<p>I recommend you spend some time reading on sdn. You may find additional specific indiemweionhejnjehn information rae your situation</p>
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<p>Yup! Priority is given to students who are working on their first bachelor’s degree (and rightfully so).</p>
<p>UC extension is a lower cost possibility, but again, you are not allowed to register until after everyone else. Taking a class at a time could take years. </p>
<p>Do the math on the opportunity costs, which includes getting paid as a MD sooner (rather than much later).</p>
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<p>I assumed that OP did not have parents who could foot the costs on their own because most families do not have $500k in cash lying around.</p>
<p>Ironic that I would say this, considering I went to Columbia, an Ivy, for undergrad and graduate school, so probably a more expensive university than you or your children attended. I earned a scholarship to Columbia and my parents paid a nominal amount. I paid for graduate school so I understand the burden of having student loans. I think it’s stupid paying 90k for a post-bac since the interest will balloon the debt to $180k by the time of repayment 10 years down the road. If the OP’s parents can foot the costs of the post-bac and medical school, then good for him. If not, then imo it’s financially irresponsible to leave medical school with $500k+ in loans.</p>
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<p>The curve should be taken in context - the average entering SAT (M+V) is a 900. Unless you are also a low-achiever, it should be easy to get an A.</p>
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<p>I normally don’t recommend assuming debt if it can be avoided. But the opportunity costs must be factored in, and a Columbia grad should be able to figure that out.</p>
<p>Someone without any premed prereqs could easily take 3-4 years taking the required coursework piecemeal at a Cal State. It is just too easy for the OP to miss out on a class because it is full. A program like Scripps can be completed in 11/12 months, for ~$50k ($35k for tuition, and estimating $15k for R&B+books.) </p>
<p>So within a couple of years, the OP could be in med school via Scripps, and a practicing MD --with an MD’s salary – before 2020. Or, the OP could work and take one class at a time…</p>
<p>To me, a structured post-bac, is still the no-brainer. Of course, others (obviously) disagree. :)</p>
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For the record, my child did attend a college that is not any cheaper (if we talk about full pay cost) than yours.</p>
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I could be wrong here as I did not pay attention to any ivy except the one DS had attended. But I have the impression that an ivy (at least the one DS attended) does not give out merit-based scholarship. It only gives out need-based one. If what you posted is true, I have learned something new today.</p>
<p>I agree with bluebayou about opportunity cost. If one’s family can afford it, his/her time could be more valuable than the money. This kind of family will never send their loved one to a university just based on the cost factor alone (e.g., a university that is as cheap as possible.) This is also a reason why many NE families send their children to private schools, even before college, as long as they can afford it.</p>
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This is what I have found by a little bit of googling:</p>
<p>[Myths</a> about Financial Aid | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/finaid/eligibility/myths]Myths”>Myths about Financial Aid | Columbia Financial Aid and Educational Financing)</p>
<p>“There are no merit scholarships at Columbia as all of our financial aid is strictly need-based. While we hope you do well in your classes, there is no GPA requirement attached to your Columbia University Grant.
The Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program is a need-based scholarship program which attaches the name of a specific named scholarship fund to your Columbia University Grant. Receiving an award is an honor given in recognition of your accomplishments and it does not change the amount of Columbia University Grant in your financial aid package.”</p>
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<p>But be careful about agreeing with me, a relative plebeian who did not attend any Ivy, much less Columbia. Of course even if I did, I wouldn’t announce it, unless it had relevance to the point, i.e., we were discussing Columbia’s post bac (which is a huge money maker, like most/all of their master’s programs. :D</p>
<p>At the age of 40, the father said to his S: When I dies, all my money will be yours. But for now I will save the money as much as possible so that you could have more when you get it and it will be useful for your future.
At the age of 50, 60, 70, and 80, the father said the same to his S.
