Post-Bacc options in the Bay area

[onedaydr]

Hello,

I'm moving to the Bay Area next year and would like to do my post-bacc work out there. Specifically, I need to take biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, and physics. I'm not really interested in a formal, structured postbacc program and plan to take the classes a few at a time while I work part-time.

My questions:

1) Is it possible to take premedical classes at Cal-Berkeley through the Extension program? I seem to be getting mixed messages about that. I know you -can- take classes in this manner, but has anyone successfully done all of his/her sciences there as a post-bacc/extension student?

2) Has anyone gone to (or is anyone currently in) SFSU for these classes?

3) How does someone like me go about getting a letter of recommendation if there isn't a prehealth committee available, or if the support of such a committee isn't available to non-degree seeking students?

Thanks so much for your help. Sorry if I don't get back right away; I'm only online at work (and pretty new to the posting thing, though I think this site is great).

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[El Chupacabra]

Onedaydr,

1) Not sure about the Berkley thing, but I don't see why you couldn't take classes there as an extension student.

2) I have heard good things about SFSU

3) You do not need a commitee letter. Some post-bacc programs will accept letters from an employer, but it should be medically related (MD, DO. MA, MS), however; I do recommend you attempt to contact a former professor if possible so he/she can comment on your academic abilities.

 

[onedaydr]

mjf,

thanks for your reply. i am looking into sfsu, definitely. do you know anyone who's there now (or was recently there)?

it's unclear to me whether the science courses can be done at berkeley or not. i spent some time nosing around the extension school's website, but due to some conflicting information, i've decided to just call them to find out what's up. [for example, berkeley states that the premedical courses are generally not available through extension...but does that mean they're also unavailable to students registered -through- Extension to take them via concurrent enrollment in regular university classes?]

confusing, eh?

 

[Arginine]

I was a psychology major in undergrad, so I ended up taking all of my med school prerequisites at SFSU. It only took 18 months to complete the entire sequence (general chem, organic chem, biology, physics) but I would also recommend taking some upper division classes such as biochemistry and genetics.

1. the classes: for the most part, the teaching was quite good, although there are some profs you should really avoid. Feel free to pm me for specifics. Also check out the website http://www.teacherreview.com where there are extensive reviews of many SFSU profs.

2. recommendation letters: I just made a point of visiting office hours of professors whose classes I really enjoyed, just to talk about science stuff every now & then. When it came time to ask for LORs, they already knew me, so it was not difficult for them to write. I was able to get a few really outstanding letters.

3. letter-forwarding service: SFSU has a fantastic, reliable letter-forwarding service for students/alum ($50 to initiate, $3 per letter thereafter) that was my saving grace during med school apps--the profs can submit the letter to the forwarding service; whenever you request letters to be sent, the service e-mails you to let you know when something has been sent.

I don't know anything about science classes through UC Berkeley Extension, but I do know SFSU is significantly cheaper. I felt SFSU's science classes gave me more than adequate preparation for the MCATs; also, UCSF has a special program for disadvantaged students applying to med school to help them beef up their applications--where does UCSF send these students for extra science classes? to SFSU!!!

Good luck to all of you. Feel free to pm me also if you have questions about applying to UC med schools. I'm in my first year at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

 

[neurodoc]

Cal State Hayward is a great place to do your post-bac med school prerequisites. That's where I did mine. In fact, I did my CSUH courses while I was a grad student at UC Berkeley (in English Lit of all things). UCB is not a friendly place to be a post-bac pre-med, in my opinion.

 

[OB1🤙]

I didn't do the formal post-bacc, but I did take classes at SFSU and they were excellent- on par or better than classes I had taken at UCLA.

 

[onedaydr]

Wow, thank you all so much for the advice. I certainly appreciate it, especially as I am not a Cali native and so am just now getting a feel for the schools there.

Arginine, I may take you up on your offer of asking more questions about SFSU at some point. It seems like a great option. I'll do some more research on it. Hope med school is going well!

 

[LoneCoyote]

Originally posted by neurodoc
Cal State Hayward is a great place to do your post-bac med school prerequisites. That's where I did mine. In fact, I did my CSUH courses while I was a grad student at UC Berkeley (in English Lit of all things). UCB is not a friendly place to be a post-bac pre-med, in my opinion.

Definitely check out Hayward, especially if you will be living in the East Bay. I looked into their program and really liked what I saw. Ultimately, I went elsewhere because I needed to leave the area for awhile, but everyone I talked to there was very positive about their experience and about getting admitted. Their advisor seemed very helpful as well.

I found that it was virtually impossible to do any post-bac work in the UC system if you already had a degree because they need the spaces for traditional undergrads. And if you are in your first year of residency here and not a CA resident, the UC tuition is much higher than the CSU tuition.

 

[Jessielea5]

Howdy,
Just discovered this site and it is awesome. I am in the process of looking at formal post-bacc programs in the bay area. Does anyone know anything about the Mills College Post-Bacc program? Thanks so much for your help!
-Jessie

 

[onedaydr]

...for all the great advice! I much appreciate it. Good luck to all of you.

 

[RisingSun]

Sorry to hijack this thread but my query is sort of related (at least geographically.) I'm planning on moving to California from overseas next fall, and taking cost of living etc. into consideration, I've decided to move to Bakersfield and take the prereqs at CSU Bakersfield. Anyone have any experience with this area/school or any caveats?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RoseLee]

Hi all!

Just wanted to let everyone know that if you need to apply to SFSU as a second-bachelor's student in their undergrad program for financial aid purposes, they aren't accepting us as undergrads for Spring 2004 (and likely for Fall 2005). The only other option is to take classes with extension studies (with no financial aid). Got my rejection from SFSU a month ago and was pretty disappointed (I need financial aid to attend school full-time).

So I'm off to Cal-Poly SLO or SJSU (have acceptances to both, but haven't decided yet)

Roselee

 

[CaMD]

I have heard very favorable things about Mills post-bacc.

 

[scota]

Mills is good, I hear, but tuition is 15K per year. SFSU IS accpeting URMs and students' whose family is a "low-income" one for post bac and second bachelor's degrees. Check out http://www.sfsu.edu/~hpath/. I'm thinking of doing a B.A. in biology, but at 21, I already feel kinda old. Good luck...