbacc programs use.
Plenty of programs have such arrangements.
Typically you interview at the med school as well as the postbacc program. The med school can grant a conditional acceptance based on criteria such as completing program with certain gpa, minimum MCAT score etc.

A lot of the big programs have many such arrangements. Check out Bryn Mawr, Goucher, Penn, etc. They should have details about the programs.

 

[gatewasani]

links please??????

 

[DrMidlife]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=71

 

[familyaerospace]

Agnes Scott (where I will be attending) in Decatur Ga gives you a guaranteed spot to Mercer University if you apply early decision and maintain a 3.5 and score 25 or higher on the MCAT.

 

[Smb8041]

Agnes Scott (where I will be attending) in Decatur Ga gives you a guaranteed spot to Mercer University if you apply early decision and maintain a 3.5 and score 25 or higher on the MCAT.

I'm thinking of going to Agnes Scott as well. I'm going to try to get my application in by the March 1 deadline so I can start in the summer. If you don't mind me asking, what is your background and what was your undergrad GPA? I have a BSN in nursing with a 3.6 GPA. My fiance, however, has a BSN in nursing as well with a 3.1 gpa. He's going to try to apply next year.

Also, are you going to try to do the linkage program with Mercer? It sounds like a pretty good deal!

 

[familyaerospace]

I'm thinking of going to Agnes Scott as well. I'm going to try to get my application in by the March 1 deadline so I can start in the summer. If you don't mind me asking, what is your background and what was your undergrad GPA? I have a BSN in nursing with a 3.6 GPA. My fiance, however, has a BSN in nursing as well with a 3.1 gpa. He's going to try to apply next year.

Also, are you going to try to do the linkage program with Mercer? It sounds like a pretty good deal!

My undergraduate background is a BS in Biological Anthropology with a second major in Medieval Studies. My undergraduate GPA was a 3.4 cgpa (3.7 major, 3.3 sGPA). However, I also have a MS degree in Space Studies with a 3.7 gpa (3.7 sgpa). I was already accepted to the post-bacc but I have to defer because of financial aid reasons so I start next fall.

I'm not sure if I am going to do the linkage with Mercer. I was advised by a flight surgeon at NASA that with the background I have (5+ years of science research including some of my research being used at NASA and the Russian Space Agency, 3 publications, 6 conference presentations, multiple offices at international organizations, owner of 3 businesses, several years of non-medical community service, and some ridiculous amount of teaching experience), I might be able to compete for a space at a much better medical school assuming I continue getting clinical experience or go MD/PhD which Mercer doesn't have yet.

 

[lovemesomeTJ]

OP, have you done all of your pre-reqs? If so, places like Goucher and Agnes Sott are out. Since we're in the re-applicant's forum, I'm guesing you have...

Wake Forest and NYMC are out because they are for underrepresented/disadvantaged students. But for NYMC (and the other schools in the New York Consortium), you must have already interviewed at the participating medical school, been denied admission, and be nominated by the school to complete the post-bac. And then when that's said and done you still have to be UR/ED.

I'll do more research but I'm going to venture to say that outside of Drexel and Temple, this opportunity is rare. And it makes sense. Alluding to something that non...md said (sorry bud, didn't want to cut and paste), these types of programs would be INSANELY difficult to get into considering all of the qualified applicants that don't get in each year.


Upon further inspecition, I did see the following.

Drexel notes schools it has linkages with, but I think these are for career-changers. http://webcampus.drexelmed.edu/Admissions/linkage.asp

This might be good, apparently it's not just for career changers and UR/ED: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/postbac/pre-health/linkage

This one might help: http://www.temple.edu/medicine/admissions/special_admissions.htm

If you google "medical school linkage programs" you can read more. I'm too lazy to read it all.

 

[dragonfly99]

familyaerospace,
sometimes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Much may depend on your MCAT score.
The 3.4 undergrad GPA may hurt you more than you realize, and a high graduate GPA doesn't necessarily make up for that.

 

[familyaerospace]

The Agnes Scott program comes with a free MCAT course and I am working on studying for it now a year before the event. And currently my postbacc GPA (from an informal post-bacc I started) is a 3.9 with a 4.0 sGPA so there is a fairly good upward swing even before I hit the formal post-bacc. I'm not worried about my 3.4 cgpa since it's still considered respectable enough particularly in light of my ECs, that I'm "disadvantaged", and that I raised 4 kids and held several jobs when going to college full time at a rigorous university (and that is coming from an adcomm at a top 20 school.)

I don't intend on taking advice on my future career from people on SDN other then LizzyM who is an adcomm. If I have doctors and adcomms telling me to compete for a better spot based on my ECs (which is what everyone besides you and the person at Agnes Scott says), I will do it.

 

[drizzt3117]

The linkage will also save you a year if that's important, If it works the same way it does at most postbacs, you'll have to decide to do it before you find out your mcat score, which could be problematic. It sounds like your ecs will definitely help you but only if you have a nice mcat to go along with it. How competitive you are as a nontrad is often really difficult to gauge before you're in the cycle.

 

[familyaerospace]

Saving the year isn't really important to me. I'm non-trad, but I'm not excessively so. (I'm 28, 30 or 31 when I hit med school.) I am trying to end up in aerospace medicine in the long run since I've already performed about 4 years of research in that area alone and I am technically still in it. I also taught a 500 level graduate course on the subject (heaven help my teaching, I've been doing it as long as research). A few NASA flight surgeons have been giving me advice on medical school, choosing a primary specialty before the jump to aerospace, etc. Between them and their connections and my own doctors connections and alum connections, I feel like I have a team of doctors (including two adcomms) playing "Let's see how good of a medical school we can get Family Aerospace in." I think I should worry that they are taking such an interest in me. Don't these people have patients to worry about or something?