At the age of 90, the father passes away and does pass a significant amount of money to his S as promissed. But the S does not need so much help for his future any more as he is near his own retirement years.</p>
<p>The tuition/fees alone at DS’s med school is close to $50k a year (the full COA is officially the north of $70k as I believe.) However, the school publishes that the average debt of the graduates of its recent class is lower than $120k. (Why does the school always use the average when we are definitely more interested in the median?) Go do the math and you could figure the reason by yourself. – Granted, some need-based scholarship at his school does help many students.</p>
<p>BTW, I also read recently that the average debt among the graduates of all MD schools is about $160k, that of DO schools is around $200k. (maybe +/- <10k for both – too lazy to cut and paste their exact numbers here.) Also, it is said that, in recent years, the rate becomes higher so the average debt becomes more stablized at $160k instead of keeping increasing. Go figure this out.</p>
<p>To me, it indicates that, when some parents are capable of chipping in, for secondary school, college, post-bac or med school, many will try as best as they can. On the other hand, there are even more parents who are not financially capable of doing this. It does not necessarily mean that their loved ones will be doomed at a “lower-ranked” school and will not have a chance to succeed by going to a “lesser” school or “cheaper” program.</p>
<p>just letting you know</p>
<p>i am only missing the sciences courses so it wouldn’t take as long</p>
<p>i am looking at UCLA’s premed 101 from 2007 (LOL!) and i have finished the math portion already.</p>
<p>31A (taken at cc: A), 32B (taken at UCLA: got a D, but retook it again for a B), and 32A (taken at UCLA: C).</p>
<p>they’re horrible grades, i know. I took those Math courses while I was still in Architecture (i was so stupid to do that). maybe it’s a bad idea already…</p>
<p>i still want to take chemistry classes tho</p>
<p>also ive been reading the SDN frequently and it’s been helping a lot.</p>
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<p>Huh? Those are the premed prereqs. Not all med schools require calc, but many do recommend it.</p>
<p>Regardless, you now have one other issue. If your Chem 1 courses were taken 5/6 years ago, you may not remember a whole lot, and may not be prepared for Organic (or for the MCAT). With a D/B/C, and the time lag, I would recommend retaking Gen Chem.</p>
<p>You might want to post a thread on sdn with your statistics and grades. My extern did So and got some useful advice. Would also describe your entire situation as regards switching paths.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken any chem or bio classes since High school so I will for sure take them to fulfill pre-med requirements. </p>
<p>Right now I am following this course guide given to me when i was in a UCLA AMSA meeting and I can say that the math requirements for me is completed. So I guess what i was saying is that it would take less time for me as oppose to someone who is completely starting fresh? so less courses, less time! hopefully that made sense.</p>
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Among all of these BCPM science classes, “M” (math) is generally considered as the least important one. But the math grades are still included in the calculation of the all important BCPM GPA. You would be in a much better position if you have never had taken those classes and could start from a clean slate for your BCPM GPA</p>
<p>Now, you have dug a hole from which you need to painfully climb out. This is because the average BCPM grade for a successful premed should be around A- or 3.7, or slightly lower (but not by much). Those C’s and D (and the lack of required ECs) that you mentioned on post #50 could cost you a long time and a lot of efforts to raise your BCPM GPA to a competitive level.</p>
<p>premed is hard not because of a huge number of required classes. It is hard because it is not easy to get “medical-school-worthy” grades consistently. If it happens that you get a few poor grades bhere and there, it may take you a longer time to remedy it.</p>
<p>One thing that may go for you is that you are now a more mature student than some new college students; many of them tend to over-confident. You still have a chance but there is not much room for more mistakes on the road ahead (due to the poor bcpm grades you have had now.) You may need to take additional science classes till your BCPM average is high enough.</p>
<p>i see…</p>
<p>but when you say long time - it could still be 2 years right?</p>
<p>and it’s probably a stupid idea to retake those math courses right? i took them 4-5 years ago so i shouldn’t need to retake them?</p>
<p>also im currently singing up for a volunteer service at the UCLA system. hopefully i’ll get it if not I’m moving on to other hospitals.</p>
<p>If you think you do not need to refresh your math before taking physics and general chem classes, there is no point in retaking math. However, for a med school that requires math classes, I believe the grade needs to be C (excluding C-) or above.</p>
<p>If you could raise your BCPM GPA in 2 years, you could of course complete it in 2 years. Remember that the lab requirement alone would require two years if you have not had any labs yet. This all depends on your academic capability. If most premeds take two science classes and are still under a lot of stress in order to get good grades, are you the “one” who is capable of taking 3 science classes with the labs and am still capable of getting good grades in all 3 classes? It is not about how long you can complete the sequence; it is about how long it takes you to get reasonable grades in these classes.</p>
<p>o good good, my lowest was a C. and i still have the math books to refresh my memory.</p>
<p>but thanks for that perspective</p>
<p>What is your gpa and also your science gpa?</p>
<p>How many credits do you have fulfilled ?
Are you intersested in osteosthic DO medical degree as an option. </p>
<p>Are you willing to go to a foreign medical school as an alternative?</p>
<p>Would you be interested in being a physicians assistant or a nurse practitioner ?</p>
<p>I think these might be some of your options</p>
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<p>But yet you took Frosh Chem and Frosh Calc? Were you a premed first that then gravitated to arch? (If you want good advice, you need to provide all the relevant details. And claiming that you “avoided” math and science in your first post, but later admitting that you have completed some of those courses is just not helpful, and quite frankly, a waste of our time.)</p>
<p>btw: the economy WILL get better, and when it does, housing will come back, creating plenty of jobs in arch.</p>
<p>i never took frosh chem. I stated in a later post that I took chemistry and bio classes in High School and that was it.</p>
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<li><p>and I never took those courses (or any science classes for that matter) again in Community College or at UCLA. When i started architecture, which was at CC, no more science courses, just math. </p></li>
<li><p>My GPA is a 3.16 and I don’t think I have a science GPA.</p></li>
<li><p>I have fulfilled lot of credits, 241.00 units to be exact. </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know what DO stands for, but i’ll consider it once I get familiar with the many options there.</p></li>
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<p>-sorry for all the confusion out there and hopefully i didn’t contradict myself</p>
<p>-yes, you maybe right that economy will pick up. but if i don’t see myself as an architect or don’t enjoy it as much then i’m not going to stick it through because the economy is getting better. There’s a lot of reasons leaving and there’s also a lot of reasons to take up medicine (even though they are cliche or obvious ones)</p>