With the increasingly higher number of graduate school applicants every year, many students consider taking “gap” or “bridge” years to strengthen their applications to graduate schools. For some students, a post-baccalaureate program accomplishes this goal, but, what exactly is a post-baccalaureate program?
Essentially, a post-baccalaureate program is a program that students pursue after they graduate from their undergraduate institution in order to enhance their academic record before applying to graduate schools in the health field. There are two major types of post-baccalaureate programs: career-changers for those who are non-traditional premedical students and academic record-enhancers for those who would like to raise their GPA.
In both types of programs, flexible structure and scheduling is available as well as exclusive networking, extended access to advisors, built-in volunteer opportunities, and more. With a multifaceted range of benefits, these programs allow students to strengthen their transcript and foundation of knowledge before applying to graduate schools.
However, when thinking about applying to post-baccalaureate programs, you should consider your own goals and what you want to get out of the program. Different programs such as nutritional/dental/premedical post-baccalaureate programs are geared for different types of students. Often these programs are expensive, depending on its availability at private or public institutions. Taking into account of all these factors, you should only choose a program if you believe that it would enhance your graduate school application.
For more information on available post-baccalaureate opportunities, make sure to pick up our new handout “Post-Baccalaureate Programs in Health” at the CEC in 162 MVR!
Reference
https://students-residents.aamc.org/choosing-medical-career/article/7-post-bacc-benefits/