Postbac & Graduate Programs

There are two different types of postbac programs to help you continue your studies after you have finished your undergraduate degree.  If you wake up and realize you want to be a doctor, you can search for career changer programs. If you worked your little heart out in college and still did not achieve the science GPA that you need to be competitive you will search for a career enhancer or graduate program. If you took all the premed requirements, then went into the working world for a few years, you will need to ‘modernize’ your coursework with a career enhancer program to ‘prove’ to the medical schools that you are ready for a challenging medical school curriculum.

  1. Career Changer programs are designed for people who lack all or most of the prerequisites for medical school and therefore need to take the sciences in order to take the MCATs and apply. (Basically you had an epiphany and now want to be a doctor.) Programs normally run 12-18 months. After completing the program, students take the MCATs, then a gap year to apply. Please note, if you have taken too many science classes then you will be ineligible for many of these programs, unfortunately. You will need to look for a record enhancer program or a graduate program or a DIY.

  2. Record Enhancer programs are for premeds who have taken all or almost all of the prerequisites for medical school BUT did not achieve a competitive enough GPA to be a viable applicant. (Basically your science GPA is too low to apply.) Your options are: 1) enroll in a degree seeking masters program in a science field such as Physiology or Biology, 2) enroll in a graduate program that gives a certificate of completion, 3) create your own postbac program by enrolling as a non-degree seeking undergraduate student at a 4-year school. Since you already earned your undergraduate degree do not take courses at a 2-year college. Select a 4-year institution.

The idea is to demonstrate to medical schools that you can handle advanced coursework. Another way to think about it would be community college classes could be considered 100 and 200 level, university level junior and senior year classes as 300 and 400 level, so graduate school would be considered 500 and 600 level. If you want to impress a medical school, aim for 300-600 level classes not 100-200 level. If the goal is to raise your science GPA, take science classes not allied health classes. Only Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math classes will raise your BCPM (science GPA). An MPH (Master's in Public Health) will not raise your science GPA. An MPH is wonderful but again, you need science classes to raise your science GPA.

Graduate vs. Undergraduate Classes. You might also want to consider if you want to take graduate classes or undergraduate classes. If your undergraduate science GPA is below 3.0, it might be hard to get a 3.7+ in a competitive graduate program. It might be best to continue to take undergraduate science classes and get that undergraduate science GPA up before tackling a graduate program. What you don’t want to happen is to have a 2.8 undergraduate science GPA and earn a 2.9 science GPA in a graduate program. This will not help improve your competitiveness. You need to aim to get a 3.7+ in a graduate science program to try and offset a subpar undergraduate science GPA. If you continue to take undergraduate classes after you graduate, those courses will be listed under the “Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate” GPA section, thus increasing your overall undergraduate GPA (see chart below). If your undergraduate GAP is very low, aim to take more undergraduate science classes. If your undergraduate GPA is above 3.0, then you can choose the undergraduate or graduate route. Some people feel that if they are going to spend all that money on 10 more science classes than maybe getting the graduate degree is worth the investment, but this is an individual choice. You may find it helped to talk over your options with your premed advisor or Newport.

Take a glance at what the GPA section looks like on the 2022 AMCAS:

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BCPM = Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Math. This is essentially your science GPA. No allied health classes or engineering classes are listed in this column. AO= All other classes. For more specifics, refer to the 2022 AMCAS Applicant Guide.

As you can see, all of your GPAs are listed which will show the upward trend (or maybe downward trend) of your classes. At the very bottom, your overall science undergraduate science GPA will be listed along with your overall postbac and graduate science GPA. They are not merged into one total science GPA. This is an important distinction because some schools will prescreen applications by undergraduate GPA primarily, so you want to make sure the undergraduate science GPA is a competitive score to make the cutoff. There is no magic formula for which postbac option is best.

As you begin your research on postbac programs, first start by looking at the AAMC site for Postbaccalaureate Premedical Programs. Here you will find helpful articles and a link to a searchable database of programs.  You can search by undergraduate or graduate programs, location or type of program.

If you are thinking of taking multiple science classes as a non-degree seeking student, you might run into trouble securing a seat in a class you want because preference will normally go to degree seeking students. If you are looking to take 1-3 classes, this route may be a great option for you. If you need to take more than 4 classes, then consider a more structured program (undergrad or grad). If you create your own program, you are most likely the very last student to enroll in classes so you may not get into lab courses or popular courses that fill up. Postbac programs negotiate with the university to get dedicated seats in select science classes. As an individual taking non-degree seeking classes, you do not have this leverage. You get whatever is leftover after everyone else registers. You will most likely not get academic advising either if you go out on your own. If you need more than a semester of classes, I would strongly encourage you to consider an established program. I see several advantages: 1) you can get into the classes you need/want, 2) you will get advising and support (maybe they even offer a committee letter), 3) you will have a dedicated cohort of students to study with, 4) established programs have years of data so you can see how past students have done in the medical school application cycle.

General Sites

Postbac Programs for Career Changers

 

Bryn Mawr College Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program. One of the oldest programs in the nation with a 98% acceptance rate to medical school, but it is very hard to gain acceptance.

Cal State Fullerton

CSULA (Cal State University LA) Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program for Pre-Health Professionals has two postbac programs: career changers and record enhancers. 

Columbia University Postbac Premed Program

University of Michigan MEDPREP program offers an 8-14 month program for career changers. 

Scripps enjoys a 98% acceptance rate to graduate school.

Science in the Evening program at the University of Maryland Office of Extended Studies

USC Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program

Postbac Programs for Record Enhancers

 

Brown University Gateways to Medicine, Health Care, and Research. Includes Master of Science in Medical Sciences and Certificate in Medical Science

California Northstate University Pre-Medical Post-Baccalaureate (PMPB)

CSULA (Cal State University LA) Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program for Pre-Health Professionals has two postbac programs: career changers and record enhancers. 

Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Graduate Certificate in Molecular and Biomedical Sciences

Keck Graduate Institute: Post-baccalaureate Premedical Certificate Program (PPC), one year program. 

UC San Francisco postbac program for students from disadvantaged backgrounds or underserved communities.

University of Michigan MS in Physiology. 

Wy’east Post Baccalaureate Pathway is a 10 month program intended to support American Indians and Alaska Native students who want to be doctors. Applicants need to have either unsuccessfully applied to medical school or not achieved a competitive MCAT score. The Wy’east Post Baccalaureate Pathway is a partnership with UCDavis School of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University and the Native American Health Sciences Center at Washington State University.  This 10 month program takes place at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. For more information, contact  wyeast@ohsu.edu.

Special Masters Programs (SMP) across the nation (scroll to second page)

* Newport Premedical Consulting, LLC does not recommend or endorse any particular program listed above. Programs are listed as a point of resource. Students must conduct their own research to determine if a program fits their needs.