And yea, technically I would have to apply this summer before I even start the formal post-bacc. That makes me uneasy. I was told by the post-bacc director that the MCAT required to link was a 25 which seems pretty easy. I can't remember if they had a minimum writing score. If my practice scores for verbal are any indication (I have not tested BS or PS sections), I shouldn't have a problem since that can make up almost half the score.

 

[drizzt3117]

It doesn't sound like a bad situation, but it's just that even for very qualified candidates, applying for med school is unpredictable and stressful, with a lot of uncertainty, and I'm not sure that for what you're trying to go into that you'd really benefit from going to a different school (obviously it does if you decide you want to do MD/PhD) My cycle was relatively painless if expensive (> 20 interviews) but I certainly wouldn't want to go through it if I didn't have to <shrug>

 

[familyaerospace]

Aerospace medicine which apparently does tend to care about the name/rank of the school. I am planning to apply to all my instate (even the local DO school is thought to give me a better chance than Mercer) and 5 to 10 other schools, a few of which I am seriously considering applying MD/PhD although at least one of the people on my "committee" is begging me not to. If all I can get into is Mercer, than that is where I will go and I'll be fine with that. Why deprive myself of the possibility of going somewhere better knowing Agnes Scott's excellent track record even before they had the linkage agreement?

 

[drizzt3117]

It's up to you. All I can say is that even at programs like Scripps, Bryn Mawr, and Goucher where 100% of students end up matriculating into medical schools, a lot of people who applied open pool wish they had linked because it's just a lot easier and a lot less money, effort and stress. I am happy with how open pool admissions went for me, but it was still a very long and grueling year.

 

[pointodr]

Aerospace medicine which apparently does tend to care about the name/rank of the school. I am planning to apply to all my instate (even the local DO school is thought to give me a better chance than Mercer) and 5 to 10 other schools, a few of which I am seriously considering applying MD/PhD although at least one of the people on my "committee" is begging me not to. If all I can get into is Mercer, than that is where I will go and I'll be fine with that. Why deprive myself of the possibility of going somewhere better knowing Agnes Scott's excellent track record even before they had the linkage agreement?

familyaerospace, where did you end up? did you decide to do agnes scott and did you decide not to link?

 

[familyaerospace]

familyaerospace, where did you end up? did you decide to do agnes scott and did you decide not to link?

They rescinded my acceptance. That was in... like 2009 or something. I never did get into medical school which is why I am on round 4 and assuming I am going to have to do round 5 since I have no interviews.

 

[pointodr]

They rescinded my acceptance. That was in... like 2009 or something. I never did get into medical school which is why I am on round 4 and assuming I am going to have to do round 5 since I have no interviews.

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Why did they rescind it? That doesn't sound like it should be allowed?

 

[familyaerospace]

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Why did they rescind it? That doesn't sound like it should be allowed?

I'm transsexual, that is a good enough reason for them.

They also made up another excuse as well which I knew was an out and out lie because I had things in writing from several people in the college including from financial aid, the dean, and the head of the department which all confirmed how things were. It was actually a very long story and if I had money, there would have been a lawsuit.

 

[familyaerospace]

Oh no, sorry to hear that. Why did they rescind it? That doesn't sound like it should be allowed?

I'm transsexual, that is a good enough reason for them.

They also made up another excuse as well which I knew was an out and out lie because I had things in writing from several people in the college including from financial aid, the dean, and the head of the department which all confirmed how things were. It was actually a very long story and if I had money, there would have been a lawsuit.

 

[Goro]

Still no luck, aero? It may be time to throw in the towel and try something else.

I'm transsexual, that is a good enough reason for them.

They also made up another excuse as well which I knew was an out and out lie because I had things in writing from several people in the college including from financial aid, the dean, and the head of the department which all confirmed how things were. It was actually a very long story and if I had money, there would have been a lawsuit.

 

[pointodr]

Yeah based on what you wrote above seems like you had an awesome profile and some great people in your corner - a NASA flight surgeon and a team of adcomms! Is there any hope for the rest of us?!

 

[familyaerospace]

Still no luck, aero? It may be time to throw in the towel and try something else.

The post-bacc in question was back in like 2008 or 2009 before my first round.

And this year, I had that limited run and have my first rejection, no interviews so far not even to places that waitlisted me last year. I had also had a sponsored application by one of the SDN folks and that was the rejection. I have more information on the LGBT applicants thread as for the update and the most recent information about what the latest thing the premed adviser said and the medical scribe attempt. It is worth the fifth round because I changed all my essays on the advice of an adcomm at RVU (which I spoke about in a thread on the reapps board a few months ago) just to see what would happen. See now I know her advice is completely wrong which means I can completely chuck all of it.

Can I include "applying to medical school" as a hobby on my AMCAS? Because at this point that is what it feels like.

My next plan as you know was to consider the rabbinate but with a non-Jewish partner it is impossible.

I do have some of my books ready to go out to agents though... or at least almost ready to go out. At least I can say I have some non-medical skills.

@pointodr you are fine provided you are not transsexual. Doesn't matter if you are mixed race or have low ses and have an entire team of people cheering you on, some of which are big names and everyone in the industry knows, the transsexual thing is a deal breaker.