Med School Application Advice

Question

I am a pre-med student who graduated in May 2022 with a science GPA of 3.27 and have not taken the MCAT yet. I have been working in healthcare since I graduated, but I am planning on going back to school. I was going to start a DIY post-bacc this January, but I was wondering if a formal post-bacc program would be better. I am registered to take the MCAT in March. I need help coming with a timeline to apply to maximize my chances of getting into medical school.

Answer 1

Hi Haroon,

I did a formal post-bac through Bryn Mawr College after working in management consulting for a few years and am now in my final year of medical school. Happy to give a brief answer here, and feel free to message me if you'd appreciate more guidance.

There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a formal post-bac vs. DIY. The 'top' formal post-bac programs (Gaucher, Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr, Columbia) offer the advantage of formal linkage agreements with medical schools, which can allow you to bypass a year spent applying for medical school after the post-bac and directly enroll in medical school following the post-bac. These linkage agreements also often do not require taking the MCAT. The formal post-bacs have a strong track record of getting their students into medical school, and you'll in general receive more personalized education and advising. The downside is these programs are often expensive and very intensive (it would be hard to continue working while doing the post-bac).

A DIY post-bac has the advantage of often allowing you to continue working while you complete your post-bac and often can be done more conveniently or less expensively. However, you may lack some of the formalized support (e.g. advising), and may feel like you're going it alone to some extent. You may have to hustle more for things like clinical volunteering or research opportunities.

Happy to help further!

Answer 2

I am not familiar with post-baccs, but I am familiar with the rest of the med school app process. Taking the MCAT in March would mean results in April, which would be perfect to apply in May as long as you are diligent about preparing your app after the MCAT. If the post-bacc will go past May, then I would recommend taking another gap year. Let me know if you would like to meet and further discuss your options. I was accepted to medical school this year, for reference.